It seems the sporting world is glued to updates concerning Michael Vick today as he prepares to take to the field for the first time in 2 years. I’m not getting in to any discussion about Vick’s past, his future, legal issues, rather I’d rather simply let matters play out and see what happens. Today Vick will be in court in Newport News, VA and will be rushing to get back to Philly in time for tonight’s Eagles game – apparently his flight gets in about 1 hour prior to pre-game practice time. It made me wonder, what kind of navigational aids, routing, and tracking will the Eagles be putting into place to ensure that Vick gets to the stadium on time? Much of this will depend on what kind of mobile devices Vick and the Eagles crew is using – I’m guessing he may be an iPhone guy!
To track the progress of Vick’s flight from VA to PA the team would be wise to use Flightstats, enabling them to receive real-time alerts via email and mobile messaging. I frequently use flightstats when I have to do a “Pick-Up” and its a must-have! Users can simply park off-site near an airport and wait to receive TXT confirmation that the flight has landed. Reports of any delays are also sent to users – very handy. Mindyou, Vick may be flying on a private charter so flightstats may not be needed… in that case, his crew will be more concerned with getting from the airport or air field to the “Vet” – enter Traffic.com.
Traffic.com is a service from NAVTEQ providing users with real-time road conditions, traffic alerts, and news about delays – see http://www.traffic.com or Phily traffic at http://www.traffic.com/Philadelphia. The Vick transport team would also be wise to take advantage of Google Mobile Tools including live traffic reports and updates that are available via GMaps Mobile http://www.google.com/mobile
A sample report sent from Traffic.com showing problem spots
Details of many other Traffic and Routing tools can be found Here
Finally, the transport team would be wise to also monitor the news via mobile (I suggest phillymobile.com) and keep tabs on the weather which is easily done via some fine mobile weather apps including accuweather.com, http://mobile.weather.gov, Weather Underground (http://www.wunderground.com), and www.worldtraveler.biz
