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FRA, Google to team on grade crossing locator for Google Maps
This is a good thing, but will unfortunately do nothing for the worst offenders…the people who ignore the flashing lights and drive around the already lowered gates.
It is a bit misleading to label the trend in grade crossing accidents a “sharp increase” when the main story is the overwhelming decline over decades, as the story indicates; nor is it necessarily cause and effect to link the FRA and Google effort to that increase.
Now is this only for Google Maps or will this be part of all GPS systems?
The quality of the data in the grade crossing inventory is horrendous, as you can see from any of the FRA’s mobile apps or in their web-based GIS map: locations that are nowhere near the actual crossing, underpasses or overpasses incorrectly identified as grade crossings (I-70 in Baltimore supposedly crosses the CSX Old Main Line at grade…really?!), etc. This was also evident in the NTSB accident report (HAR1402) for the 2013 CSX vs. trash truck accident in Baltimore that resulted in the chemical explosion: the investigators found the crossing IDs were mixed up and miles from where they actually were. Hopefully this effort will expose this bad data and it will get fixed, but until then, it’s going to be highly unreliable and not suitable for use in navigation apps.
What’s the point of highlighting grade crossings on Google maps, other than for statistical research? If the driver is watching the road instead of fiddling with a GPS gadget, he/she will see an X-shaped sign by the road and know there’s a crossing there. What more do people need?
@ Ed Clopton, apparently there are a lot of folks outside of Maine who need to be led by the hand wherever they go …
The way people drive when they see a crossing must mean that their audio device screams out “There’s a train coming! Floor it! You can beat it!”
This will be a plus for railfans. Last week I used Google Maps to plan an automobile trip along the Providence & Worcester Railroad line through the rolling countryside between Plainfield and Willimantic CT. I discovered en route, however, that Google’s Map mode (as opposed to its Earth mode) doesn’t distinguish between bridge crossings and the grade crossings I wanted to see along my route.