Bus tracking in NYC
Big Apple's Buildings Block Bus-Tracking Satellites
Space technology may soon give New York City residents a new-found reason to press that snooze button in the morning. With a state-of-the-art satellite navigation system in the works for the Big Apple’s 4,300 mass transit buses, commuters could save valuable time on the way to their daily destinations. That is, if engineers ever get the system to work.
An $11 million project designed to pinpoint New York City buses with the aid of satellites orbiting Earth is almost two years behind schedule, much to the city’s dismay. The problem? New York’s skyscraper canyons are preventing satellite signals from accurately mapping bus locations on the ground.
We’ve never experienced this problem to such a degree," said David Mathisen, a vice president for Orbital Sciences, the company that is a leader in the satellite navigation business and the contractor for New York’s bus navigation system. "We have 15,000 buses running smoothly in cities around the world, so for us, it’s frustrating."
New York is only one of around 40 cities world-wide that currently have transit satellite systems in place for its riders. In cities such as Chicago and London, accurate bus positions are plotted and displayed at bus stops and transit terminals, so passengers can see exactly when their rides will arrive.
But Manhattan’s forest of tall buildings poses two particularly difficult obstacles to satellite navigation systems for ground-based transportation.
How Satellite Navigation Works For You
At any time, between 6 to 11 GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites orbiting the Earth appear above your city. Each satellite transmits coded radio signals with its orbital and time data to buses. Using the orbital information from at least four satellites as a reference, buses compute their position, heading, speed, and time deviation from their schedules.
Buses then send their position and schedule information to a control center in or near your city. Finally, the control center updates bus timetables that are displayed at bus terminals and kiosks throughout the city.
"In New York, there are many areas where you just can’t ‘see’ enough satellites because of the height of the buildings. That makes your position unreliable," said Christopher Skiscim, senior scientist at Orbital. "But also, if a signal bounces off a building before reaching a bus, that takes more time than if it didn’t reflect, and it can distort your location."
The skyscraper: A formidable foe
Though Orbital knew they would have problems with tall buildings from the start, it has taken engineers much longer to fix these problems than anticipated. In fact, after over two years of delays, New York City grew so restless they gave Orbital until the end of March to complete the corrections -- or get out of town.
"It became clear that major problems were not being resolved as we felt they should have been," said Al O’Leary, a spokesman for New York City Transit. "We told [Orbital] to fix the problems by the end of the month, or we’d bail out on our contract and seek another contractor."
"Imagine standing at a bus stop and it [is] telling you when the next bus is coming. Right now, unless you can see a bus it's total uncertainty."
David Mathisen told SPACE.com that Orbital is on a path to successfully comply with the city’s demands. "We have
improved our accuracy considerably," said Mathisen. "We’re currently in the fine-tuning stage. So from our perspective, we’ve made a great deal of progress."
"The problem’s been corrected," said Skiscim. "We’ve devised a backup system with gyroscopes that are placed on the buses. If we know that a GPS satellite signal is bad, then we can ignore it and use gyroscope signals instead."
Officials at New York’s Transit Authority agreed that recent improvements to the system are highly promising. "Orbital has made very good progress since the ultimatum," O’Leary said. "We’re all fairly optimistic at this point that they’re going to achieve all the milestones we set for them."
Assisting the daily commuter
For the citizens of New York City, a system that accurately predicts bus arrivals will make commuting life a whole lot easier. As bus riders who already use satellite navigation systems have witnessed, being able to predict when you’re bus will arrive saves you time and annoyance.
"If this system ever gets up and running, it’s going to be wonderful for bus riders," said Beverly Dolinksky, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee for New York’s Transit Authority. "I mean, imagine standing [at] a bus stop and it [is] telling you when the next bus is coming. Right now, unless you can see a bus it’s total uncertainty."
Orbital Sciences is currently outfitting only 30 of New York’s entire bus fleet with its GPS receivers and gyroscope systems. "We don’t want to install too many until New York’s happy with the technology," said Orbital’s Mathisen. Yet while there are no immediate time goals, it’s clear that the City of New York is eager to get this system underway. And the city’s long-term target is to have all 4,300 city buses equipped to the nines.
"Ultimately if the technology proves efficient and effective, then we’d like for it to go on our whole fleet of buses," O’Leary said. "But you’ve got to walk before you can run -- we’re not walking yet."
Vocabulary
Contractor =appalatatore
Foe = enemy
Outfit = installare
Commuter = pendolare
to the nines = a puntino
Questions
Why hasn’t the satellite transit system been completed in New York?
How is the GPS signal afftected by the tall buildings?
How many cities have such a system?
How is the Company going tofix the problem?
Why isn’t the Company installing the system an all the buses?
What use is the system to city commuters?
Is there such a system in use in Naples/Salerno?
