tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82892641924995215822024-03-14T04:46:26.079-05:00T.Z.Tony Zalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00527920809337008910noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8289264192499521582.post-51848366916453265592010-02-17T22:08:00.004-06:002010-02-17T22:38:34.040-06:00Metra Taking Over @metradelays and the Rest of the Twitter Delay FeedsI set up the <a href="http://www.twitter.com/metradelays">@metradelays</a> service on Twitter a year ago to help commuters keep track of their train lines. The service received an overwhelmingly positive response and collected more than 1,000 followers across all lines. Better access to transit data was clearly a common need.<div><br /></div><div>Last September, Metra redesigned their website; this had the side effect of breaking the Twitter feeds. Not finding myself with the free time to fix the service, the Twitter accounts have sat dormant for the past few months.</div><div><br /></div><div>Fast forward to today, when Metra contacted me about taking control of the accounts. They are looking to provide service information across more outlets, and were interested in taking advantage of the Metra/Twitter accounts I set up. Since I still have no immediate plans to update the service, this seems like the best chance for all the @metradelays followers to start getting updates on Twitter again.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's hoping Metra builds us a great service!</div>Tony Zalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00527920809337008910noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8289264192499521582.post-70009426893396449062009-04-18T13:13:00.006-05:002009-04-18T14:01:51.891-05:00Metra-Twitter Service Now Running on Google App Engine<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">When I first put together my Metra delay service on Twitter, I didn't think it would see a wide audience; I expected myself and maybe a few friends to take advantage of it. I certainly didn't foresee the media attention the feeds generated:</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/technology/chi-talk-metra-25mar25,0,6870128.story"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Chicago Tribune</span></span></a></div><div><a href="http://cbs2chicago.com/local/metra.delays.twitter.2.967905.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">CBS2 Chicago Evening News</span></span></a></div><div><a href="http://www.nbcchicago.com/station/as_seen_on/Get_Metra_Updates_Via_Twitter_Chicago.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">NBC Chicago Evening News</span></span></a></div><div><a href="http://www.truveo.com/Technogadgets-Twitter-For-Metra-Delays/id/3427871431"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">CBS2 Morning Show</span></span></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size:13px;"><div><span style="border-collapse: collapse; "><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Usage quickly spiked after these stories ran -- there are about 1200 people following the Metra feeds at this point. The only problem was that it was running on my personal computer. If I needed to reboot or experienced an internet outage, no updates were posted.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In an effort to make the service more robust, I decided to port to </span><a href="http://code.google.com/appengine/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Google App Engine</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, which allows developers to create applications that run on Google infrastructure. App Engine has been around for about a year, but my Twitter app couldn't run there until a couple weeks ago, when the App Engine team unveiled </span><a href="http://code.google.com/appengine/docs/python/config/cron.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Scheduled Tasks</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. This feature allows me to run my regular scans over Metra's delay info, and post the relevant material to Twitter.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">All in all, porting to App Engine was a great experience. It's a very straightforward, developer-friendly environment, and I had fun doing it. And now I can turn off my computer again. :P</span></span></div></span></div></span></span></div></div>Tony Zalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00527920809337008910noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8289264192499521582.post-88840918094406352972009-02-23T14:04:00.004-06:002009-02-23T15:12:37.075-06:00Metra Service Updates via Twitter<span style="font-family:arial;">Winter in Chicago is still going strong, and nothing can be worse than standing in the cold, waiting for the <a href="http://www.metrarail.com/">Metra</a> train that should have arrived 20 minutes ago. Although Metra makes delay information available via </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.metrarail.com/Service_Updates">http://www.metrarail.com/Service_Updates/</a><span style="font-family:arial;">, it can be hard to remember to check before heading out in the morning.<br /><br />I spent a couple hours coding with the <a href="http://code.google.com/p/python-twitter/">python-twitter API</a> last week, and now you can take advantage of </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.twitter.com/">Twitter</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> to keep track of Metra and get updates on your mobile device. Keep up with all delays by following </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.twitter.com/metradelays">@metradelays</a><span style="font-family:arial;">, or just monitor your own line with:</span><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />Union Pacific North: </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.twitter.com/metraUPN">@metraUPN</a><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Union Pacific Northwest: </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.twitter.com/metraUPNW">@metraUPNW</a><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Union Pacific West: </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.twitter.com/metraUPW">@metraUPW</a><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />Milwaukee District North: </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.twitter.com/metramdn">@metramdn</a><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Milwaukee District West: </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.twitter.com/metraMDW">@metraMDW</a><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />North Central: </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.twitter.com/metranc">@metranc</a><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Burlington Northern SF: </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.twitter.com/metrabnsf">@metrabnsf</a><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />Heritage Corridor: </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.twitter.com/metraHC">@metraHC</a><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Rock Island District: </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.twitter.com/metrari">@metrari</a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Southwest Line: </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.twitter.com/metrasw">@metrasw</a><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Electric Line: </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.twitter.com/metrae">@metrae</a><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /><br />Happy commuting!</span>Tony Zalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00527920809337008910noreply@blogger.com13