Cabspotting: Web 2.0 Solutions For City Travelers

Hailing a taxi—and getting a fair fare when you do—can be challenging, especially in large metropolitan areas. That’s where TaxiWiz comes in particularly handy. TaxiWiz calculates approximate taxi fares in cities including: Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, Las Vegas, and Toronto. The service can be accessed on the web or via a mobile device.

According to TaxiWiz, a cab ride from Logan International Airport to the Westin Copley Place: “This cab ride would cost about $23.11. It is about 4.72 miles. There is a $6.00 surcharge for trips from Logan Airport.” A useful service for first time visitors to any of the metro areas served. A Google Maps mashup provides directions and a map of the travel route.

Of course, in order to take a taxi cab, one must be available. That’s where the artist-inspired Cabspotting.com comes in handy. It’s not really a useful service as much as it is an interesting use of geospatial tracking.

According to the creators: “Cabspotting traces San Francisco’s taxi cabs as they travel throughout the Bay Area. The patterns traced by each cab create a living and always-changing map of city life. This map hints at economic, social, and cultural trends that are otherwise invisible. The Exploratorium has invited artists and researchers to use this information to reveal these ‘Invisible Dynamics.’”

The main attraction at Cabspotting.com is Cab Tracker, a service that “averages the last four hours of cab routes into a ghostly image, and then draws the routes of ten in-progress cab rides over it.”