Real time information

Real time information has been a great help to our World, we can use it for so many different things such as viewing train times to see if there are any delays, we can view plane flights and such information such as altitude of the plane, delays of trains that we are planning to catch, buy concert and cinema tickets online etc. I will cover all of these in this following blog post.

Being able to track shipping is a big advantage of real time data, I recently purchased something from the apple store online and shortly after it was shipped I could see where the item was, when it was shipped and also how much it weighed. The advantages of being able to track shipments is that you can see where an item is, it should tell you roughly what time it should arrive. Another advantage is you can see that the package is not lost or has been shipped to the wrong address, here is a screen shot of an item I recently ordered and you can see its progress throughout the delivery stage.

There can be some disadvantages, depending if they delivery driver actually updates it as he goes along, whether he sends off the information as soon as he gets it. My personal opinion is that it is a great feature of big logistic companies such as UPS, Royal mail and fedex for example.

You can also track other things other than packages, for example the other night I ordered a pizza takeaway via dominos website, this features multiple steps of tracking. Here is a print screen from their website.

As you can see from the picture, there are 5 different stages that your order is in. This is a very good feature on the dominos website because of the number of people ordering takeaways nowadays is very high, you can also see a little FACT-O-MATIC box near the bottom which will usually tell you how long your pizza should roughly take to get to your front door. After you’ve had it you can leave feedback on the taste of the pizza, this is also a good function.

Another good advantage of real time data is being able to see if a train is delayed or something, here is a print screen I took from the website http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk

As you can see, you can view that the train is going to be delayed, this is a good advantage if you’re a busy person with lots of plans because you can see when you will be delayed and if you will have to change any of your current plans. I always check the website to see if there are any delays on a train that I’m planning to travel on before I leave to go there, it is a really good use of real time data in my opinion.

Plane spotting has become a growing hobby over the years, there are lots of sites out there to track and view the paths of planes. You can also view other information such as altitude and where its flying to. Here’s a print screen from a website named http://www.flightradar24.com/

One of the main advantages from being able to track planes is that if you have a relative on a flight you can check to see if they have landed safely, this is a very big advantage on its own. Being able to track planes is also good for plane spotters, the plane that is currently selected on the screen we actually saw it out of the classroom window! It was a good experience on how realtime data actually works in our world.

There are lots of websites now adapting real time data, Odeon; a very well known cinema brand use it when you book tickets. The advantages of being able to book online, is that normally it is cheaper and when you get to the actual cinema you can just pick up your tickets their and you don’t have to queue for anything what so ever! Here is a print screen from the Odeon website; www.odeon.co.uk

To book your tickets you first select how many people you want to book it for; in this case I selected 2 adults. Then you drag to little people to a free seat, it’s as simple as that! The only disadvantage I can think of is that if the Odeon server crashes and you don’t actually get your tickets. I have used this way of booking numerous times, simply because of the ease of it, the queuing it saves at the cinema and a few pennies you save! Great addition to the Odeon website.

Another good advantage of real time information is live webcams from around the world, this is a very good use. A website that I found is called http://www.earthcam.com/ it has live webcams from around the world.  A good advantage of this is that if your going on holiday you can have a look in advance of what the weather is going to be like. Its also good if your just generally interested in that particular area. One main disadvantage that I can think of is that if a webcam claims its ‘Live’ but in reality its just a playback of another video clip.

Finally, real time information has progressed along with technology. Another amazing feature is with satellite navigation systems such as Tom Tom and other big name ones they normally offer a extra for updates on traffic, this is extremely good for people in a rush. In my experience they are a must have, you can see where the traffic is and normally you can plan to go another route to avoid it.

Overall I think that real time information is a great help in our world, it can save us a lot of time and a lot of worries!