New feature/plugin idea for RR

juve021 · 10-17-2007, 10:57 AM

While pondering on my upcoming drive to upstate NY, I was thinking about how much tolls would cost and thought about implementing some type of toll calculator in RR. For instance, it could detect your location via GPS and figure out the cost of tolls on your current road or even better, calculate the totaly cost of tolls for your routed trip. Good idea, yay or nay? Anyone know if this is even possible?

the_crooked_toe · 10-17-2007, 01:00 PM

is there a website that lists how much each toll station is nationwide? i'm pretty sure that's your only hope

ThunderStick · 10-17-2007, 05:40 PM

This would be awsome, and I am sure someone could figure it out.
I tried a quick search for toll roads but got nothing. There has to be some type of listing out there for toll roads.
If not, this could be a great money maker for some webmaster / internet savvy entrepreneur.

Blue ZX3 · 10-17-2007, 10:05 PM

Pencil + paper + Calc = Total...LOL

If there was a way to do it, it would be kind of a cool idea..

guino · 10-17-2007, 11:14 PM

you'd need a good list of tolls+locations unless you actually enter the information of where/how much the tolls are..

Blue ZX3 · 10-17-2007, 11:15 PM

Then you'd have too make sure that you update the toll amout as they go up...

sliturnek · 10-18-2007, 12:15 AM

i am pretty sure microsoft streets and trips does this... i can disassemble it and see where the toll calculator gets pushed onto the stack

Blue ZX3 · 10-18-2007, 12:16 AM

Dissambling software...and M$ at that...tisk tisk

sliturnek · 10-18-2007, 12:21 AM

meh someone has to do it and the more i make bill's a$$ chap the better only wish rr was coded for linux. not too fond of ICE or i would be running it

might be a future endeavor but i got too many projects on my plate atm

john1701 · 10-18-2007, 12:26 AM

iGuidance already and always has that feature.

in the route options there is a button to "AVOID TOLLS"

sliturnek · 10-18-2007, 12:31 AM

i dont think thats the issue at hand, i prefer toll roads here in NY that means that the roads are paved nicely and i dont have to worry about a $300 air bag blowing out from my truck. not so much a problem in florida, man i miss my hometown roads

i will find out how streets and trips is pulling their toll prices and see what i can do this weekend when i am at my desktop

john1701 · 10-18-2007, 01:55 AM

yes NY roads are "unique". I was there about a year ago, cant believe how bad the roads are there. I have a crown vic and I lost count on how many times I bottomed out when I was driving in NY. unbelievable.

Maybe someone could reshack iguidance a button to "avoid bumpy roads"

sliturnek · 10-18-2007, 02:11 AM

lol, i can tell you every bump/pot hole/and man cover in martin county FL, some of st lucie county FL, mattydale/liverpool/greens/bridgeport/and unadilla NY, 81N/S from syracuse to binghamptop, 88E/W from binghampton to oneonta. i realized after i took my gf for dinner in my new truck that her stomach cant handle the ride... and that was in florida! so i had to realy learn the roads since a small bump feels like a ran over a cow

minitrucks drive low n slow for a reason...

here is floridas tpk calc.. http://www.floridasturnpike.com/TRI/index.htm im sure if someone got really board they could create a application that went to all the toll roads websites and grab their toll prices.. wouldnt be that hard to do but its the updating and implementing an updater for the clients machine.. like i said ill find out how microsofts doing it and see if i can 'borrow' some snipets for you guys if you can find someone willing to code it of course. there should be a sql file or a database file on the tpk's site that stores the pricing that their calc pulls from ill check into this too... cause if you can get the pricing in a nicely formated file then implementing this into iguidence wont be too difficult as creating an entire plugin for it

juve021 · 10-18-2007, 07:14 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by sliturnek

here is floridas tpk calc.. http://www.floridasturnpike.com/TRI/index.htm im sure if someone got really board they could create a application that went to all the toll roads websites and grab their toll prices.. wouldnt be that hard to do but its the updating and implementing an updater for the clients machine.. like i said ill find out how microsofts doing it and see if i can 'borrow' some snipets for you guys if you can find someone willing to code it of course. there should be a sql file or a database file on the tpk's site that stores the pricing that their calc pulls from ill check into this too... cause if you can get the pricing in a nicely formated file then implementing this into iguidence wont be too difficult as creating an entire plugin for it

Yeah if the streets and trips idea doesn' work I know alot of other states have this sort of toll calculator thing that maybe a source of data

JohnWPB · 10-18-2007, 09:48 AM

in all acuality, getting the toll data is the easy part! And that would be hard as it is. Now, lets say you have all of the toll data, for all the toll roads. What kind of program, script or whatever is going to be able to calculate this?

Lets say I drive on a non toll road, then a toll road for 5 miles, and then get back to non toll road. How are you going to first calculate that I got on the toll road, and what the toll is for that small portion traveled on the toll road?

This would be a nightmare to say the least. You would have to have accurate GPS Lat & Lon for each and every place to get on and off of a toll road, and what the accumulated toll would be the longer you traveled on the toll road.

In easier terms, I plan a trip that is 100 miles, I have to take 2 different toll roads to get to my destination totaling around 40 of those miles. Just to have a program calculate that small trip would take a LOT of coding. It would entail the program being able to see your trip, following existing roads, and determine what ones are toll roads, and what ones are not. for the script to Just to "see" the roads in your trip alone....

Yikes...