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ITS Research Program, UW

Smart Trek: Busview
[Menu Bar] Busview implements a JAVA applet to display real-time transit vehicle locations on a variety of computing and operating system platforms. At this point, the applet displays Metro coach locations in King County, Washington.

[Busview Start Button]

If you prefer the original Busview format, it is still available. Just choose Classic Busview below.

[Classic Busview Start Button]

For more information on using Busview, see the User Help page. For conditions of use, please refer to our Disclaimer

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Below is an image of the Busview frame. If this frame does not appear when the applet is launched, check the System Requirements below.

[Busview Display]

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System Requirements:

Windows:

(Updated 9-16-2003)
Busview requires both a browser and a Java virtual machine. Busview works properly with either the Sun or Microsoft VM. However, Microsoft will be discontinuing support for their VM, starting Jan. 2004. For this reason, we recommend using the Sun Java Plug-in (currently version 1.4.2).

NOTE: There are issues with Busview not working properly with the Sun Java plug-in ver sion 1.3. The symptom is that the applet will seem to start, the map will be displayed, but no data will be received. If this occurs, try upgrading the Java plug-in (to 1.4.x).

  • Netscape Communicator 4.5-4.8
    These older versions of Netscape have a built-in Java virtual machine. No separate plug-in is required.

  • Netscape 6/7
    These versions of Netscape require a Java plug-in, which is offered as an option when you download Netscape, or is otherwise available from Sun.
    Current versions of Netscape (now 7.1) are available here.

  • Mozilla
    Mozilla requires the Sun Java Plug-in.
    Current versions of Mozilla (now 1.4) are available here.

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer, versions 4.01 to 6
    Versions of IE prior to 6 included the Microsoft Virtual Machine, which does work with Busview. Version 6 does not include a Java virtual machine (though if you upgrade from an earlier version of IE, you will likely already have the Microsoft VM, which version 6 can use. If you install version 6 of IE and you do not already have the Microsoft VM, it is suggested that you download the Sun Java Plug-in, which will also work with Internet Explorer 6.
    Current versions of Internet Explorer (now IE 6, Service Pack 1 ) are available here.

Macintosh:

We do not have newer Macs available, and so we are not able to test Busview on current versions of the Mac OS. However, users have reported that Busview works fine under OSX 10.3.5, with Java 1.4.2, using Safari 1.2 or Mozilla 1.7.
(User reports are welcome--send to busview@its.washington.edu)

The following notes pertain to older Macs and browsers on which we have tested Busview.

Busview DOES work on the Mac with Internet Explorer 4.5 but only if you use the Apple 'Mac Runtime for Java' (MRJ) version 2.1 and NOT the Microsoft Java virtual machine that used to ship with IE. (MRJ2.1 requires a PowerPC with 32 MB of RAM and Mac OS 7.6.1 or later.)

Busview does NOT work with any current versions of Netscape Communicator/Navigator (through 4.6/4.08). Netscape does not support the necessary version of Java. A future release of Netscape is expected to include support for the Apple 'Mac Runtime for Java'. This should make it possible to run Busview under Netscape on the Mac.

Latest Version

The latest version of Busview is labelled 07-12-2004. To check the version number of your downloaded Busview applet, start Busview and select Help|About Busview from the main window to read the version number. For details on the new features included in this version and a complete history of Busview releases, please see the Busview History page.

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(October 16, 2002)