idstatus

[Kirill Shabunin]

Is everything ok with idstatusint.php? It's not showing subdivision now... What's happened?

For example,

https://cert.vatsim.net/cert/vatsimnet/idstatusint.php?cid=1151765 is from vACC Ukraine,

https://cert.vatsim.net/cert/vatsimnet/idstatusint.php?cid=1328110 is from vACC Moldova...

[Kieran Hardern]

I don't think it's ever done that.

[Kirill Shabunin]

I don't think it's ever done that.

I'm sure it was. I checked it in March-April...

[Matthew Kosmoski 891361]

Other than s[Mod - lovely stuff]ing stats, is there a way to get monthly hour totals for user stats like I can on the stats page? I'm trying to automate my roster activity tracking.

[Justin Shannon]

Other than s[Mod - lovely stuff]ing stats, is there a way to get monthly hour totals for user stats like I can on the stats page? I'm trying to automate my roster activity tracking.

Nope. You’ll have to do it like the rest of us.

 

• Download the data feed every 3-5 minutes
  
• P[Mod - Happy Thoughts] the data feed and add it to a database
  
• Calculate the user statistics from your database

[Matthew Kosmoski 891361]

Other than s[Mod - lovely stuff]ing stats, is there a way to get monthly hour totals for user stats like I can on the stats page? I'm trying to automate my roster activity tracking.

Nope. You’ll have to do it like the rest of us.

 

• Download the data feed every 3-5 minutes
  
• P[Mod - Happy Thoughts] the data feed and add it to a database
  
• Calculate the user statistics from your database

Which is highly ineffective and redundant given that we have mirrors that are already doing this. The status data is an awful way to manage this. I know the idstatus doesn't currently have the function... my hope is that there are plans for this (like I hear rumored that some regions and/or divisions are planning to offer) or some other mechanism that's not widely known. Anybody that is dependent on the status data has a gnarly dependency, though, and I'd rather treat VATSIM as a source of truth.

 

We could all greatly benefit from such functionality.

[Justin Shannon]

Other than s[Mod - lovely stuff]ing stats, is there a way to get monthly hour totals for user stats like I can on the stats page? I'm trying to automate my roster activity tracking.

Nope. You’ll have to do it like the rest of us.

 

• Download the data feed every 3-5 minutes
  
• P[Mod - Happy Thoughts] the data feed and add it to a database
  
• Calculate the user statistics from your database

Which is highly ineffective and redundant given that we have mirrors that are already doing this. The status data is an awful way to manage this. I know the idstatus doesn't currently have the function... my hope is that there are plans for this (like I hear rumored that some regions and/or divisions are planning to offer) or some other mechanism that's not widely known. Anybody that is dependent on the status data has a gnarly dependency, though, and I'd rather treat VATSIM as a source of truth.

 

We could all greatly benefit from such functionality.

If such mirrors already exist, then please share them so others can benefit from their use.

 

The only "big" data API service that comes to mind is the one provided by VATEUD. And, if you're solely relying on them for your statistics, then you're SOL when they're encountering service disruptions; As of writing, their API is inaccessible due to heavy load...

[Matthew Kosmoski 891361]

If such mirrors already exist, then please share them so others can benefit from their use.

 

The only "big" data API service that comes to mind is the one provided by VATEUD. And, if you're solely relying on them for your statistics, then you're SOL when they're encountering service disruptions; As of writing, their API is inaccessible due to heavy load...

I have heard of data mirrors archiving the data but being unwilling to share it. I'm quite tempted to offer ARTCC resources as a mirror so we can offer a service like I'm asking for.

[Justin Shannon]

I have heard of data mirrors archiving the data but being unwilling to share it. I'm quite tempted to offer ARTCC resources as a mirror so we can offer a service like I'm asking for.

Since there are no services that freely offer this (yet), then please explain why downloading and parsing the datafeed is ineffective and redundant? We have been doing this at ZLA for over a decade and it hasn't failed us yet...

[Matthew Kosmoski 891361]

I have heard of data mirrors archiving the data but being unwilling to share it. I'm quite tempted to offer ARTCC resources as a mirror so we can offer a service like I'm asking for.

Since there are no services that freely offer this (yet), then please explain why downloading and parsing the datafeed is ineffective and redundant? We have been doing this at ZLA for over a decade and it hasn't failed us yet...

