You may have noticed that there's been a folder in the User Forum for Train Times for a while now. It's been completely blank.
However, no longer. I'm going to releasing another unusual plugin for UK users (at least at the moment) that can link your Indigo Setup to the Network Rail timetable & station information database. It will also link the Highways Traffic England into Indigo at a later date.
You might be wondering - why would I want to do that? .... and it's a good question.
I currently track the trains that I use everyday to get about the country and I simply wanted to know what was happening on my trains each morning. Were there delays? Was my usual train cancelled? If I'm running late - can it let my taxi (or wife in this case) know through a message? Do I really have to get up at the crack of dawn to catch a train or isn't it running? Can I make sure that the heating, lighting or alarm system knows that I'm going to be back later than usual?
The plugin will allow you to set up special STATION devices. For example, in my case Farnborough (Main). It automatically accesses the National Rail information API and extracts the current departure board, examines all services for the next few hours to identify any problems/issues and sets issue triggers if there's any problems that I'd like to act on. I can even set up a device that filters specific services at the station - e.g. those calling at Winchester or direct services only.
This information is then available for control pages and triggers. I've also provided new functionality that automatically takes the information (e.g. departure board) and creates a refreshing URL image automatically if you'd like to include the departure board itself on the control page.
Apart from the uses I've mentioned I'm also going to use it as a 'training' plugin for people who are wondering how to get started with plugins and how to code them so you might like to follow it's progress and the story that will unfold in the next week or so.
As usual I'm looking for any BETA testers who'd like to trial the plugin so let me know if you want to be on the list.
Later in the year I'm going to add Traffic functionality with special ROUTE devices. It'll tell you if there's any problems on your commute and warn you early if you want notice or to set some alarms based on traffic problems.
You'll also be able to access the train and route information directly on an iPhone app if I can get it working reliably
Thanks as ever
Mike
