[sf-lug] S. F. politics and software policies

[Paul Ward]

It seems to me that Google basically beat them to the punch already,  
since Google Maps uses GPS info from cellphones combined with CalTrans  
(and other similar government agencies outside of CA) info to show  
fairly detailed traffic info. I imagine that if/when CalTrans starts  
publishing IntelliDrive info, Google would wrap that into Maps. Plus,  
after looking at the website, this whole thing seems typically over- 
thought and over-engineered and probably won't come to anything big  
any time soon.

Personally, I don't need another thing to plug into my car, I just  
want access to the data so I can wrap it into what I'm already using.


On Sep 6, 2009, at 10:23 AM, jim wrote:

>
>           is there something about San Francisco politics that's
>        not quite fair or open? the snippet below discusses new
>        traffic management technology available only to windows-based
>        cell phones. note the S.F. schools and some other public
>        institutions seem windows-bound, not only internally, but
>        wrt public access. of course, it might be that the other
>        institutions involved have done the filtering, per below:
>
>        from
>        http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cover6-2009sep06,0,6494829.story?page=2&track=rss
>
>        [A] major effort is dubbed IntelliDrive. Funded by the federal
>        government and major automobile manufacturers, and overseen by
>        the U.S. Department of Transportation, the program will begin
>        tests of a traffic warning system in San Francisco next month.
>
>        Participating drivers will receive signals on their cellphones
>        alerting them to bottlenecks approximately 60 seconds ahead.
>        The phone will say, "Slow traffic ahead" through its speaker
>        phone or headset, and a message will appear on its screen.
>
>        The operators of the program will use traffic information from
>        several existing sources, including Caltrans, and crunch it to
>        provide the real-time warnings. Only cellphones using...
>
>                Windows-based operating <----  systems
>
>        ...will be able to download the software to take part in the
>        test--which leaves out iPhones and BlackBerrys, among others.
>
>        A video showing how it works is at
>        www.intellidriveusa.org/library/videos.php
>        The ultimate goal is a dashboard warning system, fed by sensors
>        in cars and along highways, to alert drivers of potential
>        hazards all around them, including blind spots.
>
>
>
>
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Paul Ward
dssstrkl at gmail.com