
Planes overhead - bane
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=planes+overhead
======
frisco
Wolfram Alpha might be the most advanced piece of web technology nobody needs.

~~~
thefool
Except that it is extremely useful as a powerful calculator for students and
professionals doing technical things, and in the process of being very handy
teaches people mathematica notation. Just because it's not necessarily aimed
at the average person doesn't mean its not aimed at anyone.

I expect Wolfram alpha has done a lot to drive sales of mathematica.

~~~
tedunangst
I feel the original comment applies not to mathematica, just to the (alpha -
mathematica) subset, much of which seems to exist just to prove it can exist.
But I don't begrudge them this at all, it's still cool.

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antimora
I think the biggest problem with wolframalpha.com (besides its hard and long
name) is functionality discovery. How am I supposed to know it's possible to
measure "plane overheads", even if I am on their site?

Anyhow, from the website usage, it looks like it never took off:
[http://trends.google.com/websites?q=wolframalpha.com&geo...](http://trends.google.com/websites?q=wolframalpha.com&geo=all&date=all&sort=0)

~~~
kami8845
Wolfram Alpha not being able to sustain the "trendiness" it enjoyed during its
original release isn't as bad as one might make it out to be.

[http://trends.google.com/websites?q=wolframalpha.com%2C+gith...](http://trends.google.com/websites?q=wolframalpha.com%2C+github.com&geo=all&date=all&sort=0)

~~~
pjin
That's interesting to see the related searches between the two. Github users,
unsurprisingly, also like Node, MongoDB, etc., whereas Wolfram Alpha users
play Minecraft and read webcomics (also popular among Github users). In other
words, Wolfram Alpha seems to be commonly used by students, presumably in
math, physics, and engineering.

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soult
I am surprised nobody has mentioned Flightradar24[0] yet. It displays planes
on a Google Map with altitude, airline and flight path information. The data
comes directly from ADS-B receivers of volunteers, so only planes with ADS-B
transponder are shown and the coverage outside of Europe is spotty.

Living in the path of a mid-size airport this tool is great for identifying
noisy airplane types.

0: <http://www.flightradar24.com/>

~~~
plestik
There's also PlaneFinder: <http://planefinder.net/> And CasperFlights (I'm the
Flash developer for this one): <http://casperflights.com>

To be honest, I think Planefinder is the most impressive at the moment, their
data is very, very good and their client is pretty decent as well.

~~~
soult
It seems all 3 sites use ADS-B receivers as source, so the only measurement in
data quality is how many receivers they have and where they are.

I wasn't able to test your Flash software (Flash won't work on my computer),
but since you seem to cater to plane spotters mostly: It would be cool to have
your data combined with LiveATC.net so that I can see which planes are near an
airport and what their pilots are saying.

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LesZedCB
Try reversing the search. After I queried "Flights overhead" I got a result
set of a couple flights, including Turkish Airlines Flight NO 8.

I then queried for "Turkish Airlines Flight 8 location" and got the current
trip and location, which is indeed right on top of me. Now I can see where my
friends and family are when they come to visit!

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zitterbewegung
Seems to work for satellites too
<http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=satellites+overhead>

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sehugg
Be cool if you could say "when will the ISS next pass over this location." It
seems to interpret that as "where will the ISS be at the next sunrise."

"Next solar eclipse" works though.

~~~
lizzard
You can get the next ISS flyover for your location on your phone if you sign
up for this,

<http://twisst.nl/what-is-twisst>

It works really well for me, with the direction of the pass, expected
brightness, whether the moon is up and so on.

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zachcb
Now if only I could type in "cars speeding by my house." Then I might be able
to find out who's speeding in my neightborhood at 2:00AM.

~~~
benwerd
One day that'll be a Google result.

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Dobbs
Just realized wolfram alpha works really well for doing complicated data
conversions, particularly data transfer rates.

