Results tagged “gps”

James Redekop loves to cycle. Between 2004 and 2009, he estimates that he's cycled for six hundred and fifty hours and covered more than eight thousand kilometres. Using the GPS data from these rides, Redekop created the Etch A Sketch–style animation above (the red lines represent five minutes of his cycling and the red arrows indicate rides outside of Toronto). But turning his riding into a cool animation wasn't always his intention.

Last month we set out to explain why next-stop announcements sometimes get borked. The reason? To determine the location of a bus at any given time, the announcement system relies on counting the wheel rotations, which establish how far the vehicle has travelled and thus where it is on its route. When the snow gets bad and a bus spins its wheels, the announcement system gets confused. And now, finally, word from the TTC as to when the buses will be upgraded to a more sophisticated GPS tracking system. Bruno Papa, Executive Communications Representative at the TTC, sent us an email update recently: "[T]he conversion of our bus fleet is scheduled to start June 30, 2009. This process will take approximately 6-8 months to complete as the work encompasses several different initiatives." So not for whatever remains of this winter, but hopefully for next, we can count on that soothing voice to reliably tell us if we're there yet.

Syrus and Randal are going to be delighted. Caught by Greg Washington, one of BlogTO's readers, this morning at Spadina Station: a quick look at a double-screen prototype of the TTC's GPS-enabled route tracking system. It's apparently shut off now, though BlogTO makes note of a "big news release planned for tomorrow, and media event planned for next Monday." Consider our eyes and ears wide open.