Track Zurich’s trains in real time at SwissTrains.ch

by Justin Glow on

I don’t live anywhere near Switzerland, but this Google Maps mashup from SwissTrains.ch makes me wish I did.

The map is a real-time visualization of public transportation in Zurich, showing exactly where all trains in the city are at any given time. Oddly enough, the system isn’t GPS-driven. Instead, it’s based on the timetables, “as Swiss trains are almost always on time.” Makes sense. Hovering over the icons as they zip around town shows the train’s name, next stop, and current speed. Eventually the system will factor in delays based on data parsed from the official website of the national railway company in Switzerland.

This home-brewed, unofficial tool should definitely be the model for other city’s public transportation websites. It’s fun to watch, and I can only imagine how useful it is for someone who relies on public transportation in Zurich on a daily basis.

[Via Grow-a-Brain]

Geo-tagging photographs with a GPS unit

by Neil Woodburn on

I’m usually pretty good at remembering where I took each and every photograph. Or so I thought. It seems to be with increasing frequency these days that I come across a photo or two that I never labeled and I have no idea where it was taken. Sure, I know which country, but the names of some of these small, one-pony towns I visited have disappeared from my head.

20 years from now it will only get worse – not only will my memory be shoddier, but with the advent of digital cameras, I now take a lot more photos.

And that’s why the Sony GPS-CS1KA GPS Unit Kit is a pretty cool idea. This smallish unit (4.2 x 1.3 x 6.9 inches) records your location every 15 seconds and then syncs it up with photos you’ve taken with a digital camera. Such technology will not only tell you the city in which you’ve taken the photograph, but if you want to return to the same street corner 20 years later, the GPS coordinates will get you there.

Just as cool is the mapping feature which plots the exact locations of the photos with virtual pushpins on a Google map. Roll over the pushpins and up pops all your photographs taken in that spot, simply blowing away all those photo albums you’ve created in the past.

This is a nifty little toy, especially if you take a lot of photos. Personally, however, I’m going to wait until this function is incorporated into a digital camera instead of it being a stand alone device.

(Price: $108)

Virtual gaming within the Tower of London

by Neil Woodburn on

Sometimes historical locations need a little modern twist to make them more interesting for tourists.

Take the case of the Tower of London. I visited this landmark about ten years ago and wasn’t terribly impressed. Sure, it was sort of cool and certainly had some interesting history about it, but, for the most part, it lacked the excitement and sense of adventure that such a storied structure deserves.

Dragging the Tower of London into the 21st century and making it interesting has fallen upon the shoulders of Historic Royal Palaces, the charity group that manages the site. Its docents have worked in conjunction with Hewlett-Packard to create a GPS-driven Tower of London game that is played with a PDA and a radio transmitter.

The concept is simple and brilliant. As visitors walk around the Tower of London, the GPS unit activates various audio feeds which virtually insert the user into historical events which occurred at the location, such as prison escapes. Aided by the PDA flashing images of the past, gamers are fully engaged in the unfolding stories as voices from their headphones cry for help, shout out directions, and navigate them through the historical twists and turns of the ancient structure.

Wow. This is a very cool example of active learning and a perfect way to really educate students without it seeming like a chore.

Know where your friends are at all times

by Neil Woodburn on

Whether you’re in a strange city on vacation, or simply in your own hometown, it can often be a challenge to meet up with your friends at a designated place and time. You know how it is; someone’s always running late or getting lost.

Loopt, another cool company brought to us by Stanford grads, aims to eliminate all the waiting and guesswork involved in meeting up.

The technology is simple and works with the GPS signal in your cell phone. Want to know where Landon is with the keg? Just check your cell phone screen and a Loopt map will point out his exact location. In fact, as long as your friends opt in, your phone will tell you wherever they are at any time of the day and even send you an alert if they happen to be nearby.

Very cool, and perhaps even a little scary.

Oh, and you’ll need to be on the Boost or Sprint network for it to work.

G is for Gnu, P is for..

by Brett Atkinson on

You’re probably still working out how to use your Garmin thingy or get the most out of your Navman, but the bushmen of the Kalahari in southern Africa are becoming adept at using PDA technology to keep track of endangered species.

Special software has been developed which displays more than 40 different plants and animals, and includes different icons to reflect a range of behaviour including feeding, sleeping and fighting. The GPS coordinates and behaviour of each animal is recorded via satellite and then downloaded onto a computer to give conservationists a concise picture of how each species is managing.

It’s part of a system called CyberTracker which developer Louis Liebenbreg hopes to have up and running in most of the world’s national parks within 50 years.

Thanks to Discovery for the headsup and CyberTracker for the pic.