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Yahoo! Maps to Support Realtime Traffic
squidfrog writes "Yahoo is set to support realtime traffic overlays for its existing Yahoo! Maps program. 'Yahoo's dynamic maps draw on real-time traffic information from metropolitan transportation departments and private providers, including embedded road sensors, traffic cameras, police scanners, and traffic helicopters. Yahoo declined to identify the exact sources of its traffic data... Roadways are colored green, yellow and red, to highlight the normal movement of traffic, minor delays or severe road congestion. A user can hover over a stretch of road to view details of impediments.'"
Fantastic, now we have to deal with people stopping to gawk at accidents on the road AND on the internet. JUST DRIVE BY IT! DON'T LOOK! What's wrong with you people!?
The local radio can't even get the traffic patterns right, what makes Yahoo! think they can do better?
Video Production Support
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/seattle/
and you can even get it on mobile devices:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/seattle/products/
Apparently my area is not available yet...and I live in the biggest city in NH.
Now if only they can get the maps right!
I hope they tie into emergency services too and show lazily rendered orange flames coming from the windows of any burning buildings.
Come to think about it, how about a Average Income Overlay while we're at it so I know where to look for cheap girls. Er, for cheap monitors.
vicious, untreated political sewage...niche entertainment for the spiritually unattractive...worshipless pap
Well, I live in the biggest city in my province, and I bet I'll have to wait longer than you do. Thats why I live in an apartment next to a major roadway, I don't need no stinking Yahoo to see real time traffic patterns, I just open the shades. :P
Frylock: "We should have cloned twenties, Jackson wouldn't have given a fuck."
I'm going to bet it's because some company is getting data from all the sensors and "traffic center" infrastructure we paid for.
I seriously doubt they have to pay anything for it aside from maybe the cost of a leased line...and I doubt Yahoo gets it for free from said company. Someone's making a lot of bucks off equipment and staff we pay for...even assuming costs for processing the data.
Interestingly, I was just driving down Route 3 here in MA, and noticed that they finally had finished most of the construction for widening the road. Also installed- cameras. The tilt-pan-zoom kind. About every mile or so. In between, or sometimes on the same pole, some sort of antenna box pointed at the road, probably to sense how fast cars are moving by.
Someone want to explain to me how a camera reduces traffic? Considering they have no dynamic ways to alter traffic patterns, seems like a royal fucking waste of money and something bound to be abused.
Please help metamoderate.
Maybe Yahoo! should fix their mapping software first. Whenever I use them to find out how to get from point A to point B, they always seem to give me directions with a longer route rather than the shortest one. Same thing with Mapquest.
Yahoo's chat'n'maps applet draws on the win32 clients real-time web-surfing information from metropolitan users and private sectors, including embedded mouse sensors, usb cameras, sniffers, and packet helicopters. Yahoo declined to identify the exact sources of its dll's... and will prove to be a pain in the ass to remove even with a sophisticated spyware removal program. A user can stand over the burnt and charred remains of his CPU after he installs Yahoo's chat'n'maps to view details of impediments.
TRAFFIC WARNING -
Traffic in this city is expanding.
The commuters are getting militant.
Highway shootings are on the rise.
Either build more roads and rails or get a bulletproof limo.
We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
Looking at the country map, it seems that this only covers the larger metropolitan areas, so far.
So don't get too excited if you happen to be from a place like Mianus, Connecticut.
Instead of just showing road traffic and only offering driving directions, Yahoo could make using public transportation easier by offering directions using buses, subways, and commuter rails as an option. It would allow people to use public transportation without having to spend a lot of time figuring out all the different bus routes and schedules. Maybe it would reduce the traffic a bit.
Wonderfully readable URLs these people use:
h %2 C+PA+15217-3040&state=PA&uzip=15217&ds=n&name=&des c=&ed=T0qRZep_0Tr4Np7V.TbRpftsXKUsg.181R_6HssRgbH4 .yRRzOjaX0DeuaWWJS56AXckQ40QmpAModdDHtclDakA.aSV.z FfQG0V3OHy5Mk_pwdSUUJlFw--&zoomin=yes&BFKey=&mag=2 &resize=s&cat=trav&trf=1#mapcontent
http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?csz=Pittsburg
Sim City is reality!
I have freaks! I did something right...
I would imagine that this service is already available elsewhere. Googling "traffic conditions" with various city names usually turns up decent results.
Many major metropolitan areas have government agencies devoted to controlling traffic; their websites might also be a good place to look.
