Real-Time Information

Flight Tracking -

Flight tracking is a stream of data which allows people to track the current whereabouts of airplanes and obtain various information such as the airline, destination and where it came from, aircraft, registration, altitude, speed and so on. It allows the public and airline workers (airline workers will receive far more detailed information and via different sources) to keep tabs on flight progress (e.g. tracking your families whereabouts as they fly to Australia for vacation), conclude when flights will arrive (e.g. if your flight has been delayed and you wish to see where it currently is) and determine where planes that you have just seen are heading (e.g. one flying over your house with a destination of Norway). A popular website for airplane tracking is Flightradar24 (http://www.flightradar24.com). It allows the public to access a constantly updated stream of airline data which is available all-day every day. This is made possible by automatic dependent surveillance – broadcast (ADS-B) which works as follows:

1. Aircraft gets its location from a GPS navigation source (satellite)
2. ADS-B unit on aircraft transmits a signal containing the location and much more
3. ADS-B signal is picked up by a receiver connected to Flightradar24
4. Receiver feeds data to Flightradar24

Parcel Tracking -

When items are purchased online via various websites such as Amazon, HMV and FedEx users are often given the opportunity to track the status of their product, this is called parcel tracking. Generally the extent to which people can track their parcels is fairly limited as the cost of attaching GPS tracking devices to deliveries would be steep, prices of items would be increased and it would be massively inconvenient for the company to do so. What users tend to find is that parcel information will be updates as it reaches key stages in its journey to the house of whoever purchased it such as manufacturing, shipping, delivered and so on. To track the package, users are often provided with a unique code which when entered to the website of the provider will supply them with the current progress of the parcel.

Webcams -

Webcams (in this case hosted by websites) are cameras which provide a live or regularly updated stream of photos or videos across the internet. The majority of websites hosting these webcams often do not charge users for accessing them, thus providing us with a free source of instant weather information (people will be able to see if it is raining, sunny, etc) and showing the current condition of the area in which the webcam is located (for example whilst researching a holiday destination people may desire a more recent and unbiased view of the area than various holiday websites may provide, for this they may use a webcam). Webcams such as this are usually located in areas of general interest such as airports (website example: http://www.airportwebcam.net/), beaches (website example: http://magicseaweed.com/) and holiday destinations such as ski resorts (website example: http://www.latania.co.uk/webcam/) or used to stream live events such as concerts, vlogs (video blogging) and spaceship launches on sites such as Livestream (http://new.livestream.com/) and Usteam (http://www.ustream.tv/new).

Satellite Navigation -

Satellite navigation (also known as ‘SAT NAV’ for short) use GPS (Global Positioning System) tracking devices (which work via signals from an array of orbiting satellites) to track the locations of users and provide them with live visual and audio navigation assistance. Often these devices come built into cars or as an attachment or phone application. These days they provide a vital role in journey planning as they are faster and easier to use than maps as they allow users access to almost instant automatically generated route planning and often provide current location on a virtual map shown on screen. 

Disadvantage to satellite navigation include:

• Expensive prices for devices
• Possible bizarre detours from route such as down country lanes and through small villages
• Unexpected glitches or syncing errors thus resulting in unusual outcomes such as showing you vehicle to be miles out at sea

News and Traffic Updates -

Advances in technology have allowed news to develop to the point of being available to from people around the globe almost as soon as the event happens. Unlike newspapers (printing is required) or television (video crews may be too slow), the internet allows news and weather reports to be published instantly and allow the public notify them of currently occurring incidents (for example if people were to witness a car crash they could email or ‘Tweet’ a local news station thus provide them with information on the accident almost as soon as it happens). Some major Websites include BBC news (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/), BBC Weather (http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/) and BT Yahoo (http://home.bt.yahoo.com/). Personally, I use BT Yahoo for news updates as it provides instant access to interesting and important news stories and has a rather useful email system.

Bookings -

Online booking has made it increasing easy for people to discover and attend a huge variety of activities. When it comes to events with a limited amount of spaces or seats (e.g. football matches and cinema showings) real-time information is put into use. To touch on the subject I shall use Odeon as an example. Odeon (a chain of cinemas) allows users to purchase cinema tickets for specific films and seats online. It constantly updates itself using an automatic system to tell users which seats have already been bought, thus preventing clashes due to users buying the same seat as each other and overselling. The most recent ticket I bought online was to the Barclaycard Wireless Festival 2012 (a music festival in London featuring musicians such as Deadmau5, Knife Party and Zedd)