FLIGHT RADAR

I'm not one for apps but a mate of mine showed me Flight Radar and I love it.

Yes it's totally anorak and geeky but if you see planes flying overhead and ever wondered where there destination was, then Flight Radar is for you. You'll also get their real time location on a map, altitude, the flight path, where it's come from, type of aircraft etc etc.

If you see a lone sole in the Rumney area looking up into a clear blue sky saying, "Mexico City to Paris, well I never", unfortunately that is likely to be me.

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Originally Posted by Moodybluebird

I'm not one for apps but a mate of mine showed me Flight Radar and I love it.

Yes it's totally anorak and geeky but if you see planes flying overhead and ever wondered where there destination was, then Flight Radar is for you. You'll also get their real time location on a map, altitude, the flight path, where it's come from, type of aircraft etc etc.

If you see a lone sole in the Rumney area looking up into a clear blue sky saying, "Mexico City to Paris, well I never", unfortunately that is likely to be me.

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Good, innit? Me and one of the blokes i work with have small wagers on where the plane has come from, and where it is going. It is possible to get quite close if you know your east from west and north from south, the height of the plane helps as well etc. Exciting stuff in my workplace :hehe:

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Originally Posted by Moodybluebird

I'm not one for apps but a mate of mine showed me Flight Radar and I love it.

Yes it's totally anorak and geeky but if you see planes flying overhead and ever wondered where there destination was, then Flight Radar is for you. You'll also get their real time location on a map, altitude, the flight path, where it's come from, type of aircraft etc etc.

If you see a lone sole in the Rumney area looking up into a clear blue sky saying, "Mexico City to Paris, well I never", unfortunately that is likely to be me.

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There are also ones for shipping such as MarineTraffic and Marine Radar.

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais...ry:20.3/zoom:7

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Originally Posted by city1927

There are also ones for shipping such as MarineTraffic and Marine Radar.

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais...ry:20.3/zoom:7

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You don't get many ships flying over though, I suppose it could be useful on a trip to the seaside.

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Originally Posted by Tuerto

Good, innit? Me and one of the blokes i work with have small wagers on where the plane has come from, and where it is going. It is possible to get quite close if you know your east from west and north from south, the height of the plane helps as well etc. Exciting stuff in my workplace :hehe:

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Makes we wish I was back in work again ! Well not quite. About 2 weeks ago we had a cloudless sky and I followed on the map those planes heading in our direction and then trained my binoculars on them when they came into view. Cincinnati to Brussels, Chicago to Baki, Atlanta to Istanbul were just a few.

There is no way you or your workmate would have guessed one of the flights.....try Kuwait City to Shannon. Got to be worth 10 points that one lol

My 5 year old grandson loves it, he knows all the airlines by name lol

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Originally Posted by Moodybluebird

I'm not one for apps but a mate of mine showed me Flight Radar and I love it.

Yes it's totally anorak and geeky but if you see planes flying overhead and ever wondered where there destination was, then Flight Radar is for you. You'll also get their real time location on a map, altitude, the flight path, where it's come from, type of aircraft etc etc.

If you see a lone sole in the Rumney area looking up into a clear blue sky saying, "Mexico City to Paris, well I never", unfortunately that is likely to be me.

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If you want to be REALLY sad about you could get a raspberry pi and nooelec SDR dongle and contribute to the data yourself.....I don't know anyone who'd be that sad, honest :hide:

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Originally Posted by GL1Blue

If you want to be REALLY sad about you could get a raspberry pi and nooelec SDR dongle and contribute to the data yourself.....I don't know anyone who'd be that sad, honest :hide:

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Sorry, you lost me after "raspberry" lol

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Originally Posted by RichardM

You don't get many ships flying over though, I suppose it could be useful on a trip to the seaside.

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Yeah fair point I should have mentioned it is nice when you walk along a coastal path or you at the beach and you see a tanker sat out there.

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Originally Posted by Moodybluebird

I'm not one for apps but a mate of mine showed me Flight Radar and I love it.

Yes it's totally anorak and geeky but if you see planes flying overhead and ever wondered where there destination was, then Flight Radar is for you. You'll also get their real time location on a map, altitude, the flight path, where it's come from, type of aircraft etc etc.

If you see a lone sole in the Rumney area looking up into a clear blue sky saying, "Mexico City to Paris, well I never", unfortunately that is likely to be me.

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Try “ The Flight Channel” on YouTube . Some superb representations of both doomed and saved flights. Not for the squeamish.

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Originally Posted by Moodybluebird

I'm not one for apps but a mate of mine showed me Flight Radar and I love it.

