Jump to content

PocketTrack (formerly SammDOT Tracker)


sammi

Recommended Posts

3 hours ago, dayone said:

Hi Sammi, is it possible for you to darken the streets and street names?

I've been experimenting with that, actually... I originally lightened the streets so that the colors of the markers would stand out more. Clearly that's not great either, so I'll try to find a middle ground.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's interesting to see how many cars marked as Roncy are at Russell and vice versa on the tracker.

 

Just letting you know that there are many runs which start off at Russell and ends at Roncy and vice versa. On top of that, when streetcars are late and they swap crew or make use of SACs, the car changes run numbers. So a car returning back to Roncy might instead end up at Russell.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Xtrazsteve said:

It's interesting to see how many cars marked as Roncy are at Russell and vice versa on the tracker.

 

Just letting you know that there are many runs which start off at Russell and ends at Roncy and vice versa. On top of that, when streetcars are late and they swap crew or make use of SACs, the car changes run numbers. So a car returning back to Roncy might instead end up at Russell.

I've checked the service plan for 501/504, and there are only three pairs of streetcars that exchange on a weekday. As for unscheduled exchanges, I can't really keep track of those.

I used the service plans to assign each one to a division. Find out each car's run number, then look for it in the run guide, and see whichever division it pulled out of. Problem is, I used the May 8 service plan and not the current one, so most of the information is actually not quite right. >_> I'll probably take some time during the week to fix everything.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, sammi said:

I've checked the service plan for 501/504, and there are only three pairs of streetcars that exchange on a weekday. As for unscheduled exchanges, I can't really keep track of those.

Must be dozens if not hundreds a day. Seem to be more common that unscheduled short-turns of late. Normally two streetcars pull up head-to-head and the drivers walk over.

Though today I saw an unusual one at Gerrard/Broadview, where the front and back 506W streetcars swapped drivers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...
1 hour ago, Toronto Transit Fanning said:

Hey, I also sent an email, nothing came back just yet.

Are you, by any chance, the one who sent me two emails asking for an account?

Don't worry, I did read all the emails and will get around to it tonight. But please keep in mind that this is only a side project for me, and that I might not be able to respond to everything immediately, or even within the same day, since I may have other more important things (such as school) taking up my time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all,

Some of the regular tracker users may have noticed that I recently changed the name of the site (and this thread!) to PocketTrack. It's been a long time coming; I only really called it 'SammDOT Tracker' because everyone else, CPTDB and elsewhere, has been calling it that (because, you know, sammdot.ca). I didn't really like that name all that much, mostly because I don't like naming things after myself, and just that it seems like a less creative name. :P

Why PocketTrack? I originally thought of the name as a reference to pocket tracks on the subway system. I know, the tracker doesn't even do subway yet, but I'm (slowly) working on that. For now, pretend I named it that way because it's a tracker that fits in your pocket.

I will be writing a series of articles on various parts of PocketTrack that I'm working on, or have at least thought of doing but haven't gotten around to coding yet. Since I went to the closure yesterday, today's article is on shuttle buses:

https://blog.sammdot.ca/pockettrack-tracking-shuttle-buses-is-hard-9becf687e77

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, sammi said:

Hi all,

Some of the regular tracker users may have noticed that I recently changed the name of the site (and this thread!) to PocketTrack. It's been a long time coming; I only really called it 'SammDOT Tracker' because everyone else, CPTDB and elsewhere, has been calling it that (because, you know, sammdot.ca). I didn't really like that name all that much, mostly because I don't like naming things after myself, and just that it seems like a less creative name. :P

Why PocketTrack? I originally thought of the name as a reference to pocket tracks on the subway system. I know, the tracker doesn't even do subway yet, but I'm (slowly) working on that. For now, pretend I named it that way because it's a tracker that fits in your pocket.

I will be writing a series of articles on various parts of PocketTrack that I'm working on, or have at least thought of doing but haven't gotten around to coding yet. Since I went to the closure yesterday, today's article is on shuttle buses:

https://blog.sammdot.ca/pockettrack-tracking-shuttle-buses-is-hard-9becf687e77

Hey Sammi, I was able to log in a while ago, but now every time I put in my username and password it says 'No such token' and won't let me in. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

46 minutes ago, TTCOpITM said:

Hey Sammi, I was able to log in a while ago, but now every time I put in my username and password it says 'No such token' and won't let me in. 

It sounds like you haven't signed up. That's weird. Can you message me (email or forum) your username? I'll look into it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
2 hours ago, dayone said:

Is it possible for an in-service vehicle with a working GPS to be shown with a circle marker?

Yes. The circle marker represents a vehicle is not predictable (technically it's when predictable="false" in the XML). It happens when an in service vehicle is completely off schedule (time or route). If an in service vehicle stays at the same location for a long time or on a detour. Otherwise it could mean the bus is way off scheduled or is operated on a different branch than scheduled.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, Xtrazsteve said:

Yes. The circle marker represents a vehicle is not predictable (technically it's when predictable="false" in the XML). It happens when an in service vehicle is completely off schedule (time or route). If an in service vehicle stays at the same location for a long time or on a detour. Otherwise it could mean the bus is way off scheduled or is operated on a different branch than scheduled.

Oh yes, I forgot about detours. So the bus I was tracking was sent to another route when it should've deadheaded to the garage.

Do change-offs often show up as circle markers?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, dayone said:

Oh yes, I forgot about detours. So the bus I was tracking was sent to another route when it should've deadheaded to the garage.

Do change-offs often show up as circle markers?

It really depends on what nextbus thinks the bus is doing. Typically if the run number is not signed on the trump unit. It'll just be a typical NIS bus. Usually the one inbound for service won't be signed on till the op starts driving it. The one heading back to the garage would remain signed on until someone signs off. Sometimes a bus can sit at the garage for hours still reporting being on a certain route.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Xtrazsteve said:

It really depends on what nextbus thinks the bus is doing. Typically if the run number is not signed on the trump unit. It'll just be a typical NIS bus. Usually the one inbound for service won't be signed on till the op starts driving it. The one heading back to the garage would remain signed on until someone signs off. Sometimes a bus can sit at the garage for hours still reporting being on a certain route.

An operator can sign on to a route, but choose to leave out the run number? I wonder if it's common for ops to not sign the run number on the trump if they know the bus needs to be driven to the garage after their shift ends.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, dayone said:

An operator can sign on to a route, but choose to leave out the run number? I wonder if it's common for ops to not sign the run number on the trump if they know the bus needs to be driven to the garage after their shift ends.

I believe they have to sign in with a sequence of numbers including the route, run and the op's badge number. I don't think they can leave the run number out. Maybe an op on this board can verify this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Xtrazsteve said:

I believe they have to sign in with a sequence of numbers including the route, run and the op's badge number. I don't think they can leave the run number out. Maybe an op on this board can verify this.

If you leave any number out, it will beep at you saying that you need to complete the login.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/29/2016 at 11:30 PM, Xtrazsteve said:

It happens when an in service vehicle is completely off schedule (time or route).

What is the threshold for schedule deviance in order for a vehicle to appear as a circle? I just checked TransSee and noted that 4180 on the 501 westbound was 18 minutes behind schedule, but it's still showing up on Sammdot with an arrow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...