The WMATA RideGuide lets you enter a starting point and a destination and offers you multiple routes using rail, buses and walking.
Google doesn't index user sigs, so stop trying to "Google Bomb" with them.
Where this traffic information come from? This seems like something that you local department of transportation should be providing, but the only thing I can find on the Florida DOT (I live near Orlando) website is this map (http://www3.dot.state.fl.us/trafficinformation/) which is scant on any real data. The only sources of substantive information are local news stations or http://www.traffic.com/.
Why doesn't the DOT release traffic reports in XML just like the NOAA does now with weather reports?
Traffic.com also posts realtime traffic flow information, and they say they get their data from these sources.
-- Fratz, human
A popular and useful service would be to point out the locations of current radar traps and Fourth Amendment violating DUI checkpoints. Of course, this might cause the flow of data from municipalities to dry up pretty quickly once it started impacting government revenue negatively.
I too have felt the cold finger of injustice.
I want my navigation system to adjust to unforeseen (realtime) traffic data and re-route me when appropriate, but the most important thing is for it to calculate an effective top speed for each potential road along the path, based on their historical flow data on various days of the week, holidays, and at various times of day. That way, it may realize that a 35MPH side-road that parallels the highway is actually faster than the 65MPH highway at 4:00PM on days when there's some sporting event going on. Prevents me from having to know this stuff :)
Yes, I still want to actually drive the car, thank you very much :)
-- Fratz, human
I have a hard time believing how slowly online maps are progressing.
I don't care about traffic info, I can get that myself, elsewhere, but online maps don't even ALLOW you to request an alternate route. You have time and distance to choose from, and that's all.
While I'm complaining, let's talk about the weather channel's web-site. They show you the weather over the major freeways in the country, but it is horrendous at predicting anything. It simply takes today's weather, and assumes everything will be less severe every day after... It's perfectly consistent in this behavior, even when their own forecast know, a week in advance, that the weather is actually going to get worse.
And radio stations are no better. All the "highway stations" tell you a little bit about traffic if you tune-in at the right time, but never anything about bad weather. I was driving directly into the path of a 300mile blizzard, and I didn't have a clue. Even after there was a massive accident that completely blocked the freeway, none of the new media reported (or knew) about it until the next day.
It seems like everything we have in-place is completely impotent. It's even that forecasts are bad, it's that all the information that is well-known is kept isolated, and only provided to the people that need to know about it the MOST, after everything is over.
These are all VERY, VERY simple and easy things, yet nobody has bothered to do it. I think this is clearly an indication of what happens when media outlets are consolidated, reduced to doing nothing but imitating the competition, etc.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
South Carolina, and, I'll bet, other states, make traffic webcams available on the internet. I want something like this, but with actual video (instead of stills apparently taken at random intervals) and on my Clie. That way I can actually see the road conditions/traffic congestion and decide where and whether to change my route.
I have taken the source of the traffic images from my local transportation website and hosted them on a page so I don't have to click on each section of the map. Saves me a lot of time. I know many people do this. Feel free to use this webpage I have setup if you take the Don Valley Parkway, Gardiner, and QEW. Also the traffic flow map located at the top of that website is handy.
http://3dnewsnet.com/drive.htm
TMC
Traffic Message Channel is a pretty successful system in some European countries that transmits current traffic conditions via the RDS (radio data system) components of standard FM radio station broadcasting. Provided with a special GPS receiver (which basically includes a FM radio) users in Europe can let Navigon adjust it's routing decisions based on the incoming TMC messages. In the US the picture is very different. Every metropole has its own traffic messaging system, they are all incompatible, and most of them are not free services anyhow. As a result the OnCourse Navigator program has left out the TMC functionality. If you come over from Europe and use your MN|4 with the maps of OnCourse Navigator then keep in mind that TMC is of no use here.
I looked at the info for the Metro Phoenix area and it seems to only have data for the freeways and not suface streets.
Further to that it seems to have them all listed as a fairly uniform near zero speed which is definitely not the case right now (about 10:15pm on a Saturday).
Even people that believe in pre-destiny look both ways before crossing the street.
Mapquest is worse than Yahoo, but they both are years out of date for the roads in my neighborhood and both are useless in giving directions to our house. A railroad that was taken out some ten years ago and converted to a bike path is still on Mapquest. Both maps show a road that has been closed and don't have a new road that replaces it hundreds of yards away.
