How many street lights does Bordeaux Métropole have?

Close to 38,000 street lights are mapped across the area covered, combining OpenStreetMap with Bordeaux Métropole open data.

What does a pale yellow street mean?

That its lighting is inferred rather than recorded: there are street lights nearby, but the street itself is not explicitly described as lit in the data.

Is lighting taken into account when planning a route?

Yes. Sécu’Cycle factors lighting into each segment's safety score, which shapes the routes it suggests, particularly for night-time journeys.

Do street lights stay on all night?

Not everywhere. Several municipalities switch off some or all of their lighting in the middle of the night. The map shows where street lights are, not when they are on.

Street lighting in Bordeaux

Which streets are lit at night in Bordeaux? This map combines close to 38,000 recorded street lights with the streets identified as lit, so you can see at a glance which routes are workable after dark.

Interactive map in Bordeaux — street lighting.

Two complementary layers

The first layer is a density map: the brighter and more yellow an area, the more street lights it has. It gives an overall reading of the network — a dense city centre, thinning out towards the edges of the urban area.

The second layer draws the streets themselves. A solid line marks a street whose lighting is explicitly recorded; a paler line marks lighting inferred from nearby street lights or from an adjacent lit street.

Riding safely at night

Street lighting is no substitute for bike lights, which remain compulsory: a white light at the front, a red one at the rear, reflectors, and a reflective vest outside built-up areas at night.

In Bordeaux as elsewhere, several municipalities switch their lighting off in the middle of the night, to save energy and protect wildlife. A street marked as lit may therefore be dark at two in the morning.

Where the data comes from

Street lights come from OpenStreetMap, densified by the “Points lumineux” dataset published by Bordeaux Métropole. Duplicates between the two sources are discarded automatically.

Frequently asked questions

How many street lights does Bordeaux Métropole have?: Close to 38,000 street lights are mapped across the area covered, combining OpenStreetMap with Bordeaux Métropole open data.
What does a pale yellow street mean?: That its lighting is inferred rather than recorded: there are street lights nearby, but the street itself is not explicitly described as lit in the data.
Is lighting taken into account when planning a route?: Yes. Sécu’Cycle factors lighting into each segment's safety score, which shapes the routes it suggests, particularly for night-time journeys.
Do street lights stay on all night?: Not everywhere. Several municipalities switch off some or all of their lighting in the middle of the night. The map shows where street lights are, not when they are on.

Sources and licences

OpenStreetMap — collected via Overpass · openstreetmap.org · ODbL
Points lumineux — Bordeaux Métropole · opendata.bordeaux-metropole.fr · Licence Ouverte

Each dataset and its licence are listed on the Data sources page.

Other maps in Bordeaux

Street lighting in other cities

Street lighting in Nantes