Mornings are a sprint against the clock, especially when you’re sipping coffee and dreading the commute. Traffic jams can turn a short drive into a headache and checking apps beforehand isn’t always on your radar. Michael Rechtin, an inventor, has reimagined the coffee table, turning it into a live traffic map for Cincinnati.
Rechtin built the table with clean, strong mitered joints and coated it with polyurethane for a glossy finish. Four sturdy legs make it a practical addition to any living room. But the real star is the top. A detailed map of Cincinnati, cut with precision by a CNC machine, lies under a glass surface, showing roads and rivers with care. It’s a tribute to the city’s layout, but what makes this table special is the tech inside.
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LEDs light up the map, showing traffic conditions in real time. Green glows mean clear roads, red means backups, pulling live data from Cincinnati’s streets. Beyond traffic, the table can display five different light animations, making it a showstopper even when you’re not planning your drive. It’s the kind of thing that makes you want to linger, watching the city’s rhythm in glowing colors.
Building this table wasn’t easy. Combining LEDs with a wooden frame and glass top required careful work. Rechtin had to line up the map with the lighting system perfectly, which meant exact planning during the CNC cutting. Getting reliable traffic data was another challenge—live updates need a steady link to external APIs, which can be tough to keep consistent. But the final product feels smooth, blending hands-on craftsmanship with smart tech.
One idea to make the table even better is to add predictive traffic data, showing not just what’s happening now but what the roads will look like in 30 minutes. In places like the Netherlands, services like TomTom offer traffic speeds for every 100-meter stretch, updated every minute. While that kind of data requires a subscription, it shows how the table could be an even sharper tool.
Another idea was to set LEDs into the map’s roads, using a CNC mill to drill tiny, precise holes tied to specific GPS points. A layer of resin could then seal it all into a smooth, tough surface. Rechtin’s current design uses a simpler LED setup, but these ideas show how the concept could get even more impressive.
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