Space technology may soon give New York City residents a new-found reason to press that snooze button in the morning. With a state-of-the-art satellite navigation system in the works for the Big Apple’s 4,300 mass transit buses, commuters could save valuable time on the way to their daily destinations. That is, if engineers ever get the system to work.
An $11 million project designed to pinpoint New York City buses with the aid of satellites orbiting Earth is almost two years behind schedule, much to the city’s dismay. The problem? New York’s skyscraper canyons are preventing satellite signals from accurately mapping bus locations on the ground.
We’ve never experienced this problem to such a degree," said David Mathisen, a vice president for Orbital Sciences, the company that is a leader in the satellite navigation business and the contractor for New York’s bus navigation system. "We have 15,000 buses running smoothly in cities around the world, so for us, it’s frustrating."
New York is only one of around 40 cities world-wide that currently have transit satellite systems in place for its riders. In cities such as Chicago and London, accurate bus positions are plotted and displayed at bus stops and transit terminals, so passengers can see exactly when their rides will arrive.
But Manhattan’s forest of tall buildings poses two particularly difficult obstacles to satellite navigation systems for ground-based transportation.
How Satellite Navigation Works For You
At any time, between 6 to 11 GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites orbiting the Earth appear above your city. Each satellite transmits coded radio signals with its orbital and time data to buses. Using the orbital information from at least four satellites as a reference, buses compute their position, heading, speed, and time deviation from their schedules.
Buses then send their position and schedule information to a control center in or near your city. Finally, the control center updates bus timetables that are displayed at bus terminals and kiosks throughout the city.
"In New York, there are many areas where you just can’t ‘see’ enough satellites because of the height of the buildings. That makes your position unreliable," said Christopher Skiscim, senior scientist at Orbital. "But also, if a signal bounces off a building before reaching a bus, that takes more time than if it didn’t reflect, and it can distort your location."
The skyscraper: A formidable foe
Though Orbital knew they would have problems with tall buildings from the start, it has taken engineers much longer to fix these problems than anticipated. In fact, after over two years of delays, New York City grew so restless they gave Orbital until the end of March to complete the corrections -- or get out of town.
"It became clear that major problems were not being resolved as we felt they should have been," said Al O’Leary, a spokesman for New York City Transit. "We told [Orbital] to fix the problems by the end of the month, or we’d bail out on our contract and seek another contractor."
"Imagine standing at a bus stop and it [is] telling you when the next bus is coming. Right now, unless you can see a bus it's total uncertainty."
David Mathisen told SPACE.com that Orbital is on a path to successfully comply with the city’s demands. "We have
improved our accuracy considerably," said Mathisen. "We’re currently in the fine-tuning stage. So from our perspective, we’ve made a great deal of progress."
"The problem’s been corrected," said Skiscim. "We’ve devised a backup system with gyroscopes that are placed on the buses. If we know that a GPS satellite signal is bad, then we can ignore it and use gyroscope signals instead."
Officials at New York’s Transit Authority agreed that recent improvements to the system are highly promising. "Orbital has made very good progress since the ultimatum," O’Leary said. "We’re all fairly optimistic at this point that they’re going to achieve all the milestones we set for them."
Assisting the daily commuter
For the citizens of New York City, a system that accurately predicts bus arrivals will make commuting life a whole lot easier. As bus riders who already use satellite navigation systems have witnessed, being able to predict when you’re bus will arrive saves you time and annoyance.
"If this system ever gets up and running, it’s going to be wonderful for bus riders," said Beverly Dolinksky, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee for New York’s Transit Authority. "I mean, imagine standing [at] a bus stop and it [is] telling you when the next bus is coming. Right now, unless you can see a bus it’s total uncertainty."
Orbital Sciences is currently outfitting only 30 of New York’s entire bus fleet with its GPS receivers and gyroscope systems. "We don’t want to install too many until New York’s happy with the technology," said Orbital’s Mathisen. Yet while there are no immediate time goals, it’s clear that the City of New York is eager to get this system underway. And the city’s long-term target is to have all 4,300 city buses equipped to the nines.
"Ultimately if the technology proves efficient and effective, then we’d like for it to go on our whole fleet of buses," O’Leary said. "But you’ve got to walk before you can run -- we’re not walking yet."
Vocabulary
Contractor =appalatatore
Foe = enemy
Outfit = installare
Commuter = pendolare
to the nines = a puntino
Questions
Why hasn’t the satellite transit system been completed in New York?
How is the GPS signal afftected by the tall buildings?
How many cities have such a system?
How is the Company going tofix the problem?
Why isn’t the Company installing the system an all the buses?
What use is the system to city commuters?
Is there such a system in use in Naples/Salerno?
Ultime modifiche: lunedì, 17 giugno 2013, 17:56