Station Status Boards - Wish List

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Thanks for the picture, Charlie. The status board looks good!

I was sweating it out Saturday afternoon - Amtrak's website was running slowly and was up and down like a yo-yo.

As of now, no official entity has approached me about putting this solari board simulation in a real station. I think it would be an inexpensive alternative to just about anything else. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

jb
 
Hey folks, I just added a local (to the station being requested) clock to the display. It doesn't "flip".

It should handle timezones and time changes correctly - and trust me - that wasn't so easy.

jb
 
I've added some options that you can select (on the main page).

New Options:

- 12 or 24 hour time

- long or short - the short display is what you're used to. The long display has two additional columns.

- faster or normal flipping speed - for those who are in a hurry

- do or do not show "boarding" at the initial station. Not many will use this. I thought it might come in handy later so I did it while I had things ripped apart.

Enjoy.

jb

PS If you're having trouble getting things to work at first, hit F5 (refresh). It's a problem with caching in your browser.
 
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Still requesting the "plain" (no solari) version. Would be very useful for display on phones, tablets, etc....

...I'd love to be able to just show my tablet to someone who's asking for status at one of the stations with poor information displays.
 
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neroden said:
Still requesting the "plain" (no solari) version. Would be very useful for display on phones, tablets, etc....

...I'd love to be able to just show my tablet to someone who's asking for status at one of the stations with poor information displays.
Click to expand...
Respectfully, why do you feel the plain display is more useful on tablets, phones, etc...? Since you can scale the current board down to fit the screen, what would you gain?

jb
 
neroden said:
John Bobinyec said:
Respectfully, why do you feel the plain display is more useful on tablets, phones, etc...? Since you can scale the current board down to fit the screen, what would you gain?
Click to expand...
The current board can be quite slow to load -- particularly on low-powered machines.
Click to expand...
Once someone requests a station status board, there's a lot going on behind the scenes. Signals are bounced around among various machines. The data for each station is only kept current on an as-needed basis. So if you've asked for a "current" station, then your wait will be relatively short. If however, no one has been looking at a particular station in a while, that data has to be updated first. That can take a little while - especially at the "big" stations.

I'd appreciate it if you could do an experiment for me, and report back. Try loading a page on one of these slower machines that you're referring to. Make sure you are using the new "Faster" option. Starting from the time the screen initially turns black, how long does it take to load the page? Up until the screen turns black, you'll be waiting for all of the aforementioned preliminary work to be done, so it doesn't count. Tell me if the time it takes to paint the screen, after it first turns black, is still too long. I'll try the same experiment at home with one of my old machines.

Thanks,

jb
 
John Bobinyec said:
I'd appreciate it if you could do an experiment for me, and report back. Try loading a page on one of these slower machines that you're referring to. Make sure you are using the new "Faster" option.
Click to expand...
Oooh, that will probably help.

Starting from the time the screen initially turns black, how long does it take to load the page? Up until the screen turns black, you'll be waiting for all of the aforementioned preliminary work to be done, so it doesn't count. Tell me if the time it takes to paint the screen, after it first turns black, is still too long.
Click to expand...
Will do when I get a chance.
 
For me, it took exactly 61 seconds for the PHL board to fully display (MacBook Pro 2013, OSX 10.9.4, Safari 7.0.6). This was after first loading the PHL board (to ensure the data did not have to be fetched) then loading it again for the timing. It seems to me that at least some of that time is the result of the Solari animation. I would also like a non-animated version assuming that would shorten the display time. Maybe a version that is not tied to looking like a Solari board could also include the train origin, not just the destination, and maybe also the incoming arrival status of trains that are terminating at the selected station.

I'm also curious about the "faster option." I can't see any toggle or other control to engage that option.

Please take this simply as comments and suggestions, not criticism. I really appreciate the "labor of love" work you do for the status maps and archived train data. There are no other resources for Amtrak train status like yours (and that included Amtrak's own efforts). I use them all the time.

Edit: I see the terminating trains are shown. I guess that shows how little I use the Solari Board feature while using the other Status Maps features frequently.
 
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PRR 60 said:
For me, it took exactly 61 seconds for the PHL board to fully display (MacBook Pro 2013, OSX 10.9.4, Safari 7.0.6). This was after first loading the PHL board (to ensure the data did not have to be fetched) then loading it again for the timing. It seems to me that at least some of that time is the result of the Solari animation. I would also like a non-animated version assuming that would shorten the display time. Maybe a version that is not tied to looking like a Solari board could also include the train origin, not just the destination, and maybe also the incoming arrival status of trains that are terminating at the selected station.

I'm also curious about the "faster option." I can't see any toggle or other control to engage that option.

