Adriel Blog

MTO Traffic data in Onatrio, Canada

Ontario Ministry of Transportation provides traffic data in various formats:

• Construction Reports
• Traffic Flow Reports
• Live Traffic Cameras
• Road Closure Announcements

All that data can be found in the online TRIP (http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/traveller/trip/) and COMPASS (http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/traveller/trip/traffic_cameras.shtml ) systems.

The following page provides KML files from MTO with the most updated information about the traffic that can be nicely overlayed on top of the Google Maps:

http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/kml/indexfiles.php

The 2 suggested ones are:

1. http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/kml/RoadClosure.kml
2. http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/kml/construction.kml

Grab any of the links and paste it simpley into Google Maps. All the marks and POIs will be displayed in your browser:

MTO data in Google Maps

In a case you’d like to integrate this data programatically into your application, use the following URL:

http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/traveller/compass/trip/events.xml

It provides an XML database of all events in the system that can be parsed and filtered as needed.

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Microsoft vs. Google

In the latest article on Technorati Which search engine do you choose in the blind test I read about latest Microsoft’s marketing compaign targeting to prove that Google search is no better than any other search. I don’t think it is place for argument. What was important is the leadership that Google demonstrated in its time and this is what Microsoft is missing today to gain the needed support. I believe that in today’s economy the only way to win is to lead. You can do this by innovation and that is what Google is doing – Google Org. I would prefer seeing Microsoft working together with Google one the new innovative products using technology to make efforts stronger in the major social, ecological, health and political problems.

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New Windows Mobile Images for iPaq 4700

You can find many unofficial images for your iPaq 4700:

http://www.winmobile.us/hpmain.htm

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Facebook API Key

Don’t understand why getting Facebook API gotta be so complicated. Here is a video tutorial that would save an hour of your precious time:

If you are looking for a Java Facebook client, look no further then Facebook Java API. That’s a well maintained open source project hosted by Google. Java client is not supported by Facebook since 2008 according to the framework. Let’s check if it can be ported to Android..

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Augmented Traffic

Another application in a series of new popular augmented reality (AR) application called: Traffic Views

Application is available for Google Android platform only. It provides lot’s of useful features that would help you to navigate wisely basing on the traffic conditions in your area. You can see a demo in the the following video:

The application supports for a Custom POI database that can loaded from a CSV file stored on the local SD card. The application can automatically detect and load the information once it is provided by the user.

• The custom POIs are shown in a separate AR view (if Custom POIs are enabled).
• The program will use the icon if stored on the SD card to represent the custom POI in the AR view; Otherwise a default icon will be used.

Sample POI databases can be found at http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/modules.php?name=POIs .

Posted in Gadgets, Mobile Development | No Comments »

Looking for friends…

Most of the people my age are divided into 2 groups:

1. Just married or planning to

2. Already divorced

Are there any “not cool”  families living happily with small kids? Are you there or should I speak to the Green guys about another type of endangered species about to disapear?

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Cleaning the house

Question: How to explain to a wife that it is not a good idea to make you do chores at home.

Answer: Simple, just do it once…

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SQL Server Index size

The following script reports space allocated for every index in the Database.

Script is taken from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/316831/table-and-index-size-in-sql-server:


SELECT
i.name AS IndexName,
s.used_page_count * 8 AS IndexSizeKB
FROM sys.dm_db_partition_stats AS s
JOIN sys.indexes AS i
ON s.[object_id] = i.[object_id] AND s.index_id = i.index_id
WHERE s.[object_id] = object_id('dbo.TableName')
ORDER BY i.name

SELECT
i.name AS IndexName,
SUM(page_count * 8 ) AS IndexSizeKB
FROM sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats(
db_id(), object_id('dbo.TableName'), NULL, NULL, 'DETAILED') AS s
JOIN sys.indexes AS i
ON s.[object_id] = i.[object_id] AND s.index_id = i.index_id
GROUP BY i.name
ORDER BY i.name


Posted in Databases, Programming | No Comments »

Blackberry Gmail Configuraton

Copying from http://www.bbhub.com/2006/12/19/how-to-filter-messages-sent-from-a-blackberry-gmail-account/

When you use the BlackBerry Gmail service to send messages from your BlackBerry device to another, they are stored in the Gmail Inbox as a conversation. They appear as new messages in the GMail Inbox.

But as the BlackBerry Technical Knowledge Center explains in a just-posted (and frankly a bit confusing) document entitled “Filter Messages sent from an integrated Gmail account,” (link below) there’s a way for you to create a filter that will prevent you from sending messages to or from a Gmail account on a BlackBerry device.

The document (which you can get to by clicking the Read prompt below this post) lists an eight-step procedure:

1. Log in to the BlackBerry Internet Service account.
2. Click filters beside the integrated Gmail account.
3. Click add filter.
4. Name the filter.
5. Click the drop-down menu beside apply filter when: and select the from field.
6. In the contains field, type the Gmail email account.
7. Select do not forward messages to handheld.
8. Click add filter.

Posted in Blackberry, Gadgets | No Comments »

Google’s Web Experience Redefined

Google started challenging our perception about web application capabilities starting with Google Mail (gmail) and Google Maps. Nowadays, Google tries to move further with 2 new challenges:

Web 3D applications:
http://code.google.com/apis/o3d/

YouTube 3D:

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