Thanks I will join this project and try and help out with testing etc. There are suitable differences to make things interesting. I am personally interested in the amounts of network traffic that are generated with these approaches.
Looking forward to the code, John. On 07/04/2008, Chia-I Wu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi John, > > There is an on-going work on projects.openmoko.org to provide similar > service: > > http://diversity.projects.openmoko.org/ > > The server is a jabber server. We use GEOLOC extension for location > exchange. > > Locally, there is a daemon running. It works as a jabber client (and > more). The UIs communicate with the daemon through dbus. > > > On Sat, Apr 05, 2008 at 12:31:29PM +0100, john wrote: > > Hi. I have been working on a D-Bus location-oriented service. I would > > like to get some feedback to help direct the development and possibly > > get some others involved. There are also some important non-technical > > issues I would like to address. > > > > Firstly, the D-Bus service is a server type process to look-up the > > distance of other users of the system. It has a simple interface which > > has been designed to be self-clocking. What this means is you need to > > "ping" in location to update your local database of distance > > information. One of the ideas behind this was to encourage updates > > rather than be dominated by look-ups. A key feature of updating the > > database in this system is that transferring the data required is done > > in a very efficient manor. It actually "bit packs" the data. This > > makes no assumptions about the quality or cost of the underlying > > network. > > > > So how would this be used? Well, I need some help with ideas and > > clients. A simple use case would be to match users to your contacts > > list and alert when they are within a certain distance. There are > > other D-Bus location-oriented projects which could be integrated or > > used in some way. > > > > Are there any students working on GSOC projects in this area? > > > > It is my intention to release all code including server. This brings > > me to the non-technical issues. Although I don't have any problems > > running server processes on my own hardware etc I think there are some > > issues which need to be addressed. I understand the privacy concerns > > of using these types of services and want to make this as open as > > possible. Releasing the server code is fine but it does not actually > > mean the "real" server is some other code doing something evil and > > logging your data etc. This is where a trusted third party needs to be > > involved. If these server processes were run from such a source it > > would be a step in the right direction. How do others feel about this? > > I know some people will never use these types of services full stop. > > That is fine. I know others are interested in using them. I personally > > am not interested in plotting on a map where I am. I don't mind > > knowing that I am approximately close to something or someone and > > vice-versa. > > > > Anyway, I think D-Bus provides us with a good opportunity to develop > > some cool applications in this mobile space. Interested in your > > thoughts? > > > > John (zedstar on IRC). > > > > > -- > Regards, > olv >
