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Author Topic: Tracking ships and aircraft - something interesting  (Read 4244 times)

4wd

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Tracking ships and aircraft - something interesting
« on: September 07, 2013, 10:27 PM »
Silicon Chip just ran an article on the ADS-Bw system that's been fully implemented in Australia since 2009 and is being progressively implemented around the planet.  It ties in with an article they did on AISw 4 years ago so I thought others might be interested in forfeiting a few hours on these  ;D

If you want the issues for the full articles, they're available for a fee from Silicon Chip: August 2009 and August 2013 - the two links will take you to the relevant issues, you can view the first couple of pages of the article for no fee which will give you idea of what AIS and ADS-B are about.

The August 2013 issue also includes information on setting up your own ADS-B receiver using a common USB DVB-T receiver.

Anyway, on to the time wasters:

Marine Traffic

Hover over the vessel and you'll see its name, speed, and course.

2013-09-08 13_12_52-Live Ships Map - AIS - Vessel Traffic and Positions - Pale Moon.png

Click on it and you may get more info:

2013-09-08 13_13_17-Live Ships Map - AIS - Vessel Traffic and Positions - Pale Moon.png

Air Traffic - Flightradar24

Hover over an aircraft and you get its identification:

2013-09-08 13_18_03-Flightradar24.com - Live flight tracker! - Pale Moon.png

Click on it and a slide out panel opens:

2013-09-08 13_20_35-Flightradar24.com - Live flight tracker! - Pale Moon.pngTracking ships and aircraft - something interesting

If you click on the 3D button under the aircraft info, you'll get a cockpit view if you have the Google Earth plugin installed, (which I don't).

The Premium service of FlightRadar24 will allow you to point your smartphone camera at a overflying plane and have it identified.

Have some fun:

2013-09-08 13_22_46-Flightradar24.com - Live flight tracker! - Pale Moon.pngTracking ships and aircraft - something interesting

Addendum: Forgot to mention, not only can you track aircraft but if you go to Live ATC, (the site was down when I tried), you can apparently listen to Air Traffic Control give directions for any aircraft you may be watching, (you need to find the correct ATC area).
« Last Edit: September 08, 2013, 12:28 AM by 4wd, Reason: Added ATC audio feed info »

cranioscopical

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Re: Tracking ships and aircraft - something interesting
« Reply #1 on: September 07, 2013, 11:58 PM »

Interesting stuff, thanks for posting! You're right, a lot of time could be spent playing with this

The Premium service of FlightRadar24 will allow you to point your smartphone camera at a overflying plane and have it identified.
Apparently I don't need the premium service. I pointed my phone at what I thought was a plane and used the subsequent deposit to identify a seagull.  :Thmbsup:
 

4wd

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Re: Tracking ships and aircraft - something interesting
« Reply #2 on: September 08, 2013, 12:26 AM »
Apparently I don't need the premium service. I pointed my phone at what I thought was a plane and used the subsequent deposit to identify a seagull.

Consider yourself lucky it wasn't Superman  ;D

Updated OP with a bit more info.