editor Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Houston TranStar goes TwitterNew Web-based communication mode offers flexibility and instant informationArea Web users now can get live incident reports from Houston TranStar using the latest Web sensation: Twitter. Twitter is a micro-blogging tool that's fast becoming a major source for information updates. It's a free service that lets users keep in touch through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? Or in TranStar's case: What's traffic doing?Twitter allows users to send updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Houston TranStar's constantly-updated notices about incidents on the area's freeway system can be viewed on TranStar's Twitter sites on desktop computers or mobile devices. Houston TranStar currently offers a main Twitter site that displays reported incidents for all roadways in addition to sites for individual freeways. For a list of all Houston TranStar's Twitter sites, visit http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/twitter/."Twitter is a great way to give travelers the quickest, simplest news about what's going on with the roads they travel most often," said Jack Whaley, Director of Houston TranStar. "When it's rush hour, getting through an entire traffic update on the radio may be more information than the person wants; Twitter cuts through the irrelevant and unnecessary and focuses on what's important to that person."Houston TranStar is a collaboration between four government agencies that coordinate and enhance transportation and emergency management services, responding to incidents and emergency in Harris County and beyond. Sharing their resources to serve area residents their agencies are the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), Harris County, Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) and the City of Houston. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chenevert Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Thats just plain wierd...I mean its a great idea... but wierd... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmat Posted June 8, 2010 Share Posted June 8, 2010 Transtar should do like NYC and get real-time video of traffic.This is cool: http://nyctmc.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted June 8, 2010 Share Posted June 8, 2010 Transtar should do like NYC and get real-time video of traffic.This is cool: http://nyctmc.org/Transtar was the first system in the country to do just exactly that. NYC copied us. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmat Posted June 8, 2010 Share Posted June 8, 2010 Transtar was the first system in the country to do just exactly that. NYC copied us.It doesn't seem like Transtar is video though, NYC's is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted June 8, 2010 Share Posted June 8, 2010 It doesn't seem like Transtar is video though, NYC's is.Transtar doesn't stream video online, but all of their cameras are video cameras and it uses a video feed for traffic management and incident response. Their control center is really quite amazing, if you ever get the opportunity to tour it.Transtar also allows TV stations access to the video feed. There was a time when TV news technicians were allowed the ability to pan and zoom the Transtar video cameras from the studio in real time, but that was discontinued once the directors figured out that they could show dead peoples' cracked-open heads with brains splattered all over the pavement...on live television. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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