theres an app for that!

[cteno4]

JR East launching app that will allow for real-time tracking of train services

 

 

http://www.japantoday.com/category/technology/view/jr-east-launching-app-that-will-allow-for-real-time-tracking-of-train-services

[Guest keio6000]

 

JR East launching app that will allow for real-time tracking of train services

 

meh.  for most journeys if you have to go a short distance (for example, jr or metro?), the app is too much of a hassle.  you'll just show up at the station and alter your plans as you can.

for long distance, trains are rarely late and you probably already have a ticket for a specific train or are at the station already anyway.

 

the only app that i see would be really useful (or the only real application for this app) would be something that could work *very* quickly to solve the "yamanote roulette" problem.  in a nutshell, the problem goes like this:   yamanote trains come frequently but are all stations trains.   other lines parallel portions of the yamanote loop at faster speeds but at typically lesser frequencies.       a user wants to know:  right now i've just passed through the wickets at osaki - which will get me faster to shinjuku - platforms 3/4 (yamanote) or platforms 7/8 (shonan shinjuku)?    if platform 7/8, so i jump on the next saikyo line or wait for the next  shonan shinjuku line?  (as it were, the answer to this i think is always first train from 7/8, but not everybody would know this).   similar questions abound wherever there are parallel services of differing speeds  including the keihin-tohoku line, tokaido line, yokosuka line, narita line (vs NEX), etc.

 

The trick is that the 'app' has to be FAST.  Right now, you can *kind of* solve this question by looking at departure boards, but this is time that might cause the actual best option train to be missed.   likewise, this app will only be truly useful if it can provide the best solution quickly. all this information already exists in the schedules and the addition of real-time info will make this better, though since it's JR-East only i tihnk the true usefulness (as opposed to generalized route planners that work on scheduled data but encompass many operators) is really only limited to yamanote-roulette class problems which make for a tiny fraction of rides.

[kvp]

For example, in Hungary there are web services that plan routes. They ask for the departure time and calculate with the various services and even the walking speed of the passanger between two places. (like from platform to platform) This means if each service follows the timetable, they could calculate the fastest route, or the one with the least amount of changes or the least amount of walking required. This is very convenient when every service is running according to the timetable. For those events when they don't, most providers (train providers and even some local transit companies) issue an online map and an api with live tracking information for all trains, trams, buses and ships based on gps. This way, it's possible to calculate manually, but more importantly it's possible for these route planning services to calculate with the current situation in mind by reading the raw data from the map service. If it can be done for a small country like Hungary, then i'm sure it can be done for a similarly sized city, like Tokyo.

[bronzeonion]

A very good use of the technology onboard the trains, not just the GPS data for location but temperature per car and crowd levels. I've seen that data displayed on the TIMS screen when in conductor mode in the rear cab, good to see it made useful for the public. I'd assume crowd level and temperature will not be available on lines with pre 209 series trains. From a railfan point of view, this would be incredibly useful for locating an old train on a line mid way between conversion to new trains for example, the Yokohama line.