    
    
        100 Terabytes a month in megabits a second.

~~~
kalid
Shameless plug: you might like instacalc which can do these conversions too:

<http://new.instacalc.com/366>

You can even use made-up units ("hits", "people", etc... has a pluralizer). I
made it as a personal productivity tool and have a slew of updates in the
works =).

~~~
tripzilch
Ooh Instacalc! I really liked that app when I first heard of it (must be over
a year ago?), thanks for reminding me of its existence, I'll check out how far
it's come.

Hope the cross-browser issues got solved, I seem to remember that was my major
hurdle (I'm on Opera).

~~~
kalid
Ah, thanks for the note -- I haven't checked it in opera in a while :)

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kpozin
Even cooler: "planets overhead"
[http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=planets+overhead&a=...](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=planets+overhead&a=*DPClash.AstronomicalP.input-_*BooleanRise-)

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zbowling
works via siri!!! <http://i.imgur.com/SgaeL.png>

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mnutt
Sadly Siri doesn't know "What planes are overhead?", though it figures it out
if you say "Search wolfram alpha for planes overhead."

~~~
jrappleye
You can also query Wolfram by just saying "Wolfram," e.g. "Wolfram planes
overhead". See [http://www.tuaw.com/2011/10/28/10-cool-things-you-can-do-
wit...](http://www.tuaw.com/2011/10/28/10-cool-things-you-can-do-with-wolfram-
alpha-and-siri/) for more things you can do with Wolfram and Siri.

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slipperyp
Where do they get data like speed, bearing, and altitude (at what looks like
finer than 1 minute granularity)?

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amandle
It says under the table "locations based on projections of delayed data" I
would guess that they look at where a flight plan is going from and to and
interpolate in between.

~~~
jser
I think you're right -- it doesn't match FlightAware's FAA data at at all (at
least when comparing in downtown Chicago). FlightAware had many more flights,
including non-commercial and cargo.

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dazbradbury
I'm currently sat in Heathrow airport, one of the busiest airports in the
world.

Result: none.

~~~
mseebach
One of the key features of airports is the _lack_ of planes overhead. Also, I
think it only works in the US.

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Angostura
US only I thnk - I'm currently in East London with planes above me stacked for
landing in Heathrow: Results: None.

Results: No Data Available would be a better result.

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miles_matthias
I used Wolfram Alpha when I was taking a cryptography course in college and
needed to do really long calculations with exact answers, but haven't been
back since. For flight tracking, FlightAware.com (and their new mobile apps)
and LiveATC.net (and their mobile apps) are far and away the best to use.

I saw another comment about this working with Siri, which brings up the whole
question about integrating Siri with third party apps for me. But I digress...

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gallerytungsten
This doesn't seem to show the fighter jets that regularly zoom overhead at
1,000 feet of altitude or less.

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sp332
That information requires a whole different API :)

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fikhma
As someone who enjoys watching the planes, I would love to have an iPhone app
where you point and click and get a plane data, model number, etc, either from
engine noise signature or from silhouette. That's the way to do it.

~~~
NegativeK
A la Google Sky Map?

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ByteMuse
Also, <http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=satellites+overhead>

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donniefitz2
I work right in the flight path of a major airport. Planes overhead all day
long. Now I can tell where they're going. Too cool.

~~~
tkrajcar
flightaware.com has allowed you to do this for years...

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ethank
I live under the climb out path for LAX north bound flights and landing
approach for Burbank. Lots and lots of planes overhead.

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ethank
Sadly this doesn't work whilst on a plane.

~~~
cynwoody
I can usually get my Garmin to work if I'm in a window seat.

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AmazingBytecode
I saw a plane outside. It wasn't on Wolfram Alpha. Not gonna go outside
because, you know, chemtrails.

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akeck
Try also: "planets overhead", "satellites overhead", "stars overhead", and
"galaxy overhead".

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sabatier
Does not work over the UK. Grrrr

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alpb
From Turkey, result: none.

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ck2
Try also _sky chart_

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tonylemesmer
Data is delayed iirc

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sunjain
Simply Amazing!

