Ferry Speed in Realtime Data

Real-time Public Transport
1

Hi, with the speed in the ferry vehicle position feed, what’s the unit on that? According to GTFS it should be in metres per second, but sometimes I have seen values that are around 25 (for example, Louise Sauvage was running at speed = 25 this afternoon) which translates to about 90km/h, which seems too fast. Or is this correct?

{
“id”: “b4e4e133-6120-4c59-8ef7-e702ed92fda2”,
“is_deleted”: false,
“trip_update”: null,
“vehicle”: {
“trip”: {
“trip_id”: “ES145-2960”,
“route_id”: “”,
“direction_id”: 0,
“start_time”: “”,
“start_date”: “”,
“schedule_relationship”: 0
},
“vehicle”: {
“id”: “1025”,
“label”: “Louise Sauvage”,
“license_plate”: “”
},
“position”: {
“latitude”: -33.85426712036133,
“longitude”: 151.2202911376953,
“bearing”: 267.3999938964844,
“odometer”: 0,
“speed”: 25
},
“current_stop_sequence”: 0,
“stop_id”: “”,
“current_status”: 2,
“timestamp”: 1488173317,
“congestion_level”: 0,
“occupancy_status”: 0
},
“alert”: null
}

2

Hi @hkotfnsw, you are correct in that the value is in m/s, which looks like it’s incorrect in this case. Please let us know if this is happening consistently otherwise it’s probably just a one off error.

Thanks,
Alex

3

Thanks @alejandro.felman. I just took another dump of the ferry data and defintely Louise Sauvage is still showing speed = 25; and also Mary MacKillop is showing speed around 24m/s.

4

I have noticed Louise Sauvage has been remaining in the middle of the ocean not moving for at least a day now. Just a pure guess, perhaps there is something wrong with the on-board equipment hence the very fast speed and stale position…

5

Hi @hkotfnsw, we’ve asked the data team to investigate this and we’re still waiting for confirmation. From looking at the values we think that the speed is shown in knots but still waiting on a definitive answer. If it is in knots we’ll submit a request to see if it can be changed to m/s as standard spec.

It does look like there’s something wrong with the Louise Sauvage position. I’ll get back to you on this soon too.

Thanks,
Alex

6

Hi @hkotfnsw, we can confirm that there is an issue with the equipment on the Loiuse Sauvage and that’s why it looks like it’s “stuck”. Hopefully this will be fixed soon.

Thanks,
Alex

7

Thanks @alejandro.felman, appreciate with your help.

8

Hi @alejandro.felman, just wondering if the ferry speed now in m/s or knots in the vehicle position feed? I haven’t seen any fast-moving ferries lately when my code converts from m/s to km/h.

9

Hi @hkotfnsw, I’ll check with the data teams. The values do seem quite low.

10

@hkotfnsw nothing was changed in the feed, same as before.

11

Hi @alejandro.felman, just following up on this issue: is the speed coming through in m/s or knots, and if in knots, would FOCIS plan to update it? Our end-users have noticed sometimes speed is around 50 - 90km/h when I convert them from m/s. Thanks.

12

Hi @hkotfnsw, I can confirm that the feed is in knots so you will have to convert it accordingly. No ETA on when it’s going to be changed unfortunately.

Thanks,
Alex