Shuffleplay just brought this John Udell podcast
to my ears. Thought folks here might be
interested. (I'm only a couple of minutes into
it now...)
Below is the text of Udell's blog post introducing the podcast:
http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2006/09/22.html
<< Friday, September 22, 2006 >>
A conversation with Cyril Houri about annotating
the planet using a GPS/WiFi/cellular hybrid
Today's podcast with Cyril Houri, founder and CEO
of Mexens Technologies, advances a story I began
telling in early 2005 about annotating the
planet. The problem was, and still is, that there
aren't very many people with GPS devices. Cyril's
system, Navizon, aims to bootstrap us out of that
situation. The idea is to incent people carrying
the fairly small number of GPS-equipped mobile
devices (PocketPCs, cellphones) to map the
locations of both WiFi access points and cell
towers. Then people using vast numbers of devices
on WiFi or cellular networks can use
location-aware applications without having to own
GPS gear.
There are two incentives to contribute to the
mapping effort. First, the Navizon software is
free to users of compatible GPS-equipped devices.
(Otherwise it's a one-time $20 license.) Second,
you earn points for contributing the locations of
WiFi access points and cell towers to the Navizon
database.
With or without onboard GPS, the software
provides a few basic applications: location-based
search, geotagging, buddy tracking. But Houri
says that an API that's due to be revised on
Monday enables developers to write their own
applications that presume a GPS. If there isn't a
physical one present, and if your region has been
mapped by the Navizon collective, these
applications will use a virtual GPS instead.
What if your area isn't covered yet? You've gotta
love this bit of advice from the Navizon FAQ:
You can either:
- wait for someone else to map your area
Or
- map your area yourself by getting a GPS
device. You can even get one for a few days,
drive around with Navizon running with this GPS
and then return it. This way, you will have built
your own virtual GPS in your area.
Funnily enough, that's just what I did back in
early 2005 when I made my original GPS-enhanced
mashup. The low-end GPS gadget I'd bought wasn't
very useful, so after I collected my waypoints I
returned it.
This time around, it might be worth hanging onto
one, at least while the alternate location
networks are being bootstrapped. Beyond that I'm
not sure what's going to happen, but I am sure
it's going to be interesting.
On a related note, I'm continuing to find reports
about successful use of GPS receivers on
airplanes. But maybe not for long?
--
Joe Germuska
[EMAIL PROTECTED] * http://blog.germuska.com
"The truth is that we learned from João forever to be out of tune."
-- Caetano Veloso
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