[aprssig] Traffic Info via APRS

[John Gorkos]

The Georgia DOT just got their GA-511 system upgraded and back online, and
they provide an RSS feed for incidents on Georgia roads.  Since it's RSS,
it's really XML, and uses standard fields for various data items.  Here's a
sample:
<item>
<title>
<![CDATA[ GA 400 Southbound<br>N OF KEITH BRIDGE RD ]]>
</title>
<link>
<![CDATA[
http://www.511ga.org?lon1=-84.076928&lat1=34.279860&lon2=-84.076928&lat2=34.
279860
]]>
</link>
<description>
<![CDATA[
Vehicle Fire.<br>All lanes blocked.<br>Forsyth Co.<br>Expected clear: today
10:00 AM.<br>Last update: today 7:31 AM.<br>
]]>
</description>
<guid isPermaLink="false">event_361037</guid>
</item>

Our good buddies in New Jersey do something similar:
<item>
<title>I-278 eastbound : Accident</title>
<description>
NYSDOT - Region 11: Accident on I-278 eastbound area of Exit 28B - Brooklyn
Bridge (New York) center lane blocked
</description>
<link>http://rss.511nj.org/eventDetails/ORI47923407</link>
<pubDate>Fri, 15 Mar 2013 09:33:59 -0400</pubDate>
<guid>http://rss.511nj.org/eventDetails/ORI47923407</guid>
<georss:point>40.7015991210938 -73.9908981323242</georss:point>
</item>

Actually, NJ is even better, because they include an XML field called
georss:pointŠ
Can anyone think of a reason I shouldn't write up some code to pull the RSS
feed every few minutes, and create local (RF only) objects to indicate
traffic incidents, accidents, maybe major construction, etc?  Georgia
provides an "Expected clear" time.  NJ doesn't, but their format is better.
Tennessee REALLY has it going on, with a great looking XML format you can
see here:
http://ww2.tdot.state.tn.us/tsw/GeoRSS/TDOTIncidentGeoRSS.xml
 
Of course, a "real programer" could do this in three lines of Perl.  I'll
probably do it in 10, but I like to add comments.  :)   Does this seem like
a worthwhile addition to a "tactical information network"?

John Gorkos


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