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Google Ride Finder Announced

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the cabbie-stalking dept.

nthitz writes "Need a ride? Now Google has included the ability to lookup where taxis are in real time! The new service is called Google Ride Finder. Using a combination of Google Maps and Google Local you can see where certain taxis are at the moment. Currently there are only 11 major cities that are supported, and there are still only a few cab companies that are involved. The service is pretty cool, but if they don't add more cities/companies, who knows how well it will do. For more info check out Google's Blog."

15 of 349 comments (clear)

  1. Would be nice for public transportation! by sjrstory · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Neat idea, but I'd like something that tracks public transportation vehicles. Accessible via a WAP browser, it would be a great thing to have while waiting at a bus stop at 3am wondering WHERE the frigg the bus is!

    1. Re:Would be nice for public transportation! by tjxn · · Score: 4, Informative

      I can do something close in Portland, Oregon... Accessing the Tri-Met website (www.tri-mer.org/wap) on my cell phone tells me how long until the bus I'm waiting for reaches my stop...

    2. Re:Would be nice for public transportation! by kyoko21 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually, a few years ago when I was at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg Transit had GPS units mounted on their buses which enabled the realtime display of the location of their buses. This was particularly neat because I could check at anytime from the website of where their buses were and I could run time my run to the bus stop. Unfortunately, they don't have this running on their site anymore... very sad :-/ Talk about 'big brother'.

    3. Re:Would be nice for public transportation! by artifex2004 · · Score: 4, Informative
      Does this just follow the schedule and add a bit to appease you? or does this actually track the busses and calculate in real time based upon the driver's habbits, road conditions, speed, etc. how long it will take to get there?


      That's an excellent point. Actually, unless Super Shuttle has changed its operations, the only regular stops here in Dallas, TX, are D/FW airport (I don't think it does Love Field) and several hotels. Anywhere else, you have to call the dispatcher, to send the shuttle by. So seeing who's near you is somewhat useless, for this company. Still, it's beta, and soon they may have some of the taxis on here, also.

      You know, some of these companies do already use GPS and radio uplinks to track their vehicles, so they don't have to calculate anything.
    4. Re:Would be nice for public transportation! by SoCalChris · · Score: 4, Informative

      Many cities that use the Siemens TransitMaster system have this capability. Here in Long Beach, Ca, we're getting it implemented within the next few months.

      http://www.ilgsystems.com/productservice-transit-t iswork.htm
      http://www.ilgsystems.com/productservice-transit-t isbus.htm

      Some of our busier stops, and the main transit hub downtown already have live feeds updated in real time displaying the next bus arrival & departure time. The system is dynamic, and figures in delays due to traffic, detours, or if the bus is running late for any other reasons. It is basically a stripped down version of the software used by our dispatchers.

  2. Yes but, can it find my keys? by rhennigan · · Score: 5, Funny

    Looks like they are getting closer and closer to being able to locate my keys in my house for me. Awesome.

    1. Re:Yes but, can it find my keys? by coastal984 · · Score: 5, Funny
      To hell with that, I want to google "Where's the remote?!?"

      *click 'I'm feeling Lucky'*

      "Living Room Sofa - left cushion, beside the molding popcorn, 2 pennies and a dime.... Sponsored links: Oreck Vacuums, Movie Time Popcorn, Discount Disinfectant Spray"

  3. Do they run too much? by delymyth · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sometimes I think Google is running too much and too fast.
    Google Maps and Google Local (thus Google Ride Finder too) are available only for US citizens.
    Services are fine, are good, are nice, and I'd like to see something similar for my area too (I live in Italy).
    My not-so-secret dream is that one day they'll extend all those great services to the rest of the world, maybe before launching tons of other services I would only look at saying "it would be nice to be able to use it..."

