TravelTime Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a TravelTime-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI Workbench support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
Last updated:
The TravelTime Isochrone API calculates reachable areas within a specified travel time and supports various transportation modes. The simplest endpoint is /v4/time-map/fast for quick responses. Additional parameters and countries are available via /v4/time-map. The REST API base URL is https://api.traveltimeapp.com/v4 and all requests require Application ID and API Key (header or query param) for authentication.
dlt is an open-source Python library that handles authentication, pagination, and schema evolution automatically. dlthub provides AI context files that enable code assistants to generate production-ready pipelines. Install with uv pip install "dlt[workspace]" and start loading TravelTime data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from TravelTime?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from TravelTime:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| isochrones | v4/time-map | GET | results | Returns isochrone polygons based on simple query parameters. |
| routes | v4/routes | GET | results | Provides routing information between locations. |
| geocoding_search | v4/geocoding | GET | results | Geocoding / place search endpoint. |
| isochrones_fast | v4/time-map/fast | POST | results | High‑performance isochrone generation (POST preferred). |
| isochrones_fast_get | v4/time-map/fast | GET* | results | GET variant exists but is limited; POST is recommended. |
How do I authenticate with the TravelTime API?
Authentication uses an Application ID and API Key. For POST requests prefer headers X-Application-Id and X-Api-Key; GET endpoints also accept app_id and api_key as query parameters.
1. Get your credentials
- Sign in or create a free account at https://account.traveltime.com. 2) In the developer dashboard go to API credentials / Applications. 3) Create or select an application to reveal your Application ID and API Key. 4) Copy the values and use them as X-Application-Id and X-Api-Key headers (or app_id and api_key query params for GET).
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.traveltime_source] app_id = "YOUR_APP_ID_HERE" api_key = "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
dlt reads this automatically at runtime — never hardcode tokens in your pipeline script. For production environments, see setting up credentials with dlt for environment variable and vault-based options.
How do I set up and run the pipeline?
Set up a virtual environment and install dlt:
uv venv && source .venv/bin/activate uv pip install "dlt[workspace]"
1. Install the dlt AI Workbench:
dlt ai init --agent <your-agent> # <agent>: claude | cursor | codex
This installs project rules, a secrets management skill, appropriate ignore files, and configures the dlt MCP server for your agent. Learn more →
2. Install the rest-api-pipeline toolkit:
dlt ai toolkit rest-api-pipeline install
This loads the skills and context about dlt the agent uses to build the pipeline iteratively, efficiently, and safely. The agent uses MCP tools to inspect credentials — it never needs to read your secrets.toml directly. Learn more →
3. Start LLM-assisted coding:
Use /find-source to load data from the TravelTime API into DuckDB.
The rest-api-pipeline toolkit takes over from here — it reads relevant API documentation, presents you with options for which endpoints to load, and follows a structured workflow to scaffold, debug, and validate the pipeline step by step.
4. Run the pipeline:
python traveltime_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline traveltime_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset traveltime_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/traveltime.duckdb location to store data Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs
Inspect your pipeline and data:
dlt pipeline traveltime_pipeline show
This opens the Pipeline Dashboard where you can verify pipeline state, load metrics, schema (tables, columns, types), and query the loaded data directly.
Python pipeline example
This example loads isochrones and isochrones_fast from the TravelTime API into DuckDB. It mirrors the endpoint and data selector configuration from the table above:
import dlt from dlt.sources.rest_api import RESTAPIConfig, rest_api_resources @dlt.source def traveltime_source(app_key_pair=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://api.traveltimeapp.com/v4", "auth": { "type": "api_key", "api_key": app_key_pair, }, }, "resources": [ {"name": "isochrones", "endpoint": {"path": "v4/time-map", "data_selector": "results"}}, {"name": "isochrones_fast", "endpoint": {"path": "v4/time-map/fast", "data_selector": "results"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="traveltime_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="traveltime_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(traveltime_source()) print(load_info)
To add more endpoints, append entries from the resource table to the "resources" list using the same name, path, and data_selector pattern.
How do I query the loaded data?
Once the pipeline runs, dlt creates one table per resource. You can query with Python or SQL.
Python (pandas DataFrame):
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("traveltime_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.isochrones.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM traveltime_data.isochrones LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("traveltime_pipeline").dataset() data.isochrones.df().head()
See how to explore your data in marimo Notebooks and how to query your data in Python with dataset.
What destinations can I load TravelTime data to?
dlt supports loading into any of these destinations — only the destination parameter changes:
| Destination | Example value |
|---|---|
| DuckDB (local, default) | "duckdb" |
| PostgreSQL | "postgres" |
| BigQuery | "bigquery" |
| Snowflake | "snowflake" |
| Redshift | "redshift" |
| Databricks | "databricks" |
| Filesystem (S3, GCS, Azure) | "filesystem" |
Change the destination in dlt.pipeline(destination="snowflake") and add credentials in .dlt/secrets.toml. See the full destinations list.
Next steps
Continue your data engineering journey with the other toolkits of the dltHub AI Workbench:
data-exploration— Build custom notebooks, charts, and dashboards for deeper analysis with marimo notebooks.dlthub-runtime— Deploy, schedule, and monitor your pipeline in production.
dlt ai toolkit data-exploration install dlt ai toolkit dlthub-runtime install
Was this page helpful?
Community Hub
Need more dlt context for TravelTime?
Request dlt skills, commands, AGENT.md files, and AI-native context.