Because everybody has to retain full copies. Everybody is trying to replicate the source of truth with 2 minute slices, but every minor error results in additional loss of precision. It's great you've been doing it that long and it generally works, but it doesn't mean that it's the most correct solution to ever be implemented or that it can't be improved upon. Have you never run in to parsing issues as a result of special characters that pop up? Mirrors dropping away for forever? Mirrors that are out of sync? (p.s. there's no good solution to the last one except polling multiple on each refresh, but that's a bandaid, not a solution, and still could lead to another race condition)

 

If the status quo is never challenged, how do you expect to ever see any kind of incremental improvement?

[Martijn Rammeloo]

Hi,

 

I'm with Matthew: it would be awesome if the idstatus could be expanded! I am currently developing a tool for the DutchVacc Training Department, in order to make it easier for them (and the mentors) to keep track of all mentees' progress. Obviously, I need to display the amount of time that each mentee has controlled at the relevant positions (EHAM_N_GND, EHAM_S_GND etc.).

 

I consider VATSIM as the 'single point of truth', so I'd like to download all relevant data once a day. There is no need for real-time accurate data.

 

Perhaps this feature should only be available to VACCs, thus avoiding excessive server load/bandwidth usage.

 

(and I prefer JSON )

 

Martijn

[Martin Stockzell 1294494]

I don't think it's ever done that.

 

Any chance this will happen? For us locally, this is the most important information. Is the person in question a member of our vACC or not. And now with VATEUD discontinuing their API, it's even more hard to poll that data.

 

It's also information that is already publicly available on the statuspage

[Nestor Perez]

No, I don't think there's a chance it will happen. VATSIM is in the process of limiting user information given, not giving more access to it. And yes, it is currently publicly available, but you can forget about that sometime 'VATSoon' as well. Any kind of organization (VA, VACC, and so on) will only be able to get information that users explicitly grant access to. Just like with subdivisions now: you can only (if we forget status check site) get the data if the user logs in with SSO (aka grants you access to their info).

[Daniel Lange]

No, I don't think there's a chance it will happen. VATSIM is in the process of limiting user information given, not giving more access to it. And yes, it is currently publicly available, but you can forget about that sometime 'VATSoon' as well. Any kind of organization (VA, VACC, and so on) will only be able to get information that users explicitly grant access to. Just like with subdivisions now: you can only (if we forget status check site) get the data if the user logs in with SSO (aka grants you access to their info).

 

Thank you for your reply. We understand the decision of limiting information given in light of GDPR and in similar privacy regulations. However, I'd like to emphasise the importance for us (vACC) to have updated member lists, which is not possible if the VATSIM SSO will be the only source of data. This causes us to only get updates of a member's vACC upon login creating the problem of not knowing when a member has left our vACC. This data is often used to notify our training staff of someone who potentially should be removed from ATC training queue.

 

We'd like to know if this challenge is thought of in this process, or eventually acceptance that the vACC's will not be able to have up-to-date member lists? The easiest solution would be a simple API that provides list of CIDs and no other data to vACC's in order to conquer this problem.

[Nestor Perez]

Yes, that's what would happen currently, but not with 'SSOv2'. Coming 'VATSoon' to your local store...

[Don Desfosse]

Complain to the *(%*$(())) that brought us GDPR....

[Johan Tiesinga]

Don't blame GDPR for organizations providing too strict solutions

Even within the playground of GDPR, VACCs have a legitimate interest to keep their roster accurate. Currently, VACCs are very likely to retain all information on the people who left their VACC, as they never get the update that they left. Which is also a GDPR issue as you're retaining personal information which you no longer need to process.

 

I believe it will be fine to have an endpoint which exposes the current people within the region/vacc/subdivision. Of course this endpoint will have to be authenticated like the current SSO and authorized on a division basis. As my VACC, doesn't have a legitimate interest to request the german VACC for example.

[Nestor Perez]

I refer you to my last comment.

[Javier Larroulet]

Hello,

 

is it possible to add an output parameter to the url to receive e.g. a JSON result?

 

 

Greetz Arne

 

I came to this thread looking exactly for this. Any chance to get the same info in JSON format?

[Zach Biesse-Fitton]

Hi everyone,

It is likely that this information will be deprecated shortly, with the introduction of the VATSIM API.

(this will provide the JSON feed and other information that you want - also please be aware that VATSIM Connect will return sub-division)

 

[Javier Larroulet]

Hi Zach,

Saw the sticky regarding the VATSIM API. I think it meets all we need as a vACC. 

I haven't begun working on it but it seems that the most basic info (basic user data for a CID and online times per rating for a CID) can be queried without any sort of API Key or Token. Will that remain that way? Would there be any sort of rate limits enforced on at least those API methods?