    Oh, well, I feel like I live in the third world :(

    --
    -- Personal Blog: http://www.delymyth.net/ (italian)
  4. Google Gmail April Fools: Infinity and Beyond Stor by snotclot · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Did anyone else see the GMAIL login page become this: well i'm not good enough to download the page, there's a funny handdrawn picture, but here's the text: Welcome to Gmail A Google approach to math. On the eve of Gmail's one-year birthday, our engineers were toiling away furiously. Notes scribbled all over the walls. Complex calculations on napkins and empty pizza boxes. Millions of M&Ms. The result?... starting today, we're beginning the roll-out of our new and top secret Infinity+1 storage plan. The key features are: Write, don't worry. You want to stop caring about storage. We want to keep giving you more. Today, and beyond. The gift that keeps on giving. 1102.353769 megabytes of storage (and counting) for every user. No complicated equations. No tough algorithms. Just this one graph: Gmail turns 1 today. And we've always loved a good joke. We know we won't reach infinity, but check out what we will do ... Gmail Sign In Username: Password: Don't ask for my password for 2 weeks. Forgot your password? Learn more about Gmail. Check out our new features! A few words about Gmail and privacy.

  5. Re:April 1st!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There are three types of people in the world.

    1. People who don't get April Fools jokes
    2. People who get April Fools jokes, and laugh at them but don't tell.
    3. People who get April Fools jokes and shout out "OMG I BET THATS AN APRIL FOOLS JOKE". They're incapable of running with a joke, they insist on pointing out the joke, and are also the same people who tell you your shoes are untied, and when you look go "HA HA GOTYA". They also get beaten a lot at school.

  6. Re:April 1st!!! by OverlordQ · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm coming back tomorrow when all the bogus crap is over.

    Ahahah, you must be new here, you'll be waiting alot longer then a day. :)

    --
    Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
  7. Still NO Distance Scale on Google Maps... by Ron+Bennett · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've contacted Google numerous times about the problem of no distance scale on Google Maps and yet still no distance scale; I mention this here since the Taxi finder feature is using Google Maps.

    Map makers, the ones that actually collected the data for the maps Google, etc uses, know how important scale is for both creating an accurate map *and* as well as for the user of the map ... without a distance scale on the map, the user is left wondering how far two points are - distance is important in determing whether one has enough gas, money, time, etc to get to the intended destinaton.

    In short, Google Maps is nice, but without a distance scale, it's of limited usefulness.

    If anyone from Google is reading this, please chime in regarding this matter - thanks in advance.

    Ron Bennett

    1. Re:Still NO Distance Scale on Google Maps... by IronChef · · Score: 4, Funny

      Holy fuck, you emailed a big company--numerous times--and they did not implement your feature request?

      I gotta go lie down, my head is spinning.

  8. Google Gulp Anyone? by porp · · Score: 5, Funny


    Screw the Taxi tracker. I'm looking forward to a Google Gulp, found here. My favorite bit:

    From forest to freezer: A Google Gulp history

    It is estimated that nearly half of Planet Earth's plant and animal species live in tropical rain forests, the vast majority of them undiscovered by humans and therefore not yet subjected to commercial exploitation. For Google, this cornucopia of undigitized data represented an irresistible acquisition target. So, for the past two years, as his 20% project, VP of operations Urs Hoelzle has spent one day a week collecting flora samples in several Bolivian sub-equatorial rain forests. For the most part, the compounds he returned with were nothing special - the usual grab-bag of future steroids, muscle relaxants, skin care appliqués and long-shot cancer drugs.

    I bet Google Gulps are good with vodka. Shit, anything is good with vodka.

    porp

  9. Re:Google Gmail April Fools: Infinity and Beyond S by SchnauzerGuy · · Score: 4, Informative
    The counter started at midnight (EST), April 1st with the value of 1000 megabytes and will run until 6AM (EST), April 2nd, and will end with an value of "over 2000 megabytes of storage".
    var START = 1112331600000;
    var END = 1112439600000;

    function updateQuota() {
    if (!quota) {
    return;
    }

    var now = (new Date()).getTime();
    if (now < START) {
    setTimeout(updateQuota, 1000);
    } else if (now > END) {
    quota.innerHTML = 'Over 2000';
    } else {
    quota.innerHTML = format(((now - START)/(END - START)*1025) + 1025);
    setTimeout(updateQuota, 50);
    }
    }