Swindon Travel Choices Interactive Map - Quick Help (?)

The Swindon Travel Choices Interactive Map allows you to explore Swindon and plan a multi-modal journey.

Exploring the Map

You can pan around the map and zoom in and out using your mouse or the arrow zoom controls at the top right of the map. Key points of interest and facilities are shown on the base map. You may also use the “map layer” controls in the top right of the map to select which additional layers of information you want to display. You can display the following layers by clicking on the appropriate layer:
Walk: shows pedestrian crossings and walk routes
Cycle: shows toucan crossings, cycle shops and cycle routes
Public Transport: shows bus stops and stations and Swindon rail station
Car: shows car club locations, taxi ranks, road works

The key is also available at the map controls at the top right of the map, see picture below.

Journey Planning

The journey planner compares your route in terms of different modes of transport including bus, cycle, car, public transport and on foot.

Select your start and end points

There are three ways to plan your journey. Provide a postcode, street name or point of interest (such as ‘Swindon Outlet Centre’, in the “I want to go from” and “to” boxes (see picture below),or select an icon or right click on the map to select a start or end point.

When using the text boxes please enter as much address or point of interest detail as possible, then select the correct address from the list. If you cannot find your address try a slightly different search term or the postcode. Alternatively you can right click on the map and select your start and end points. You can also move the 'pin' and your journey will be automatically updated.

Select your modes

The planner automatically selects all the modes to provide you with a variety of journey options to help you make an informed choice. Remember you can select/deselect the modes used in journey calculations if you wish
Select this for walking journeys
Select this for cycle journeys
Select this for driving journeys
Select this for public transport journeys

Walking Routes

Walking routes will, where possible, take you along pedestrianised streets and avoid busy roads.

Cycling routes

For cycling our journey planner suggests fastest / quietest / balanced cycle journeys in the UK. It knows the Sustrans National Cycle Routes (NCR) and avoids hills. NCR on directions means National Cycle Route All results are provided by Cycle Streets.
You can access the following routing suggestions by clicking on "Advanced options" under the mode selection box, (see picture below).
• Quietest route - Avoids busy roads where possible, more likely to require walking some sections
• Fastest route - More likely to use busier roads
• Balanced route - The most practical for the average cyclist who wants to get there quick-ish, and is happy to dismount for short sections
• Shortest route – Shortest but not necessarily the quickest route

If you decide to follow any suggested journey please take extra care on unfamiliar sections; proceed at your own risk (route quality cannot be guaranteed).
For providing feedback on routing, please contact CycleStreets directly.

Public Transport

All public transport data is sourced directly from Traveline. If you experience any issues with the journey details provided, please feedback to Traveline directly via their contact form.
Public transport journeys are available for up to three months in advance, select the dates and times you want to travel at the top of the screen under the “I want to go from” and “to” boxes (see picture below). Journeys planned more than 14 days in advance should be checked again closer to the departure day to ensure there are no changes.

The journey planner will display up to three public transport options. Click on any of the journey options shown to display times and where the bus stops are. If the times or journeys provided are not suitable you can click the “earlier” or “later” button under the public transport journey options provided. This will return more public transport results.
You can left click on the bus stop for more information. For the real time bus information click, “Departure Information from this stop”. Swindon Travel Choices and Swindon Borough Councilare not responsible for the content of external web sites.

Driving Routes

Driving route information will provide you with the quickest driving route possible, and will prioritise main roads and trunk roads where possible.

Return journeys

To plan a return journey press the grey arrow keys next to the address text boxes to reverse the start and end points. See picture below.

How are my results calculated?

The journey results provided are based on the information you input and show suggested routes you can take across Swindon. It calculates the distance, time, cost, carbon emissions and calories for walking, cycling and driving and calculates time, carbon emissions and calories for public transport journeys. For further information on the cost of public transport journeys please visit the operator’s website.

Calorie calculations

Calorie calculations are based upon a person weighing 160 lbs:
- Walking at a speed of 3.5 mph is approx 75 calories burnt per mile.
- Cycling at a speed of 10 mph is approx 50 calories burnt per mile.
The formula used to calculate calories is:
METs * 3.5 * weightKg) / 200) * timeMin
where the MET value is the metabolic equivalent. The more intense the exercise the higher the MET value.

Carbon emission calculations

For driving a typical road car the carbon emissions are calculated as 0.2Kg carbon emissions per km.
For public transport the carbon emissions are approximately 50-80% less per person compared to driving.

Costs calculations

The costs are estimated for car journeys only and is based on the cost per km including the cost of the car, maintenance, insurance, tax and fuel costs..etc.
Please note these calculations are approximations only.

About the Journey Planner and Mapping

The interactive map and journey planner results are powered by Open Street Map data. Open Street Map is the ‘wikipedia’ of maps and can be edited and updated by anyone. If you see something on the map or in a journey plan that looks incorrect or is missing - you can edit yourself by signing up and getting involved. The results for journey planning routes will be updated automatically over the next week. Mapping information will be updated every couple of months. All you need is a web-browser! For more information on editing and getting involved, please visit this useful webpage.