I’ve been enjoying playing around with the Chicago Transit Authority’s new CTA Bus Tracker (http://ctabustracker.com) which lets me use my cell phone or iPhone to see how long I’ll have to wait for a bus each morning when I get off the train and likewise, when I head out of the office each evening. So far, it’s been right on track – and it’s supposed to help with the “bunching” that is rampant in Chicago. Two or three of the same buses show up within a minute of each other, the first one packed as full as a cattle car while the other two are empty. Then 20 minutes later, another one shows up. Hardly a proper schedule.
But this new system got me thinking – who’s going to step up and combine the various GPS-based systems into something even more useful? There are, for example, some great tools our there that let you track a commercial airliner in flight (http://flightaware.com/live/ is one; http://www.flightview.com/ is another). But how about hooking that up with the folks at www.traffic.com or even the live traffic feature on http://maps.google.com that would send me an alert, based on my current location, on when it’s time to leave my office for the airport, so I can arrive 45 minutes before my flight? Or when I need to leave if I have to pick my in-laws up on a Friday night? It would certainly be useful, not to mention have the potential to reduce congestion at the airport, all those cars just sitting, circling and burning unnecessary and pricy gas.
What do you think? What’s your ideal mash-up with current technology that would make your social media world easier?