#301. dartmaps redux

Dartmaps has returned after a brief intermission, albeit in a slightly more crippled form: the train times are now compiled from timetables rather than scraped from the real-time data.

This is thanks to the IT & Telecommunications department of CIE (who run the DART service) systematically blocking access from my servers to the real-time data.

Quite why they would do this, I do not know. From a technical point-of-view, they can not have had an issue with the volume or frequency of data transfer. 16Kb 4 times an hour is a drop in the ocean compared to their daily traffic. Nor should they have a problem with the extra publicity that it has attracted for Irish Rail, who, just by association, are now considered to be an innovative, forward-thinking company by mapping and transport geeks around the world.

They may just be miffed that a third party has created a cool new use of their own data, while their own web development team can't even sort out their own mess of sites. As they never actually contacted me, I guess we'll never know for sure.

Previously, Dartmaps could show actually useful real-time information such as the usual breakdowns, cancellations and delays (reminding me of the hilarious announcement familiar to all dart users that goes something along the lines of "the x train is running late due to the late arrival of an incoming train"). Now, however, you can only see the timetabled scheduled of trains, which, let's face is, is rarely "real-time".

Update 8/6/06: I have restored access to the real-time data. Dartmaps is back in business!