Transportation Communications Newsletter: Monday, August 22, 2011

Transportation Communications Newsletter

Monday, August 22, 2011 – ISSN 1529-1057

The Consortium for ITS Training and Education (CITE) is offering its fall 2011 schedule of blended courses FREE to First Time students; each half price for returning students! Any of the following CITE courses can be obtained during this offer: Traffic Signal Timing, Introduction to Systems Engineering, Road Weather Information Systems (RWIS) Equipment and Operations, and Configuration Management for Traffic Management Systems. Act NOW; register today! All course materials are on-line; NEW students register using Sponsor Code TBNF2011 http://www.citeconsortium.org/registration.html. Restrictions apply; click here for details Questions, please contact Denise Twisdale (mztwiz@umd.edu) or Kathy Frankle (kfrankle@umd.edu).

AVIATION

1) Air France Crash Prompts FAA to Propose Longer Black-Box Signals

Link to article from Bloomberg:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-22/air-france-crash-prompts-faa-to-propose-longer-black-box-signals.html

2) Comair Crash Ushered in Sea of Changes

Five years after runway error, industry has probed, learned.

Link to article in The Courier Journal:

http://communitypress.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20110821/NEWS0103/108220326/Comair-crash-ushered-sea-changes

MARITIME

3) Website Promotes North Carolina State Ports

Link to article in the Star-News:

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20110821/ARTICLES/110829966/1004/sitemaps05

Link to site: http://www.ourncports.com/

OTHER

4) US DOT Creates Online Technology Exchange

Link to article in InformationWeek:

http://informationweek.com/news/government/leadership/231500483

Link to Digital Transportation Exchange: http://www.dot.gov/open/DTE/

SAFETY / SECURITY

5) Uneven Post-9/11 Data-Cloaking Persists

Link to AP article:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gTofZIaNNW_z5h1vfKRiAKeVPrbQ?docId=68b7e32094d7442ab09af419548f01f7

6) Enhanced Coordination Among Maritime Agencies Post-11/26: Indian Navy

Link to Press Trust of India article:

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_enhanced-coordination-among-maritime-agencies-post-26-11-navy_1577943

7) Apple's iPhone Adds Japanese Earthquake Alerts

Link to BBC News story:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14614454

8) Union Pacific to Establish Joint Security Fusion Center with US Customs and Border Protection

Link to article in Government Security News:

http://www.gsnmagazine.com/node/24279?c=border_security

Link to news release from CBP:

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/national/08192011.xml

TELEMATICS

9) Ford, Toyota to Join Forces on Hybrid, Communications Systems

Link to article in the Detroit Free Press:

http://www.freep.com/article/20110822/BUSINESS01/110822023/Ford-Toyota-join-forces-hybrid-communications-systems

Link to news release from Toyota and Ford:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Ford-Toyota-to-Collaborate-on-prnews-1748199974.html

10) How Telematics Can Help Smart Grids Talk to Cars

Link to article in Telematics Update:

http://social.telematicsupdate.com/telematics-evs/how-telematics-can-help-smart-grids-talk-cars

TRANSIT

11) Clangs and Voice of The Tide are About Safety First

Link to article and audio clips in The Virginian-Pilot:

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/08/clangs-and-voice-tide-are-about-safety-first

12) Contract to be Signed Tuesday for Integrated Public Transport in Sofia, Bulgaria

Project will include installation of 600 electronic boards at bus stops and ITS to coordinate buses.

Link to article on publics.bg:

http://www.publics.bg/en/news/5538/The_Contract_for_Integrated_Transport_in_Sofia_to_Be_Signed_Tomorrow.html

13) Introducing GTFS-Real-Time to Exchange Real-Time Transit Updates

Link to Google Code blog:

http://googlecode.blogspot.com/2011/08/introducing-gtfs-realtime-to-exchange.html

TRAVELER INFORMATION / TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT

14) Verizon Strike Temporarily Prevented Some Calls to Maryland 511 Line

Link to article on Columbia Patch:

http://columbia.patch.com/articles/verizon-business-strike-temporarily-prevented-maryland-511-calls-sha-says

15) New 511 System Coming to West Virginia

Link to article on MetroNews:

http://www.wvmetronews.com/news.cfm?func=displayfullstory&storyid=47290

16) Traffic Police's Loudspeakers Become Public Headache in Imphal, India

Link to Hueiyen News Service article:

http://e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=22..210811.aug11

17) Sacramento Traffic Cameras: Who's Watching You?

Link to story and video on KTXL-TV:

http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktxl-news-trafficlights,0,6267750.story

18) Keeping an Eye on Traffic Jams in Manatee, Florida

Link to article in the Bradenton Herald:

http://www.bradenton.com/2011/08/22/3434972/keeping-an-eye-on-traffic-jams.html

VEHICLES

19) ITS JPO to Host Fall Webinar Series on Connected Vehicles and the Environment

Link to further information from US DOT:

http://www.its.dot.gov/meetings/aeris_webinar.htm

News Releases

1) Inrix Completes Acquisition of Leading European Traffic Information Company ITIS Holdings

2) United Continental Adding Wi-Fi, Upgrade In-flight Entertainment, Air Traffic Control Passenger Audio

Upcoming Events

2011 ITS Minnesota Fall Industry Forum – October 4 – St. Paul, Minnesota

http://www.itsmn.org/news.php

Today in Transportation History

1851 **160^th anniversary** The yacht America won the Royal Yacht Squadron's 100 Guinea Cup in a race around the Isle of Wight. The race later became known as the America's Cup.

http://www.americascup.com/en/Discover/A-brief-history/

======================================================================

The Transportation Communications Newsletter is published electronically Monday through Friday.

To subscribe (for free) or unsubscribe, please contact me at bernie@bwcommunications.net.

TCN archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications

Become a TCN fan on Facebook!

Questions, comments about the TCN? Please write the editor, Bernie Wagenblast at bernie@bwcommunications.net.