http://thurston.halfcat.org/blog/2007/01/30/beware-the-realtime/ We are the people your IT department warned you about Fri, 9 Jan 2009 13:17:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.5 http://thurston.halfcat.org/blog/2007/01/30/beware-the-realtime/#comment-44599 Tue, 30 Jan 2007 16:14:27 +0000 http://thurston.halfcat.org/blog/2007/01/30/beware-the-realtime/#comment-44599 The main site is limited in its realtime usefulness, mostly because the data is manually researched and added to the map, and since we have no staff that means significant gaps each day in the data. However the same process and system can be realtime if someone wants it to. Think of the same mapping system, tied to the CAD systems used by a 911 call center - the map can be made to work in realtime if it has a flow of realtime data. We are working on a custom version displaying Amber Alerts - it will check the newswires every 15 minutes automatically, and do its best to place an Icon on the map in a relevant location - not realtime but close, and it wont require an analyst to sit there and babysit. The difference between a realtime system and a near realtime system is that the realtime version requires automation of the news gathering, which leaves out any decent decision making about which articles are appropriate and which are not. The main site is limited in its realtime usefulness, mostly because the data is manually researched and added to the map, and since we have no staff that means significant gaps each day in the data.
However the same process and system can be realtime if someone wants it to.
Think of the same mapping system, tied to the CAD systems used by a 911 call center - the map can be made to work in realtime if it has a flow of realtime data. We are working on a custom version displaying Amber Alerts - it will check the newswires every 15 minutes automatically, and do its best to place an Icon on the map in a relevant location - not realtime but close, and it wont require an analyst to sit there and babysit.
The difference between a realtime system and a near realtime system is that the realtime version requires automation of the news gathering, which leaves out any decent decision making about which articles are appropriate and which are not.

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