This Hacked Picture Frame Will Show You the Fastest Way Home From Work

In order to check the fastest way to or from your job (or wherever you want to go), you could log on to Google Maps or another such traffic service for relevant data. Then again, if you need to go to the same place over and over, how cool would it be to have a display that shows you what your best route is at a glance?

That’s exactly what hacker Brian Lough did for about $25 in parts, as shown in the video seen below. His heavily-modified picture frame traces several routes from one place to another, and lights the best one on a map using programmable LEDs.

Routes are displayed based on data pulled from Google Maps via an ESP8266 module, and the LED colors change depending on actual traffic conditions. A 7-segment display compliments the route display, alternating between the travel time and the current time of day.

Want to build your own? You can find more details on the project here.