Yes it's totally anorak and geeky but if you see planes flying overhead and ever wondered where there destination was, then Flight Radar is for you. You'll also get their real time location on a map, altitude, the flight path, where it's come from, type of aircraft etc etc.

If you see a lone sole in the Rumney area looking up into a clear blue sky saying, "Mexico City to Paris, well I never", unfortunately that is likely to be me.

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If he's flying over Rumney en route from Mexico City to Paris I think that pilot needs retraining!

I love using it when you know someone who's on a flight.

Also love the ISS Tracker app. Gives you 5 minute warning to see the Space Station, together with its position in the sky. Still blows my mind that sometimes I can see it and its actually flying directly over the north coast of Spain.

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Originally Posted by cityhammer

If he's flying over Rumney en route from Mexico City to Paris I think that pilot needs retraining!

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Why is that? The Great Circle route goes over Cornwall, which is not far away.

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Originally Posted by cityhammer

If he's flying over Rumney en route from Mexico City to Paris I think that pilot needs retraining!

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Could be a variety of reasons why a certain flight path is taken, such as weather conditions and other air traffic for instance. But the Mexico to Paris flight definitely came up on the tracker and I viewed the aircraft overhead. On another day the same flight might enter UK air space over Cornwall or Mid Wales and would not be visible from Cardiff.

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Originally Posted by Moodybluebird

Could be a variety of reasons why a certain flight path is taken, such as weather conditions and other air traffic for instance. But the Mexico to Paris flight definitely came up on the tracker and I viewed the aircraft overhead. On another day the same flight might enter UK air space over Cornwall or Mid Wales and would not be visible from Cardiff.

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Is it because people are familiar with looking at a Mercator map of the world and not realising that a straight line on it between two points is nowhere near the shortest distance involved?

Attachment 4607

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Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie

Is it because people are familiar with looking at a Mercator map of the world and not realising that a straight line on it between two points is nowhere near the shortest distance involved?

Attachment 4607

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Almost certainly, especially if they're not regular fliers. It's quite common to fly over Nova Scotia or even further north when flying from London to Miami for instance.

Not only is the Flight Radar app fun, it's a great educational tool as well.

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Originally Posted by Moodybluebird

Almost certainly, especially if they're not regular fliers. It's quite common to fly over Nova Scotia or even further north when flying from London to Miami for instance.

Not only is the Flight Radar app fun, it's a great educational tool as well.

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It's my very last day as a cartographer as I'm retiring at 4pm today. Glad to be of service :-)

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Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie

It's my very last day as a cartographer as I'm retiring at 4pm today. Glad to be of service :-)

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Good luck in your retirement!

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Originally Posted by Moodybluebird

Almost certainly, especially if they're not regular fliers. It's quite common to fly over Nova Scotia or even further north when flying from London to Miami for instance.

Not only is the Flight Radar app fun, it's a great educational tool as well.

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Isn't that what Newfoundland is famous for, being the pitstop for the Americas?

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Originally Posted by city1927

There are also ones for shipping such as MarineTraffic and Marine Radar.

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais...ry:20.3/zoom:7

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Used it quite often,

Sat with my father yesterday at the Spinny in Sully watching a cargo ship pass

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Originally Posted by Rock_Flock_of_Five

Good luck in your retirement!

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:thumbup:

Does it track footballs kicked in to the sky at Cardiff City Stadium?

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Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie

Is it because people are familiar with looking at a Mercator map of the world and not realising that a straight line on it between two points is nowhere near the shortest distance involved?

Attachment 4607

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I've always found this to be so counter intuitive. I have a globe in front of me , and with a piece of string I can see that the shortest path is exactly as the map you posted shows. Yet it still seems strange that Mexico City is a long way south of Paris, yet in order to get there you start off going north to cornwall. I suppose if you reoriented paris to be th new "north pole" then it might make more sense

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Originally Posted by Rjk

I've always found this to be so counter intuitive. I have a globe in front of me , and with a piece of string I can see that the shortest path is exactly as the map you posted shows. Yet it still seems strange that Mexico City is a long way south of Paris, yet in order to get there you start off going north to cornwall. I suppose if you reoriented paris to be th new "north pole" then it might make more sense

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All map projections (and there are many) are distortions. Try and imagine representing a football as a flat two-dimensional object.
Not easy, is it? The Mercator projection, named after a Flemish cartographer, effectively shows the globe as a flattened out cylinder with the most northern and southern regions cropped because the further away from the equator the more stretching is involved - and the north and south poles, mere points on the globe, would be shown as wide as the equator. The projection is useful in several ways, including the north/up v south/down concepts but, in reality, there is no up and down apart from in our imagination. And as for north being at the top of maps, it's merely convention and not universal - and the word 'orientation' came from the days when The Holy Land/The East was at the top of maps and when North was effectively shown on the left-hand side. Many things in mapping are human constructs and but it's the maths that count.

