With well over 50 geo-enabled web-based services available, plenty of dedicated PC and phone client software and a mountain of methods that will track and update your location, it has been very difficult for me to define a simple process that will help me to achieve want I want. Yes, i’m testing the limits here but that’s what MIDMoves is about. We want to get our hands dirty and find the limits.
Here’s the list of what i’m trying to achieve.
- Location. Where am I now? Exactly?
- Turn-by-turn, step by step. Where do I need to go. How long will it take?
- Public transport. Where is it? When does it depart and arrive?
- Phototagging. Ensuring that my images are tagged with their location
- Live location tracking and networking. Allowing other people to view my location and to enable notifications when friends are near.
- What’s near me? How do I find the nearest hotel? Wifi? etc.
- Location tracking. How to I archive my locations and route?
- Map mashup. How do I create a map that shows my tracks along with all the ‘e-things’ I did along it. Photos, blogs, podcasts, twitter updates etc.
Tying that lot together in one application, on one platform right nw is impossible. Even if there was an application out there that could do all this, there isn’t a device that would last more than 5 hours doing it before the battery was flat and that’s a major problem because the starting point for web-based activities is the device that is always with you.
You might expect me to say ‘MID’ at this point but the fact is that the gps-enabled phone is the epicenter of most developements in the geo-enabled web world and as it’s the only electronic device that stays with people all the time AND it’s internet connected, it makes sense. Unfortunately, there’s a way to go until the smartphone can do everything above which is why it’s not possible just to use a phone. I’ve had to combine three devices together to give me the capabilities I need.
- A GPS-enabled smartphone
- A mobile Internet device
- A GPS Tracker
In part 2 of this article i’ll talk about each of my requirements and how i’ll use these devices and a bunch of web-based services to achieve my targets.
