Slashdot Mirror

Us who live by YTV Reittiopas should now demand a standardised geolocation API in browser-side JavaScript, and its adoption by websites like this journey planner. Imagine, requesting a route from where you are now, at the click of a button. Web browsers in mobile devices make this possible.

I would be suprised if jet fuel makes up .01% of CO2 emissions. Heating (35%), Electricity (42%), and Car Traffic (19%) together make up 96% of green house gas emissions.[1] This is just a convienent sales tactic to make people feel about themselves without actually doing anything. [1] http://www.ytv.fi/ENG/future/climate_change/greenhouse_gas_emissions/frontpage.htm

But I'm one of those people who's lucky enough to not have an addictive personality. I didn't get addicted to IRC or the 'net. I can go weeks without logging into a computer outside of work without any problem. When my laptop (my only computer) crashed at home two months ago, I puttered for a few weeks before even bothering to reinstall the OS

Nice! The one in Helsinki metropolitan area looks like this.

Note that existing contactless technology is sufficient for this credit card, with a maximum range of up to 10cm. Such technology is supposedly already in use in Europe. (Europeans care to share your experiences?)

I don't know about credit cards, but my Travel card for commuting uses some kind of induction tech.

It's in use in the Helsinki region, with at least half a million of users (probably more). Given that the card is 70 euros a month I would guess cracking whatever encryption it uses is quite hard, I've never heard of a sigle case of anyone being able to load travel time or value illicitly. The cards also work very reliably, including below the freezing point.

The working radius, as noted in another comment, is something like 10cm.

I recently talked with one of the people who designed and maintain the Helsinki region Journey Planner. According to him the problem is that walking route data is not commercially available. They have had to go over all their route data, add piles of paths, remove one way streets (this is automatic) and also interconnect places where roads are only blocked from cars. The only reason they can do this at all is that all that they have separate special markings for the public transport routes that form the rest of the system. Otherwise there would be no way in most current mapping systems to know whether a route is accessible by foor, bicycle, car or a combination of the three.

As most users of mapping systems are planning driving routes, there probably isn't much commercial incentive for walking route data except maybe for some specific large cities.

You definitely should've mentioned Scandinavia being way ahead of US technologically. Those robot vacuum cleaners are available in all major stores here. Nordea used to be world's largest e-bank for several years in a row (and has been pioneering in real life Internet payment systems). I really haven't used cash money at all during the past 2 years. Cell phone network coverage is 100% here. Public transportation system just works (and applies cool technology, such as smart cards, SMS tickets, natural gas buses, automatic route planning, ultra-high speed electrical trains, freely available bikes, GSM coverage in the subway). Someone already mentioned CPUs in washing machines, but tell you what; we have CPUs even in the kitchen sink. We've had an official citizen's electronic ID (smart card, certificate) for a few years. Theres's tunnel for cross-country skiing enthusiasts.
We're planning to build more nuclear power.

Yes, Americans have bigger houses, cheaper gas, longer distance to closest neighbour and stuff, but that these things can hardly be considered as technological advances.

I completety agree with you on the better quality of life in most parts of Western Europe.