LiveATC app--Delay????

[Art at ISP]

I know flight tracking is delayed by a few minutes, but this morning, when I went to JFK to pick my daughter up from a redeye from SFO, I heard her flight call in on the approach via LiveATC app, be cleared to land, and as the captain called back to confirm landing clearance, received a text from her saying "landed".... Also while driving to the terminal, heard a Korean Air flight call for landing clearance, and a minute later saw a KE 747 taxiing over the bridge over the highway by terminal 7...... which leads to the question is the feed to LiveATC delayed???? It appears to be.....

Any comments?

[eric8669]

I find it slightly delayed by a few seconds but nothing like that.

[gonzalu]

Art,

The feeds are pretty darn live :smile: I know because I feed the LGA tower and listen to it on my PC while at work (the feed site) directly from the scanner and I check it against the Flash and WMV and Java feeds on-line regularly.

Now, the iOS (iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad) version of the app is seriously flawed. It takes FOREVER for it to lock on to a feed and it can, at times, be up to a minute or more delayed. I believe this to just be an iOS bug ... I hear (Eric) the Android version is much better... I also have used the MP3 version of the feeds via Safari on iPhone 4s and it works fairly well although it crashes Safari a lot.

[yankees368]

Gonzalu is right on. The iOS app takes forever to buffer the feed, and as a result falls way behind. I purchased it for better background play, but the feed right from the mobile site is much faster.
Listening on the computer is pretty much real-time. It's an iOS bug.
I used to have android and that app, and it was faster.....once it finally loaded the app.

[Runway1R]

So I've been listening to DELAYED info this whole time? No wonder I kept missing the planes I overheard...

[Art at ISP]

Thanks. It definitely was on iOS. My iPhone was connected via bluetooth audio so the tower communications came through the car audio system, but it definitely was delayed.
Shows what you can learn when you ask! I have the android too, but didn't take that phone with me this morning.

Timed it perfectly however, by the time I got to Terminal 2 she was walking out the door!

Thanks again guys!

[TJK]

Love Live ATC, but I find the delay amount to be slightly inconsistent. I'm not sure if it's a buffering thing or what. Last night I felt like I knew exactly what was on the way past my place and when; this morning it felt like there was a big delay. And the connection seems to be cutting out on my ipad more than usual of late. I have the most trouble in the Howard Beach area, but I think my signal in general for the ipad cuts here and there anyway around there. From home it's usually pretty flawless though.

I'm thinking this morning the tower might have been handing planes off to departure early.

But overall I love the app.

[davekm3t]

It's not all just the app. Transient mobile data congestion can affect the delays as well. The default in our iOS app is longer buffering, since many people listen while moving and we didn't want the feeds to be disconnecting all the time. This means more delay. Mobile networks have improved since then so the best thing to do is to decrease the buffering in the settings. Go to the home screen then tap in the little letter 'i' to go into the settings. There is a slider in there - drag the slider all the way to the left. I should call that the planespotter setting. With that setting you will find the delay to be 1-3 seconds max.

Dave
LiveATC.net

[gonzalu]

It's not all just the app. Transient mobile data congestion can affect the delays as well. The default in our iOS app is longer buffering, since many people listen while moving and we didn't want the feeds to be disconnecting all the time. This means more delay. Mobile networks have improved since then so the best thing to do is to decrease the buffering in the settings. Go to the home screen then tap in the little letter 'i' to go into the settings. There is a slider in there - drag the slider all the way to the left. I should call that the planespotter setting. With that setting you will find the delay to be 1-3 seconds max.

Dave
LiveATC.net


DAVE!!! Good to see you posting in here :smile: Thanks for that tip. I always meant to ask you about it but, since I listen with my scanner while at the Airport, I usually don't mind the delay while elsewhere.

Also, is there a way to prevent the automatic airport refresh on start? Thanks

[yankees368]

Awesome tip. I had no idea that was there.