Last year I was scanning Popular Science and saw an ad for a Garmin GPS with a street map on the color display. Lo and behold, it was centered on my house, but it was screwed up as I related above. We wrote to them and told them that if they really used that map, people would be getting lost in my area if they used their unit since that road isn't there any more and, oh, about that railroad.. They replied that they'd be in contact with their map source (Looks like Mapquest) and would be sure to get it corrected... Over a year later, it's still inaccurate.
I can understand that it's a huge task to keep things like that updated, but when you get information handed to you about inaccurace, you'd think it'd get fixed within a few months.
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
The trip planner is a wonderful companion to Portland's (tri-metropolitan) transportation system of busses and light rail.
http://tri-met.org/.
There are also lots of bike paths that are neatly mapped somewhere, but I don't have a link.
"I want a map service that says "Travel advisory: Avoid I-57. 1274 blondes at this moment on I-57" :)"
What is this I-57 you speak of? And why wasn't I alerted of the high concentration of blondes there before getting married?
Traffic Map
The sending of this message pretty much inconveniences everyone involved.
Note: Some of these URLs are other cities too.
:)
TANN
Sigalert.com
Metrocommute
MSN Autos
CHP Traffic Incident Info.
Caltrans Realtime Freeway Speed Map (Java)
Any more I missed for Los Angeles area?
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Can it suggest an alternate route if the shortest route has heavy traffic?
Make me a friend and I'll mod you up
I think you fail to see the problem in this. If there was something that good it would be like the IPod for cars. Then everyone is using it but they are all rerouting because they think each other is going the other direction. What is really needed is some sort of automated transportation like in Minority Report where the cars drive together so a central place and regulate traffic. But I say do it anyway because as long as I go the normal way by the time i get there all you with your fancy maps will stuck in a traffic jam of your own creation.
just because your a schizophrenic doesn't mean people arn't really out to get you
I noticed this a few days ago and it's been GREAT so far.
:)
Uh, it doesn't suggest alternate routes, though. So I see "Hmm, Hwy 880 is, as usual, fucked." but can find no way around it.
On the bright side, the "Show local Starbucks" works.. I can sit around and wait out the traffic.
Anytime there are flashing lights, or people by the side of the road you need to slow down. Doesn't matter that it is on the other side, slow down. You never know when an emergency vehicle is going to be doing a Uie and coming out in front of you, or up behind you. You never know (until you are there) that there isn't a car that skidded across your side.
For that matter, you never know what the car next to you is really gawking, and will run into you - you need the extra reaction time a slow speed allows. (not to mention less energy involved if you are hit) So slow down for safety's sake when there is an incident.
This is nice, but the good people over at Something Awful beat them to it four years ago!
Bít, zabít, jen proto, ze su liska!
yes
Nothing for you to see here, Please move along.
big fleshy deal, you get the same on radio, mobile phones and police check posts...
Not only do we have to worry about idiots on cell phones and putting on makeup during rush hour but now commuters on thier laptops as well.
I can wait for the law banning laptop use as well as any and all cyborg implantations to be banned from the roads under penalty of death.
Well at least the buses.
Found at Metrokc.gov
The Tweak Files: Sanity is for t
This may have been accelerated by the launch of Google's partner Map24.com.
Apparently only the US and Canada exist at the moment. I wonder if they will expand to the rest of the world?
RebateFX.com - Spread rebates for Forex traders
You MARRIED a blonde you lucky dork :)
The global economy is a great thing until you feel it locally.
I just checked Sixth street in Downtown Austin, TX at 1:30 am. The map indicates 'minor traffic'. Funny thing, that street is closed with barricades at this time of night on a weekend.
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
This isn't Yahoo's fault or anything, but I'll check the traffic before I leave for school and everything is fine and dandy. Then I hit certain sections on my commute and there is a nice backup with no forewarning. This is around noon, so no radio stations are broadcasting traffic. Basically, it leaves me screwed. I dunno, just ticks me off.
Looks like it might need some work, still. Maybe they should re-stamp BETA on this one:
hmm.
Fire, on TRYON ST at REET Close
Severity: 4
Direction: SB
31 December 2004 Friday Downtown Countdown at Tryon and Trade Streets. Come ring in the New Year starting with a family event from 11am to 1:30pm. Sponsored by Radio Disney. Beginning at 9pm, there will be live music, dancing, fireworks and a countdown clock to bring a taste of Times Square to Charlotte's Center City.
Reported Time:
Wed Nov 24 07:25:00 2004
Estimated End Time:
Sun Jan 02 05:30:00 2005
'If you're flammable and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit.'
So when's some squad of geeks taking the streets to block traffic in just the right places paint out a big red "SLASHDOT" accross the map of a major metropolitan area? Helluva of a screenshot that would be.
