There’s An App For That

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There’s An App For That was Originally Posted on March 19, 2013 by

Whether you have a PC or tablet or smartphone or whatever, you can find some interesting applications if you look.

I have mentioned apps like Wikipedia and IMDB (Internet Movie DataBase) before. By now you are probably familiar with Google and their street view. There is an application called FlightAware that shows current airplane flights on a map. Another interesting application marries GoogleEarth with an application that superimposes current airline flights on the map.

There are applications that show the current location of ships (cruise, yachts, freighters, etc) on a map and you can watch as they slowly move.

GoogleSky shows you the stars and planets above you while another program shows you where all of the satellites are up there.

I don’t have to be in a location to know what is there. I can go to GoogleEarth and see buildings (although not live). I can bring up an app that shows certain vehicle locations (like taxis) as they move about. If I bring up certain webcams I can see one of those vehicles pass. (I almost did that with a taxi/limo. It had stopped for gas just outside the Houston Airport). I can tell you the stars overhead above you and whether you can see the Space Station as it passes. Turn towards the ocean and I can tell you what ship you might see, how many people it carries and describe it to you.

By the way, at the moment, Larry Ellison’s mega-yacht is moored in the Bahamas. The Golden Princess came from Los Angeles and is heading past Maui to Honolulu doing 19 knots.

Not all this data is perfect. The ships drop off the map if there is no radio reception from their GPS and so far, we don’t use satellites to display that data to the general public.

The webcams on Mauna Kea are sometimes out of service due to ice and the one on the pier at Point Pleasant has been out of commission since the hurricane.

Still, if you have time and bandwidth, these is so much data floating around that you can be “master of all you survey”.

Satellites: http://www.n2yo.com/

Webcams: http://www.earthcam.com/

Traffic: http://www.traffic.com/Atlanta-Traffic/Atlanta-Traffic-Reports.html

Surf: http://livesurfcamhawaii.com/maui/kaanapalibeach.htm

Buoys: http://www.eldoradocountyweather.com/buoy/Chesapeake%20Bay/buoy-xhtml.php

Weather: http://www.wunderground.com/US/HI/Hilo_International.html

Radio: http://www.australianliveradio.com/

Exchange Rates: http://www.fxstreet.com/rates-charts/forex-rates/

People: http://zoominfo.com

Home Prices: http://zillow.com

Language Translator: http://translate.google.com/

Speak what I type: http://www2.research.att.com/~ttsweb/tts/demo.php

Well, by now you get the idea!