Update: The live dot-to-dot maps are on this page.
Today’s 5-country tour was really meant to be a test of the Clarion MiND MID. Unfortunately it didn’t turn up in time (it arrived 3 hours after I left. I’ll test it out next week now.) so instead I did a live map-track with embedded media. Of course, setting yourself a tough driving schedule and then trying to do live media, on your own, doesn’t fit ogether too well so I wasn’t able to give it the attention it required. I learnt a lot though and it will all come in for the event I have planned tomorrow. It’s another GPS-driven event and it’s taking place in Cologne. I’m going to create a dot-to-dot picture by walking around Cologne and registering waypoints. These waypoints will be logged at Ipoki and accompanied by a location-enabled tweet and an image. You could follow me all day and join the dots as you see the tweets but I guess you’ve all got far better things to do. I’ll be uploading each part of the dot-to-dot (it’s a word) as I finish it and you should, if the GPS doesn’t play up, start to see a word form during the day. I’ll put a new post up in the morning so come back regularly to see progress and guess the word.

The whole project relies on me being able to plan the dot-to-dot on Googles ‘my maps’ system and then using it to locate myself within Cologne. The images and tweets don’t need a MID but exporting the data from Ipoki and re-importing it into Google, does. The GPS and a live-feedback from Ipoki about my current location will also be helpful.

I’ll start the dot-to-dot at about 1100 CET so if you’re in Cologne, find me and say ‘Hallo!’

This is my last attempt at a GPS-enabled mashup so hopefully I remember what I’ve learned from previous attempts and make a good job of it. At the very least it will be good exercise for me! On Thursday I travel to Hamburg for something a bit more like real work. I’ll be meeting Nicole and attending MBC09, a Microblogging conference. I’m really interested to see what microbloggers think of the MIDs.

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.