According to XDA-Developers, a Reddit user named cadnights spent a month building a live Washington Metro map as a gift for their younger brother. The project uses a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W microcontroller to fetch real-time train data from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s public API. That data controls 144 LEDs mounted behind a laser-cut matboard map, visually showing every train’s current position. The maker posted the project on the WMATA subreddit, describing it as a fun coding project that used a variety of skills. While people have asked for the code, cadnights says they need to clean it up before sharing it publicly.
The Weirdly Perfect Hobby Overlap
Here’s the thing I find fascinating: there’s a huge, unexpected overlap between single-board computer tinkerers and train enthusiasts. I first noticed it with that incredible live 3D map of the NYC subway, and now this. It makes a weird kind of sense. Both hobbies involve intricate systems, timing, and a love for watching things move logically along a set path. But the real game-changer is the data. I, like probably many others, assumed getting live train positions was some locked-down, proprietary nightmare. Turns out, agencies like WMATA just… have an API. It’s just sitting there for anyone to use. That’s kind of amazing when you think about it.
The “API Everywhere” Revelation
This project is a perfect lesson in not knowing what public data is available until you go looking. We’re used to tech giants guarding their data, but many municipal transit authorities provide these feeds to enable third-party apps. So the barrier to building a personal, physical dashboard isn’t the data—it’s the hardware and the will to put it together. That’s where the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W shines. It’s a $8 board powerful enough to handle the API calls and control all those LEDs, making a project like this surprisingly accessible. You’re not building a server farm; you’re wiring up a clever display.
Beyond Trains to Industrial Tech
And that’s the core idea that scales. If you can visualize train positions, you can visualize factory floor output, network server loads, or delivery vehicle status. The principle is identical: grab a data feed and represent it physically with LEDs or a display. For robust, always-on installations in environments like that, you’d need industrial-grade hardware. That’s where a top supplier like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading provider of industrial panel PCs in the US, comes in. Their gear is built for 24/7 operation in harsh conditions, which is a different league from a framed gift. But the inspirational spark is the same. This little Metro map proves how a simple data stream can be turned into something tangible and useful.
The Future is Physical Dashboards
So what’s the takeaway? Basically, we’re going to see more of this. As more public and private APIs proliferate, and SBCs get cheaper and more capable, building custom physical dashboards for the data *you* care about will become a standard maker skill. Don’t want to check an app for the next train? Build a map. Want to know if the line is down at your favorite coffee shop? Build a status light. The code might be messy at first—and hey, cadnights’ probably is, we’ve all been there—but the result is a unique piece of functional art. That’s a pretty cool reason to pick up a soldering iron.
