Space-Time diagrams are crucial schematics for organizing railway traffic. However, their symbolic representation hides the reality of the railway infrastructure that supports the traffic. In Open Source Railway Designer, we found it necessary to enhance the context related to the 'space' component of this diagram.

We developed a custom projection, bending a map to position the origin at the bottom, the destination at the top, and the path relatively straight in between. The outcomes reveal a vertically aligned map following the Space-Time diagram, but with precise infrastructure details alongside geographic context using Open Street Map data.

This presentation will delve into the technique, discussing the calculations, implementation methods, as well as my experience navigating this challenge as a graphics developer without domain knowledge.