One of the regular issues you often come across with software, is the old classic of the application or web site that goes wrong when faced with a foreign system. Common problems are applications that fall over when they find they’re running on a localised install of Windows (although I’ve come across applications that hit problems with having a British English install), and there are regular problems caused by especially numeric date formats.
Sometimes though you come across ideas where there is something fundamental at a design level that really doesn’t work when the idea is spread worldwide. Just one such bit of software is CommuterFeed that I came across today. It makes use of Twitter to provide a regularly updated feed of transport problems for large metropolitan areas. Essentially if you find a problem, you send a twitter to the commuter feed user, containing a code identifying the city, followed by a short description of the problem.
Looking up the UK cities, came up with a slightly odd looking list, including major cities like London and Manchester, but then also including weird choices such as Doncaster and Luton. A quick look at the list, and the city code for London (LHR) and you realise why such a weird list, the developers have opted for the IATA airport codes for the major airport for each city. When looking at it from a North American perspective that seems like a good idea – coming across the pond to the UK where many major areas that I might want to get transport information for aren’t listed because they don’t have an airport…
