Amtrak's New Train Tracker Map

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Dang... I'm away from AU for about 24 hours, and do I feel behind the times!

Nevertheless, let me add MHO:

SAAAWW.......WHEEEET! :)

Now when folks claim the engineer was speeding, we can point them to this and say "With big brother watching? I don't think so!" :eek: ;)
 
OOooooo. Aaahhhhhh. SPECIAL!!! Almost as good as India Rail's Rail Radar - only we don't have nearly as many trains. I went to click on a SWC to see 90 MPH - bugger was in the mountains going 45. LOL.

Hmm. India Rail's rail radar seems to be down. I guess only room for one mapping program at a time on the WWW?

Update - India Rail discontinued their status maps! Crazy.
 
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Has been working since last night without fail on Win8+IE10: very very sweet... welcome to The Web 3.0??
 
Texan Eagle said:
Is this working for everyone else? I am getting this error:

​
The page at https://a248.e.akamai.net says:​
Google has disabled use of the Maps API for this application. This site is not authorized to use the Google Maps client ID provided. If you are the owner of this application, you can learn more about registering URLs here: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/business/guide#URLs​
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That was the one I was getting before I disabled all "https" (secure) access -- then I started getting the bug where the map showed up but all the trains claimed not to exist. I suspect these are mainfestations of the same bug.
 
Amtrak news release on the new train locator map feature.

WASHINGTON – Amtrak is introducing an innovative way to see where trains are and when they are expected to arrive, including information on stations nation-wide, all through a new interactive train locator map built on the easy-to-use, familiar Google Maps interface.

The new train location tracking system, available at Amtrak.com, provides near real-time train status of more than 300 daily trains, estimates of arrival times and station information – all in the context of the Amtrak national system map. Checking on train status is the second most popular action on Amtrak.com, just after purchasing tickets.

In addition to helping passengers plan travel, this new travel resource is an excellent tool for those planning the arrival or departure of family and friends. Users can search for information by train number or name, city name and station name or code.

“This tool creates a new platform for sharing information with our customers, and Amtrak will continue to add helpful layers onto this map such as local travel and tourist information to provide passengers a one-stop location for all their travel needs,” said Amtrak Chief Marketing and Sales Officer Matt Hardison. “This map joins several recent technology-related offerings that have improved the customer experience and changed how Amtrak does business, ultimately changing and enhancing the way customers travel with us.”

The information provided in the map is aggregated data collected from GPS units on each operating train and other automated systems. The data is transmitted to Google’s cloud, and then transferred to the map.

The new tracking system joins several recent technology advancements at Amtrak including expanded and improved Wi-Fi, eTicketing and mobile phone apps. In addition to working with Google to advance new systems for our customers, Amtrak has partnered with other major industry-leading brands, such as Apple and AT&T, to improve the amenities and services provided to passengers.
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Wow. Working fine with IE and Windows 7. My only qualm is about the priority for this vs. problems like the dreaded "service disruption". I hope this took a lot less time to implement than it would have taken to fix the "service disruption" black hole. Else they have their priorities pretty far off. (yes, I realize one may have little connection to the other :)
 
This is cool. :) Working just fine using Chrome with Windows 7.
 
Working fine here Chrome and Windows 7. Problem is the "Next Station". Just checked Pacific Surfliner 780 San Luis Obispo to San Diego. The train was approaching Moorpark when I checked and the Next Station is Surf...waaaaay before its current location!
 
Hmmm...I'm home on my main computer, and nothing happens when I click on the icon in Chrome. And the icon wasn't even there on the page on my ipad tonight. However, I did get it to work in IE. CJ
 
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Akamai is a content delivery network that hosts content on many geographically separated servers in order to achieve better performance. It's not surprising to me that it's there.
 
Texan Eagle said:
PerRock said:
Here is a direct link to it.

http://a248.e.akamai.net/f/4/6035/2h/amtrak.download.akamai.com/6035/content/realtimetrainloc/rttl/index.html

peter
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Interesting that the direct link is not on "www.amtrak.com" domain, rather hosted somewhere else!
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Akamai is a worldwide content distribution network with multiple regional gateways. You setup a primary site as the master and it copies the information from that site to mirrors all over the world. This allows for faster response times, more dependable up-times, and better protection against denial of service attacks. Most high-volume websites make use of distributed network services like Akamai provides.
 
More details on how it works.

Track Your Amtrak Train in Real Time on Google Maps


Instead of peering over the platform and worrying when your train will arrive, Amtrak travelers can now quickly track train routes in real time with Google Maps. Amtrak introduced the interactive train locator map using the Google Maps Engine on Monday.
The map shows the specific locations of Amtrak's 300 national trains and the time that train is predicted to arrive at a particular station. Sensors embedded on train tracks send location data via GPS tracking installed on each train. Then, the map data is passed to the Google Maps Engine along with station data from Amtrak's content management system....

"We are able to seamlessly put in our data into the cloud and we can retrieve it very quickly," Steve Alexander, creative director of Amtrak's e-commerce, told Mashable. Alexander also wrote on Google's Official Enterprise Blog that the search giant provides a very "reliable platform" and "comprehensive basemap."

Within the next year, Amtrak plans add local transit, restaurants and tourist attractions to its maps. Alexander said he hopes the locator map will eventually be the go-to "journey planning tool" for customers.
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CHamilton said:
More details on how it works.

Track Your Amtrak Train in Real Time on Google Maps


Instead of peering over the platform and worrying when your train will arrive, Amtrak travelers can now quickly track train routes in real time with Google Maps. Amtrak introduced the interactive train locator map using the Google Maps Engine on Monday.
The map shows the specific locations of Amtrak's 300 national trains and the time that train is predicted to arrive at a particular station. Sensors embedded on train tracks send location data via GPS tracking installed on each train. Then, the map data is passed to the Google Maps Engine along with station data from Amtrak's content management system....

"We are able to seamlessly put in our data into the cloud and we can retrieve it very quickly," Steve Alexander, creative director of Amtrak's e-commerce, told Mashable. Alexander also wrote on Google's Official Enterprise Blog that the search giant provides a very "reliable platform" and "comprehensive basemap."

Within the next year, Amtrak plans add local transit, restaurants and tourist attractions to its maps. Alexander said he hopes the locator map will eventually be the go-to "journey planning tool" for customers.
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In that Mashable video, she says something about trains passing sensors then GPS units on the train sending in the data.

Really? Why would they need sensors? Why can't the GPS data just be sent in?

I wonder if that part of the video had incorrect info.
 
It's working for me now. I'm guessing Amtrak's bandwidth was overwhelmed on the first day.
 
The Train tracker does not seem to work other that to show the general location of the train #.The NARP train tracker has more info. I wonder if its a issue with the federal government?
 
The information is not instantaneous. For example 14(1) is right now between Eugene and Albany, OR. According to the tracker, it was going 78 mph near Junction City as of 1:35 pm PT.
 
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