...when will they finally integrate "Not Getting Me F%&#ing Lost" technology? Expedia.com is far superior; Yahoo! Maps never failed to get me lost.
In Atlanta Georgia, we have already had this for a while. www.georgia-navigator.com it comes complete with text messaging to your cell/pda about accidents, etc. You can even see the image from any traffic camera. They've done a good job. The site is often slow but as for spending tax dollars in a way that helps the community, this is leaps and bounds ahead of other metro areas.
ha, cooool!
people can now go out, armed with laptops sitting at well-known unsecured WiFi points, coordinating traffic blocking exercises at choke points in order to deliberately cause gridlock - AND they can verify within minutes whether they've done it correctly.
coool!
The wonderul privacy country where I come from (the UK, AKA "CCTV Capital of the World") have multiple cameras on roads, mainly motorways and A-(main)Roads. They're mainly used to monitor traffic remotely, and reduce the need for police patrols. They don't directly reduce the traffic, but the information they provide is used on radio reports etc. A side effect of the proliferation of cameras has been the availability to the public - you can access nearly all of the cameras via the BBC websites - London alone must have well over 50 you can look at ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/travel/jamcams/camloco /camlist.shtml ).
This won't last long. The government will step in and declare this confidential info. No one wants terrorists to have this info too!
-- No sig for you!
We have this since about 1999 without any adverts, e.g. here:
e etmapDesign.php?karte=1&java=1&area=260&land=Nordr hein-Westfalen&map=Nordrhein-Westfalen&auswahl=&pa rtstartX=37&partstartY=93&partendX=108&partendY=15 7&status=zoomBox
http://www.wdr.de/themen/verkehr/verkehrslage/str
IAAL
Does the map start showing little car icons when the traffic reaches 35 cars/minute? I think Chicago should start building more Bus Depots--they can absorb up to half of the total traffic.
In California, many of the highways are already "wired" - they can in fact tell you in real time how traffic is flowing in certain areas, and this info is available to the public.
Oregon Department of Transportation has a similar site (and will also be displaying info from WaDOT in the near future). A map display of current traffic conditions as well as links to traffic cameras, roadside weather stations and construction and incident data can be found at www.tripcheck.com.
http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?csz=Charlotte%2C +NC&state=NC&uzip=28202&ds=n&name=&desc=&ed=ZmqqR. p_0Tol2K1o94tozZKOm8y2Y4UWMv9nfsUOXmXck.GJK_VeuWmd 4ZeDCnuszT6aVdPGBrFJ8FnjYc2U0rs-&zoomin=yes&BFKey= &mag=4&resize=s&cat=shop&trf=1#mapcontent
That's nice isn't it? An advertisement for a new years party in Charlotte, NC where there's a severe report of a fire.
I'm not sure that's a party I want to be going to if they're already reporting a fire and it's a couple of weeks away. Sounds like someone has something planned...
Dear parent,
The cameras are there not because of any DOT initiative, but because a virus from outer space infected the DOT workers who then got two jobs to pay for the camera infrastructure themselves, unbeknownst to any oversight panel.
But seriously, I think a really good application for cameras would be to have a video display on the side of the road, displaying traffic conditions at the the next exit. Ergo, to give you an opportunity to get off at the exit which is half a mile ahead of you. Would be incredibly expensive right now.. but maybe not in the future.
Cheers
I'm not complaining about marrying one! I'm just saying - it's just good karma to alert a single guy to clusters of blondes :)
The roads approaching the George Washington Bridge from New Jersey have those giant signs with yellow light bulbs in an array that tells you the time to the bridge tolls. They're always wrong, but they're there.
Video Production Support
Just wait till somebody used it to get High Resolution pics of Dead bodies from high orbit. What an amazing world we are about to live in.
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
I purchased a small, cheap CB radio a while ago, and it's wonderful for finding out traffic conditions. Just listen in on the channels that the truckers usually chat on (19 is the main one in my area). Just this morning I heard one guy asking about a slowdown on the highway I take to work, so I immediatly cut across to the secondary road, and was at the office 25 minutes before a co-worker who travels the same section of that road.
Incidentally, I had never seen a picture of her before. She definitely has a face for radio. ;)
Be that as it may, her reports are the most accurate, timely, and informative of any traffic reporter I have ever heard. We're talking a precise location of each incident, the current delay in each direction, and which alternate routes are good or bad choices.
Lisa Baden is the queen of DC traffic, and to call her merely "accurate" would be insulting.
"Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them." -- David Brent