O'Grady's PowerPage

Tag: train

  • Apple, Google to add railroad crossing data to map programs following fatal 2015 accident

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    Apple Maps will soon begin including railroad crossing data.

    Following up on an accident last year in which Google Maps users Jose Alejandro Sanchez-Ramirez turned a Ford truck, hauling a trailer, where he thought the app was telling him to go, but wound up stuck on the railroad tracks at a poorly marked California crossing. After abandoning his vehicle, he and the engineer died after a commuter train barreled into the truck, a commuter train barreled into it, the accident also injuring 32 others.

    Following a nearly two-year long investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board is calling on companies such as Apple and Google to add the exact location of 200,000 grade crossings to their mapping data…

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  • Rumor: Apple looking to integrate public transit information into Maps

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    Apple Maps could be reborn with mass transit directions built in.

    New rumors have stated that Apple could introduce bus, subway, and train route navigation to Apple Maps.

    The rumors have focused on larger icons for mass transit facilities along with a Transit view alongside the Standard, Hybrid, and Satellite/Flyover views, and a trip-planning feature. Apple is also reportedly using autonomous robots to map out large buildings, a feature that may or may not be part of iOS 9 Apple Maps.

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  • Metropolitan Transit Authority releases train-locating app for iOS devices

    If you live in the greatest city in the world, this can only help.

    Per the Wall Street Journal, the Metropolitan Transit Authority on Friday released an iOS app that will let riders of seven train lines plan their trips to the minute, a first for the largest subway system in the U.S.



    The official MTA Subway Time app uses train location data to provide iPhone and iPod touch owners with up-to-the-minute arrival times for seven of the system’s 24 lines.

    The MTA spent 11 years and over US$228 million to install digital train-tracking sensors and relevant equipment required to serve up real-time location data. The iOS app taps into the system and feeds commuters with arrival times, though the service is available mostly aboveground as cellular extension networks planned for underground stations have yet to be completed. A large portion of the subway’s train location sensors date back fifty years, just before the proliferation of microprocessors and digital communications.

    Among the first lines to get support for the new free service are Nos. 1 through 6 and the 42nd Street Shuttle. Two more lines, the L line between Brooklyn and Manhattan’s 14th Street and the No. 7 line between Queens and Midtown Manhattan, are currently being upgraded to be compatible with the new system. Updates to the L line are expected to be completed in six months to a year, while the No. 7 won’t be ready until at least 2016.

    According to the app’s description, users will also be notified of service delays and reroutes prior to fare payment, a useful tool for on-the-go commuters.

    Android and Windows Phone versions of the app are in the works, but unlike the iOS app, those will be built by third-party companies. The agency is also allowing developers access to the sensor data feeds, allowing app makers to build real-time tracking programs with more robust features than those offered by the official app.

    MTA Subway Time for iOS is available now as a free download through the App Store and requires iOS 5.0 or later to install and run.

  • Revised Google Maps app for iOS goes live, now available

    You’ve been hankering for it and it’s here.

    Late Wednesday, Google released the iOS-native version of its Google Maps application. The app, a 6.7 megabyte download via the App Store, adds the following fixes and changes:

    Search:
    – Find addresses, places and businesses around the world with Google local search.

    – Discover places to eat, drink, shop and play, with ratings and local reviews.

    – Sign in to sync your searches, directions, and favorite places between your computer and your phone.

    Directions:
    – Get voice guided, turn-by-turn driving directions.

    – Find your way by train, bus, subway or walking directions.

    – Access live traffic information in cities across the world.

    Street View and imagery:
    – View 360-degree panoramas of places around the globe with Street View.

    – See inside more than 100,000 businesses worldwide.

    – View high resolution satellite imagery of locations around the world.

    Simple and easy to use:
    – An entirely new Google Maps experience on your iPhone.

    – Newly designed and streamlined interface for even easier navigation of your world.

    – Use gestures to explore the map and browse results.

    Google Maps 1.0 for iOS requires iOS 5.1 or later to install and run. If you’ve tried the new app on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

  • SpamSieve updated to 2.8.4

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    Michael Tsai’s must-have shareware program, SpamSieve, has just been updated to version 2.8.4. The new version, a 7.8 megabyte download, makes the following fixes and improvements:

    – SpamSieve now integrates with Microsoft Outlook 2011. For more information, see the Setting up Outlook section of the manual.

    – SpamSieve now integrates with Postbox, an enhanced version of Thunderbird. For more information, see the Setting up Postbox section of the manual.

    – Adjusted SpamSieve’s tokenizer to improve the filtering accuracy.

    – The Train as Good command in Apple Mail is better at moving messages in the spam folder or trash back to the inbox.

    – Fixed a regression where the whitelist and blocklist windows wouldn’t open when running SpamSieve under certain localizations.

    – Improved the localizations.

    SpamSieve is available for a US$30 registration fee and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later to run. The new version can either be downloaded directly from the web site or brought up to the current version via the program’s built-in update feature.