My toddler has a similar back story (flight hype -> loves planes). This inspired me to finally upgrade my iOS.
My toddler loves planes, so I built her a radar
161–170 of 257 posts
Re: My toddler loves planes, so I built her a radar
#162Very cool and inspirational!
Re: My toddler loves planes, so I built her a radar
#163[flagged]
Re: My toddler loves planes, so I built her a radar
#164Advice for a wholesome activity with your daughter: Bring her to the closest road/parking lot/park at the inbound end of your closest international airport runway (Typically this changes based on wind direction). Park and watch the planes come in and land. She can use her "radar" to see which planes are coming in (we used flightradar24). My kids were FLOORED how close the planes get to the ground on approach - especi…
And if you're in the D.C. area, Gravely Point is the place for this. Feels like you can count the rivets for planes on either departure or landing.
I recently found out you can do that on one of the roads to the entrance of the Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy museum in Dulles. Nowhere near as Gravely Point, but it will do in a pinch.
Re: My toddler loves planes, so I built her a radar
#165I love the design but go one step further - forget the API and get an SDR that is tuned to ADB frequencies at 1090 Mhz and gather the data yourself. Then she'll have a true radar. Edit: fair point on what a radar is, today I re-remembered :)
Disregarding the other replies for a moment where they rightfully call out that it wouldn't be radar, wouldn't they still need a publicly available API for this data if they wanted to access it outside of their house (e.g., when at the park)? So at that point, why add the additional complexity if there's already someone sharing ADS-B data to OpenSky for your area?
I have an Android phone with an OTG cable and SDR Touch and ADSB# - that lets me "see" any plane transmitting ADSB signals around me without any need for a network connection.
(I use that as part of my safety setup when flying drones. If I'm out of cellular connection or my iPad running FlightRadar24 fails, I have a backup self contained plane detection system.)
Re: My toddler loves planes, so I built her a radar
#166Off topic but you have my exact name (first and last). I wonder what the chances are on that.
You in particular, pretty low. But open up the names to be any first/last combo, and we have the Birthday Paradox.
My name is quite a bit more unique than Bartlett, and I still know of about a dozen people with the same first/last as myself. I thought about setting up an FB group named after us and inviting them all just for funsies. None of us are related as far as we can tell, but the name is unique enough that we probably are, if only distantly.
Re: My toddler loves planes, so I built her a radar
#167Now you get to explain to her in a few years how different ADS-B-based web data (or locally received ADS-B, even) is from genuine RAdio-Detection-And-Ranging (either the old school rotating type or modern fancy PESA/AESA ones). And she'll forever remind you how your app [name] is a lie.
What a fitting username!
Re: My toddler loves planes, so I built her a radar
#168Advice for a wholesome activity with your daughter: Bring her to the closest road/parking lot/park at the inbound end of your closest international airport runway (Typically this changes based on wind direction). Park and watch the planes come in and land. She can use her "radar" to see which planes are coming in (we used flightradar24). My kids were FLOORED how close the planes get to the ground on approach - especi…
From experience there is a terrible kerosene smell, I wouldn't advise spending hours. Maybe in a car with closed windows
Re: My toddler loves planes, so I built her a radar
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suggest adjusting your gradient so they don't fully fade out until just before the sweep hits them, or maybe even only down to 10%, so they only get wiped by the bar. It'll make it much easier to watch a plane if it doesn't keep disappearing entirely.
On the other hand, if you want maximum realism, everything should fade continuously from when it is drawn. The underlying technology being imitated here is a slowly decaying phosphor.
And this is why I still hang out here, after abandoning nearly everything else.
I love how a discussion like this can occur here and there's no flaming or egos getting hurt. When you post a labor of love like this, it's great to see the reaction on HN.
I spend a lot of time trying to decide what to do with old tech in my volunteer gig. We have old Univac "dumb" terminals and I feel the need to plug them in and see if they still work. I come here for re-charging.
I think emulating old hardware is fascinating. Am I the only one who watches old media just to hopefully get a glimpse of the past?
Re: My toddler loves planes, so I built her a radar
#170So many people say: "Don't take young kids abroad, they won't really remember those travels." BS. I took my son to Brazil, it was great, we got on a $1 cab ride, got on a pirate ship, endless alpine slide after the aerial tram, and went to the Botanical Garden in Rio. (He did say: "that day was totally boring, we didn't do anything!", but I know it was the greatest day of his life, and I can point out all those thing…
Depends on the age. I took my 4 and 3 year old to Disney World and they don't remember anything. On the other hand, since Age 6 and onwards, they remember most of the stuff. So you cannot make a blanket statement and need to take Age into account.