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Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie

All map projections (and there are many) are distortions. Try and imagine representing a football as a flat two-dimensional object.
Not easy, is it? The Mercator projection, named after a Flemish cartographer, effectively shows the globe as a flattened out cylinder with the most northern and southern regions cropped because the further away from the equator the more stretching is involved - and the north and south poles, mere points on the globe, would be shown as wide as the equator. The projection is useful in several ways, including the north/up v south/down concepts but, in reality, there is no up and down apart from in our imagination. And as for north being at the top of maps, it's merely convention and not universal - and the word 'orientation' came from the days when The Holy Land/The East was at the top of maps and when North was effectively shown on the left-hand side. Many things in mapping are human constructs and but it's the maths that count.

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Picturing you still sat in the office typing this :hehe: GO HOME TBG, your work is done

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Originally Posted by delmbox

Picturing you still sat in the office typing this :hehe: GO HOME TBG, your work is done

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I've been on leave today (and for the last 9 weeks) :-)

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Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie

I've been on leave today (and for the last 9 weeks) :-)

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And you’re retiring despite that holiday entitlement :hehe:

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Originally Posted by splott parker

And you’re retiring despite that holiday entitlement :hehe:

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Two years accrued, old fruit.

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Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie

Two years accrued, old fruit.

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Extremely tactical and clever TBG, happy & long retirement :thumbup:

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Originally Posted by splott parker

Extremely tactical and clever TBG, happy & long retirement :thumbup:

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Thanks but enough of me already! :-)

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Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie

All map projections (and there are many) are distortions. Try and imagine representing a football as a flat two-dimensional object.
Not easy, is it? The Mercator projection, named after a Flemish cartographer, effectively shows the globe as a flattened out cylinder with the most northern and southern regions cropped because the further away from the equator the more stretching is involved - and the north and south poles, mere points on the globe, would be shown as wide as the equator. The projection is useful in several ways, including the north/up v south/down concepts but, in reality, there is no up and down apart from in our imagination. And as for north being at the top of maps, it's merely convention and not universal - and the word 'orientation' came from the days when The Holy Land/The East was at the top of maps and when North was effectively shown on the left-hand side. Many things in mapping are human constructs and but it's the maths that count.

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About 10 years ago I was in Sydney with the missus and we went into a small souvenir shop to browse. In there was a map showing Australia roughly where Canada is now, so all the continents as we know them are shown in an inverted position. The shop owner joked that this is how the world really is, with Oz at the top, albeit upside down. When I pointed out two major flaws to his argument, i.e. South Australia is now to the north of the island and Western Australia is now in the East he shut up pretty sharpish !

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Originally Posted by WJ99mobile

Isn't that what Newfoundland is famous for, being the pitstop for the Americas?

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I heard that said on The curse of oak island.

Just remembered I didn't finish watching that show..

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Originally Posted by Moodybluebird

About 10 years ago I was in Sydney with the missus and we went into a small souvenir shop to browse. In there was a map showing Australia roughly where Canada is now, so all the continents as we know them are shown in an inverted position. The shop owner joked that this is how the world really is, with Oz at the top, albeit upside down. When I pointed out two major flaws to his argument, i.e. South Australia is now to the north of the island and Western Australia is now in the East he shut up pretty sharpish !

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Australia means south.

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Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie

Australia means south.

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So South Australia is really South South !

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Originally Posted by Moodybluebird

About 10 years ago I was in Sydney with the missus and we went into a small souvenir shop to browse. In there was a map showing Australia roughly where Canada is now, so all the continents as we know them are shown in an inverted position. The shop owner joked that this is how the world really is, with Oz at the top, albeit upside down. When I pointed out two major flaws to his argument, i.e. South Australia is now to the north of the island and Western Australia is now in the East he shut up pretty sharpish !

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A Chinese map of the world is different from a standard map. The Chinese word for China is 中国 (Zhōngguó), this translates as the 'Central Kingdom'. So, on a Chinese map, you will see China positioned towards the middle east.

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Originally Posted by splott parker

Extremely tactical and clever TBG, happy & long retirement :thumbup:

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Seconded :thumbup:

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Originally Posted by cityhammer

If he's flying over Rumney en route from Mexico City to Paris I think that pilot needs retraining!

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That's about the right flight path!

Many flights from the major european hubs to the Caribbean / Mexico will fly over the Severn estuary.

My wife has the app and mentioned "Cancun from Frankfurt".