European flights now live and with amazing detail on a Google map

March 3, 2010 By 6 Comments

Another wonderful flight tracking (coffee break/time-waster) site has emerged courtesy of RadarVirtuel.

A work-in-progress,  but the system plots every aircraft in Europe on a Google Map and includes data such as height, flight code, airline and aircraft, destination and start point.

The flight information is obtained by aggregating data from a number of organisations that use ADS-B receivers to monitor aircraft patterns.

The speed in which data and aircraft markers are served onto the map is dependent on bandwidth available at the time. Data can also be filtered by individual airline.

radarvirtuel2

The company says:

We believe that this information can be useful for various needs (locating an airplane for personal or business purposes, computing statistics), and notably it can lead to a better public understanding of what happens above our heads. What we are trying to do is simply display on the web some data that is already available, and make it easy to interpret.

RadarVirtuel is looking for other enthusiasts to get involved with the project in order to increase its coverage around the globe.

Transmitters are picking up flights in the Los Angeles area, Florida, Vancouver region and South Africa.

The Casper system in Holland, unveiled in late-2009, plotted and animated the movements of aircraft arriving and departing from Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam as well as other flights in Dutch airspace.

Related posts:

  1. Live aircraft movements – the best travel mashup of all time?
  2. Coffee break moment – Tracking 24 hours of flights around the world in one minute
  3. Amazing stats – hotel web activity still growing at huge rates
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Kevin May About Kevin May

Kevin May is editor of Tnooz. He joined as a co-founder in August 2009 after spending nearly four years as editor of UK-based business publication Travolution.

Passionate about the business of travel and the internet, Kevin played a major role in establishing Travolution in print, online, events and with an annual awards programme, as well as becoming a regular speaker and moderator at industry events.

Prior to Travolution, Kevin was web editor at Media Week (UK) and also worked in regional newspapers for two years at the Essex Enquirer. He started his career in journalism at the Police Gazette at New Scotland Yard in London.

Comments

  1. Alexander van Terheyden says:
    March 3, 2010 at 2:47 pm

    This is awesome – I had seen their was a USA Website for ages – was waiting for Europe to catch up.
    Great stuff and I’m not even a plane watcher – just interesting to know who is above me right now.

    Reply
  2. Dennis Schaal Dennis Schaal says:
    March 3, 2010 at 3:12 pm

    If only RadarVirtuel put rental cars on the map, too, then we’d really know what is going on:) Just sayin’

    Reply
  3. Sean O' says:
    March 4, 2010 at 12:38 pm

    Is this a security question? If high-ranking officials or a well-known celebrity is flying, is this giving away too much info? Or for just terrorists in general? Is there enough of a benefit for having this information public for the possible risks?

    Reply
  4. sven says:
    March 15, 2010 at 10:00 am

    Awesome. Thanks for this link. It’s truly a wonderful time-waster.

    Reply
  5. RetsaM says:
    March 17, 2010 at 8:30 am

    ADS-B is for public aviation mainly.
    If you are a terroris you only have to turn off your in-plane transponder and you will be invisible.
    Milliaty have they own radar for detection and surveillance to protect the public.

    Somebody how work with it.

    Reply

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