BC FerriesVessel Tracking Maps

My wife's aging aunt used to visit us for Christmas, taking a 1000-mile bus ride through winter conditions. Inevitably, the Greyhound Canada bus was late, but staff at the local bus station had no idea when it would arrive -- other than receiving a phone call from the nearest bus stop city.

I'm not talking 1890s here; this was the age of the cell phone, the 1990s. I found it remarkable that Greyhound Canada had no idea where its busses were, especially when they were driving dangerous mountain passes in the Canadian winter.

I dunno if Greyhound Canada has implemented bus tracking yet, but it no longer matters, since the aunt is now too old to travel. In contrast, several Web sites now provide tracking of aircraft, although with a major bug: when an airplane crosses the International Date Line, the mapping software screws up.

Imagine my surprise (well, you don't need to imagine) when a local monopolistic transportation organization began posting the locations of their craft. BC Ferries is famous for running late; so famous, that regular travellers arrive a half-hour late to be at the ferry terminal "on time." But now BC Ferries has mounted GPS units on their fleet, and broadcasts the info to its Web site.

When you hover the cursor over one of the ship icons, you get the current speed, direction, etc.

Comments

[Ragnar Thor Mikkelsen]

Take a look at this,
http://services.hurtigruten.com:8080/hurtigruten/index.jsp?lang=en

(Press Refresh)

You get info like this:

MS NORDKAPP
Direction Northbound
Destination NO KKN
Latitude N 63°49.74'
Longitude E 009°36.99'
Speed Over Ground 16.1
Course Over Ground 037
Timestamp 04.12.2007 15:00

[RubyG]

Someday all moving traffic will have GPS units attached. All humans will have cell phones with GPS. You will be able to know where everyone is all the time. Life will be like a video game where you try to get one moving dot to connect with another moving dot. And we will become dependent on it. No need for published schedules.
and then, the great disruption - solar flare, loss of satellites and ..... Planet of the Apes.
We're on our way - and we can see where we're going!

[Bill Fane]

Hmmm, this could get very interesting the next time one runs aground.