You got a Nokia? Get The "Nokia Sports Tracker"

If your phone is Nokia "except N97" and if it has a built in or attached GPS, then you shouldn’t really miss this cool software called "Nokia Sports Tracker".

 It is a GPS based software, after it gets a good GPS signal, it tracks your bath / route (whether walking, driving or even flying) and records it, you can see your bath on the map (satellite, hybrid, or just a map) on the phone in real-time, it also gives your altitude, coordinates, speed and the distance you moved, all of these parameters are recorded as well.

Now this is not the coolest part yet:

1. After finishing your trip, you can export the file to your PC and view the route you have taken in Google Earth software, this can be very helpful in many cases like when you want to remember and get further familiar with a route that you have taken for the first time.

2. You can register online @ Nokia Sports Tracker website, and by enabling the option, your phone connects to your account and continuously sends the current coordinates of your position + all parameters as they are being recorded, this produces a real-time display of your route watchable on the internet as you walk or drive, you could track your kids going and coming back from school, and check if your wife is not overspeeding with your car!. For that you will need an internet connection on the phone, and the phone is in an open area all the time for better GPS signal.

If you are boarding a plane that does not have real-time flight details display (route, distance, altitude, speed.. etc), then there you go, you got your own. Make sure that you place your phone close to the window as you won't get GPS signal anywhere else in the plane. Be patient to get a singal because your are moving at a speed of ~ 800 km/hr. Since you won't be able to access the internet from your phone, so you will not be able to connect to your online account and hence your trip can not be tracked on the internet, if you do not have maps pre-downloaded to your phone then you will also lose the advantage of updating the map in case of you are using satellite imagry . Not a big deal after all huh?.

Go here and get it.

The Tripoli Third Ring Road Project

مشروع الطريق الدائرى الثالث بطرابلس
Ever wondered what is going on at the roundabout at Ghout El Sha33al on the main highway in Tripoli (or the second ring road, or El Saree3)?, and why that roundabout and since 2007 was split in half and became just a double road?

That is the western starting point of the project of the 3rd ring road, it’s a arterial multilane (6 lanes) roadway arching around Tripoli, from this round about it goes along the latitude line N32º50' towards the east, then just at the south of Souq El Jom3a it takes a shape turn towards the coast along the longitude line E13º16'. The project is about 24 km in length, it includes: three road carriageway, emergency carriageway both sides, eleven Interchanging points, a new bridge and nine over bridges, and respective roads and services road on both sides of the main road. The path of this road is highlighted in blue on the map below.

This project has been designed to relief the city from the ever increasing traffic pressure mainly by:

1. Allowing vehicles specially the heavy ones to bypass the city which reduces the traffic within.

2. Connecting east of the city to its west and supporting the overloaded 2nd ring road by picking up a major part of traffic from it.

3. Crossing and interconnecting the major roads all around Tripoli, which helps in moving across quite swiftly and avoiding congesting the small and tight roads.

4. Enhancing the traffic flow by having signal free highway which eliminates jamming.

The project is being handled by LBCD - Libyan Brazilian Construction and Development Company-, it is a joint venture composed by Odebrecht (Brazilian Conglomerate with renders Engineering and Construction Services) and UDHC (Urban Development Holding Company).

The info about this project is scattered in bits and pieces all over the internet, the LBCD did not seem to have had time to do the proper publication and promotion for this capital and key project among other projects taking place in Tripoli today. So I piled up maximum info in this page, this and this are links for additional information about this project.