This is my fault for not making this clear: it's not at all an app just for laptops, there just happens to be one or two features which laptop owners will find of use.
In addition to those features, it will help you get directions from one point to another, and the directions can include telling you which bus or subway to catch, at which time, how many stops before you need to get off, and perhaps what you need to do to switch to another bus or train. In addition to the directions, it allows you to find a business or other location, based on any number of searching criteria, and then see what is all around it (in distance order from what's the closest to what's further away). A kind of "look around". You could do a search on ATM machines, and it will show you which ones are the closest to you, listing all of them in increasing distance order from you. You can search for a restaurant (or type of restaurant), and have the search results placed not in increasing distance order, but in what Google calls "prominence" order, based on ratings of others. Any of these search results not only tells you the name, address, and distance and location relative to you (such as 1 mile south), but also gives you buttons for opening the Google+ local page for the place, and for opening up their own web site. The Google+ local page lets you read all the reviews, and enter your own. I'm trying to find a way of saying it is placing all the results of a map, combined with knowledge of every business or other type of establishment, at your finger-tips, and helps you do with them what any sighted driver would easily be able to do. As a for instance, a friend of mine wanted to know where the closest rent-a-car location was; when we were discussing it, she asked "do you mean by the McDonalds"? So, I used the app to do a search for car rental places near me; it gave them in distance order so I could give her the answer about the closest one, and then I used it as the beginning of a second search just to see what was near it (the second search showed me everything) in distance order from the rental place, so I could see there was a MacDonald within a few hundred feet (because it gives you direction and distance to each result). It also gave me a link to the rental place web site and the Google+ local web site, both of which showed me the business hours for the rental place, and finally, it gave me directions I could pass along to her on how to get there. Notice nothing at all said about GPS yet, because those features aren't the main points of the app. Anyone who'd like to hear me demo all this is urged to download the mp3 I put together, which I think lasts 15 minutes showing how to do these things. Even the GPS related features don't require you to have one: for instance, you could enter a reminder that you need food at the pet store. Later on, when you are planning a route and it passes near the pet store, you could have it insert a note that you need petfood at the point where you pass the pet store. Thanks. Chip -----Original Message----- From: Katherine Moss [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 11:03 AM To: Chip Orange; [email protected] Subject: RE: seeking help in designing and testing a location-based app I'm just trying to figure out where it would be of interest since most people don't have their laptops out in the car, or at least I don't usually since my phone can do the same thing. But I'm willing to help test it if you would like. -----Original Message----- From: Chip Orange [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 8:26 AM To: [email protected] Subject: seeking help in designing and testing a location-based app Hi all, I've started to develop an app which is location-based. It makes it easy to get directions from Google maps (including mass transit trips), finding businesses and other establishment near to something, (by name or by keyword), and keeping your own database of important points. It also optionally interfaces with a GPS receiver, and should remind you of items as you come near to them (location-based reminders instead of date/time ones). I'm not sure what features should be in this app, and so rather than looking for beta testers, I'm looking for folks who wish to test out the app as it is at the moment, and could help me envision what features are needed; and given what it does do, how could it do those things better? This is especially important to me as I don't have a lot of time to work on it, and so would like to come close to what's useful to everyone right from the start. Below is the little descriptive bit I've written for the help at the moment: Beta Software! This app is very very beta; it's being distributed to ask the opinions/suggestions of others as to how it might be designed better, what features would be most useful if included, etc. It's not at the stage where I'm concerned about flushing out every little bug (yet). This app requires the shared object app named "GPS" to be installed. If it isn't present the app will offer to download and install it for you. You should allow this to happen. The GPS app can interface with a GPS receiver, but one is not required. The GPS app however is still needed even if you do not have a GPS receiver connected, as it provides support location-based programming. This app will eventually allow you to create and edit two databases: one of points of interest (using GPS coordinates), and the other of reminders related to specific points in your points of interest database. Add points to the app's points of interest database (either from your current GPS location or from an address), and then you can add reminders to the app's reminders database which are linked to the points. One of the expected features of this app will be if you have a connected GPS receiver, when you come within the specified range of a point which has a reminder, the app will take the specified action (play a sound, speak a message, etc.). (this functionality is not currently working in this beta). This app also gives you access to some of the Google+, Google Places, and Google Maps features such as showing you near-by places to a location, showing you places based on searching criteria, and access to Google Maps directions for driving, walking, or using mass transit to get from one location to another. The locations can be addresses you enter or points in your POI database, or some location near-by to one of these. The "Get Directions" feature of this app is the one which is likely to function the best at the moment. It does require an internet connection to use. This functionality is available via the menu items of the Apps menu for this app. Some of the other app features do require that the app knows your current location; if you aren't using a GPS receiver, then right now you need to be running Windows 7 or later and you need to go into the control panel and enter your current address (via the "Location and Other Sensors" choice; and then choose "default location"). I'll add a way to store your default address in the app's .ini soon. If you are using XP, you can still experience some of the functionality; you can add a point, and when its address is fully specified in the dialog, you can make use of a command-button in the dialog to see "near-by places", but you will not be able to use the "Search near-by" app menu choice. If you'd like to hear me demo it as it is, you can download an mp3 demo from the link below: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11745142/rmw.mp3 If after hearing this you'd like to try it out and help with suggestions for design, you can download the app from: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11745142/Remind_Me_Where.wepm It's all open source and contains many examples of interacting with web sites using XML, and keeping data in large access databases, as well as utilizing GPS coordinates for any developer who'd like such examples. Please let me know if you try it, and what you think as to what it needs (even if what you think is that it's not for you after all). Thanks. Chip [email protected] If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo. You can manage your list subscription at http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv.
