Real-Time Mapping of the London Underground
An interesting model for other cities — and not very hard to implement given the real-time transit data that’s increasingly out there. Next: cars.
The Internet IS a Series of Tubes: Real-Time Mapping of the London Underground | ReadWriteWeb
Two of our favorite topics to geek out over here at ReadWriteWeb are the real-time Web and the Internet of Things. Today, we (like everyone else across the Internet, it seems) ran into a rather nifty looking website that merges those two realms rather successfully using open data from the London and U.K. train systems.
The live train map for the London Underground is a nearly real-time Google Maps mashup that shows the various trains of the London Underground as they move about their subterranean travels. The real-time Web, put simply, is a set of technologies that allows the information we see on the Internet to change as quickly (or nearly so) as what it represents in the real world or online. It’s the weather forecast, your friends’ status updates on Facebook and the pitch-by-pitch tracking of an afternoon’s game.
As for the Internet of Things, it is the connection of the Internet to everyday objects. In this case, it’s data on every train in the London subway system as provided by the London Data Store, an open-data effort with the Greater London Authority.
