Free real-time traffic information

While talking with a good friend who had been stranded on the road during "Skidlocked D.C. 2011" -- a nightmare traffic jam that occurred throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area during a snowstorm that began on the afternoon of 26 January -- he mentioned that his decision to return to work and hunker down for a while was based upon the free real-time traffic information available on Google Maps. As it turns out, the traffic information on Google Maps is at least as good as traffic info from any commercial service provider.

How does the Google Maps traffic overlay work so well? In a word, crowdsourcing. Huh? Here's how it works. When your GPS-enabled cell phone is turned on and location services enabled, the phone sends anonymous data to Google regarding the position of your phone. It is possible to determine the speed at which your cell phone is moving based upon the change in position of the phone as time passes. Now imagine that the position of your cell phone, as well as the positions of lots of other cell phones, happens to be co-located with a highway, and there you have it in a nutshell -- crowdsourced traffic information that can be used to display on a map both the volume of traffic and the speed at which it's moving. Very cool!

Related Resources:

• Google Maps Help
• Google Maps Help - Traffic
• Google Maps Help - Availability of real-time traffic
• Official Google Blog - The bright side of sitting in traffic: Crowdsourcing road congestion data

Tech Tips: Using the "Maps" app on the Apple iPhone: Tap the "map curl" (shown lower righthand corner of the screen) and select "Show Traffic." Using a Web browser on a computer: "To see if live traffic is available in your area, hover your mouse over the square widget on the top righthand corner of the map. A menu with available layers for your map will appear. Click on Traffic to turn on the layer and view real-time traffic conditions." (Credit: Google Maps Help)

Point-and-Shoot Breakup

Are smartphones replacing digital cameras? For the answer, watch the video, "Breaking up with your point-and-shoot [digital camera]." The clever parody actually mentions several compelling reasons smartphone cameras are often the gadget of choice for mobile photography. See also the parent article that appeared in the New York Times entitled, "In Smartphone Era, Point-and-Shoots Stay Home."

EarthCache

Searching for interesting natural places to visit and explore? "The most exciting way to learn about the Earth and its processes is to get into the outdoors and experience it first-hand. Visiting an EarthCache site is a great outdoor activity the whole family can enjoy. The Geological Society of America (GSA) administers the listing of EarthCache sites around the world. An EarthCache site is a special place that people can visit to learn about a unique geoscience feature or aspect of our Earth. Visitors to EarthCache sites can see how our planet has been shaped by geological processes, how we manage the resources and how scientists gather evidence to learn about the Earth." (Credit: EarthCache Website.)

EarthCache is sponsored by Groundspeak, the good folks who bring you Geocaching.com and Waymarking.com. Educators should visit EarthCache Sites for Teachers, including a free teachers guide and general lesson plans.

Sundials - A Waymarking.com Category

Waymarking is "a scavenger hunt for unique and interesting locations" around the world. I follow the RSS feed for the Sundials category, an informal initiative to document the location of all sundials around the world. Be on the lookout for sundials during your travels -- they're everywhere! Whenever you see a sundial, record its exact location, take some photographs (ideally geotagged photos), and be sure to register the sundial at Waymarking.com.

Hey, I found a sundial!

Editor’s Note: I currently serve as chairperson of the North American Sundial Society (NASS) Education Committee. Educators interested in exploring ways to use sundials to enhance and/or enrich classroom instruction are encouraged to contact me.