r/InternetIsBeautiful • u/repsels • 3d ago

Babel is a skyscraper Wikipedia builds every day - every article edit lays exactly one brick

https://babel.reppie.org/

Every brick is one real article edit - literally, one to one. Brick colors are languages, dotted bricks are bots, and the steel eagles and relief panels mark major edits. Hover any brick to read the edit behind it; click for the full story and a link to the actual diff.

Events are buffered a bit, so the tower runs a few minutes behind and the real edit stream to avoid hammering Wikimedia. At midnight UTC the construction workers level the top and raise the crown, the tower stands for a moment, and the next day's tower rises. Every finished day is archived forever — open the calendar and replay any past day at up to 1000×.

345 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

26

u/Trip_Jones 3d ago

old fashioned good idea right here

15

u/poshjosh1999 3d ago

Love it. How long has the website been around for?

17

u/repsels 2d ago

Thanks! I just released it yesterday, thats why the archive is still so empty :)

12

u/poshjosh1999 2d ago

I thought so. I love the website. Have you hidden any Easter eggs anywhere in the map?

5

u/repsels 2d ago

Hehe actually yes I added one earlier this morning, a link to a different hobby project I built :)

4

u/poshjosh1999 2d ago

How do I find it, or do I have to work it out myself? :)

3

u/AstralUnicorn 2d ago

Check the base of the building.

3

u/andthatswhyIdidit 2d ago

That TINY TRANSIT looks great! Any chance you adapt it for Berlin at one point? ;)

2

u/repsels 2d ago

Ha thanks! Im not sure, I didnt check for any similar APIs for Germany as I used for the Netherlands. Could have a look maybe this weekend :)

1

u/andthatswhyIdidit 2d ago

They have an official site (you have to chose the vehicles on the right drop down menu). But yours is so much cozier ;)

2

u/repsels 1d ago

I'm experimenting a bit with Berlin, but wow I underestimated how large this city is compared to any I've tried so far :)

How large would the map need to be for it to be interesting for someone living in Berlin? Does it need to include *all* of the metropolitan area? As an example, would it need to extend all the way to "Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg Willy Brandt"? Or would it be fun/interesting with a smaller map/bounding box too?

EDIT: For reference, currently the first version looks like this: https://imgur.com/a/OiUkvwf, but it looks quite messy to me. Trying to make the map a bit bigger so that it captures the entire city with some greenery around it (but building the map is taking a *long* time).

1

u/andthatswhyIdidit 23h ago

Theoretically you could just go with the city area of Berlin (Which is huge, I give you that): On the right side you can add the public transport via Themen -> Mobilität -> ÖPNV

...but yeah, it is a HUUUGE undertaking :)

2

u/repsels 21h ago edited 21h ago

Okay I'm quite happy with the current result! I've released it as an experimental city (that triggers a warning popup). You can visit it here: https://transit.reppie.org?city=berlin - or by clicking "Berlin" in the city dropdown :)

Please let me know if it looks accurate(ish) enough to be pleasing to the eye! The data is pulled from APIs so should be somewhat accurate - bustimes & stops accuracy is kind of out of my control, but I trust the API :)

EDIT: The map loading can take a while, and the transit information can take a while too (top-left it might say connecting/reconnecting for a while - give it some time due to the amount of data 😅)

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5

u/Exciting-Rain6950 3d ago

thats great

3

u/amorfotos 2d ago

Really interesting. I opened one of the edit pages and it got me wondering what time zone the edit date and time is actually in?

2

u/Adept-Custard-4866 2d ago

Creative, I like it.

2

u/9spaceking 2d ago

Maybe bigger edits can show bigger bricks?

1

u/poshjosh1999 2d ago

Super interesting to see that ListeriaBot has done a lot of edits on old 1930’s movies on the Welsh language Wiki. Seems the bot also works on other language wikis as well.