Please take this simply as comments and suggestions, not criticism. I really appreciate the "labor of love" work you do for the status maps and archived train data. There are no other resources for Amtrak train status like yours (and that included Amtrak's own efforts). I use them all the time.

Edit: I see the terminating trains are shown. I guess that shows how little I use the Solari Board feature while using the other Status Maps features frequently.
Click to expand...
I gather that you found the "Faster" option.

jb
 
I finally got around to doing the "speed test" on one of my tired, old, retired machines. Even using the "faster" option, it took way too long.

So, I'm finally working on the static version for those who are either impatient or are too cheap to go out and buy the latest hardware. (My personal philosophy is if the machine is working, keep using it as long as possible :) ).

jb
 
I have a design question. The static page will essentially be simple text arranged in a table, like the solari board display. However, when the individual elements are updated, they'll simply change - instantly. If you're not looking right at a particular item, you'll never see it happen. Is that acceptable or is there some other requirement for something elegant, but infinitely easy to program?

jb
 
John Bobinyec said:
I finally got around to doing the "speed test" on one of my tired, old, retired machines. Even using the "faster" option, it took way too long.

So, I'm finally working on the static version for those who are either impatient or are too cheap to go out and buy the latest hardware. (My personal philosophy is if the machine is working, keep using it as long as possible :) ).

jb
Click to expand...
Although I have a Win7 and Win8 machine on my desk, there is an old, tried, true and trusty XP64 machine off to the left... though it hasn't been powered off in at least three years: afraid that if it is one of the hard drives won't spin up again, or some other mechanical aspect will decide that not working was so sweet, that it'll protest and refuse to come back from even the briefest rest. [though I will say that there is still a Win98 machine that has been a real trooper, and still on occasion it's powered up to see if new software will or won't run on it - customers always seem to want to know such, especially when one has customers in 70+ countries, not all first-world].
 
John Bobinyec said:
I have a design question. The static page will essentially be simple text arranged in a table, like the solari board display. However, when the individual elements are updated, they'll simply change - instantly. If you're not looking right at a particular item, you'll never see it happen. Is that acceptable or is there some other requirement for something elegant, but infinitely easy to program?

jb
Click to expand...
Sounds fine.... or, maybe flash/display the update in a different color for 100-150ms and then back to the nominal color??
 
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John Bobinyec said:
I have a design question. The static page will essentially be simple text arranged in a table, like the solari board display. However, when the individual elements are updated, they'll simply change - instantly. If you're not looking right at a particular item, you'll never see it happen. Is that acceptable or is there some other requirement for something elegant, but infinitely easy to program?

jb
Click to expand...
That is absolutely acceptable. However, an alternative is to blink the newly changed line for a short period and then return it to normal. (Or bold it for a short period and then return it to normal.)
Some actual airport & train station screens simply change instantaneously.

Others blink or flash-bold the line which changed when it changes.

Either is acceptable.
 
I am happy to announce the completion of the "static" version of the station status boards, It's selectable as an option.

The static version will "snap right in" once the browser gets all of its data.

jb
 
ronkstevens said:
Only request here is for the "flip flip" sound. I really enjoy it.
Click to expand...
Any train stations still use that kind of board? Kayak uses them in their commercials. The San Francisco Ferry Building still has one to display status and gates. The place is full of tourists just standing and watching it work. It does sort of back up the main corridor, but it's a big attraction.
 
BCL said:
ronkstevens said:
Only request here is for the "flip flip" sound. I really enjoy it.
Click to expand...
Any train stations still use that kind of board? Kayak uses them in their commercials. The San Francisco Ferry Building still has one to display status and gates. The place is full of tourists just standing and watching it work. It does sort of back up the main corridor, but it's a big attraction.
Click to expand...
30th Street Station in Philly has one.
 
BCL said:
ronkstevens said:
Only request here is for the "flip flip" sound. I really enjoy it.
Click to expand...
Any train stations still use that kind of board? Kayak uses them in their commercials. The San Francisco Ferry Building still has one to display status and gates. The place is full of tourists just standing and watching it work. It does sort of back up the main corridor, but it's a big attraction.
Click to expand...
USA Installations (Wikipedia)

Amtrak:

- Newark NJ

- New Haven

- Philadelphia (30th Street)

- Providence

- Route 128 (Boston area)

- Trenton

Other USA

- Atlantic City (NJ Transit)

- Jacksonville International Airport

- San Francisco Ferry Building

- Secaucus Junction (NJ Transit)

Note that the San Francisco Ferry Building board is nearly brand new. It was installed in 2013.
 
On the static station status boards, the train numbers are now links to pull up the train's file. Keep in mind that if you do that before the train's schedule starts, the file will not be found.

jb

ps I decided to not put up a link if the file doesn't yet exist, in order to prevent the "file not found" error.
 
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