Technology in Transportation Essay -- Computers Machines Papers

Technology in Transportation Throughout history, getting things (and people) where they need to go has been a pretty basic need. The Romans needed to move stone to build their aqueducts; the nobles wanted luxury spices and silks brought to them from far off lands; ancient cities needed to move vegetables and grains from the farms, to storage, and then to the cities to feed the populace. Transportation has always been one of the backbones of every great civilization, without the ability to move goods long distances, your 'culture' was only the distance you could go conveniently to get what was necessary for survival that you could not produce. The industry boomed during the railroading system and hasn't slowed since. First, there were ships and horse-drawn carriages, then cars, now huge 40 ton trucks and jumbo air-liners. In today's changing business environment, information technology plays an incredibly important role in almost every aspect of the day to day life of almost every industry. The transportation industry is, of course, no different. From the transport of goods from manufacture, to warehousing, to retail, to end-user, the industry relies on information technology to get things done. The transportation of people is the exact same; incredibly important to get done yet impossible without the impact of information technology. Technology in Moving People The transportation industry (airline, railway, bus transit, automobile rental agencies) has undergone enormous changes in the way its customers purchase tickets and place reservations. The continuing popularity in e-commerce combined with the widespread increase in the number of people with internet access has caused an explosion in the number of... ...t an amazing 10% per quarter. An example trend that is quickly developing in the freight cargo industry is the leasing of freight aircrafts to different airlines. The aircraft, crew, insurance and maintenance is included in the leasing. Works Cited http://www.aaafoundation.org. revised 15 March 2004. American Automobile Association. accessed 15 March 2004. http://www.airbus.com. revised 2004. Airbus Corporation. accessed 13 March 2004. http://www.e-travel.com. revised 2004. Amadaeus Global Travel Distribution. accessed 14 March 2004. http://www.msn.com. revised 2004. Microsoft Corporation. accessed 15 March 2004. http://www.redprairie.com/Knowledge/whitepapers.asp#WMCSchapt. revised 2004. Superior Logistix Results, Inc. accessed 16 March 2004. http://www.trucker.com revised 2004. Primedia Business Magazines and Media. Accessed 14 March 2004