More than a phone with a GPS navigator

Alexey Feldgendler alexey at feldgendler.ru
Thu Mar 27 19:58:26 CET 2008


Hello!

What always fascinated me in multi-functional devices like Neo is that you  
can do more with them than with separate devices. Some examples of such  
synergy have already been discussed. Here are a few more ideas of this  
sort: “more than a phone with a GPS navigator”. Sorry if some of them have  
already been posted here.

* Location-triggered reminders: in addition to usual organizer entries  
that remind you at a certain time, you could have reminders that trigger  
at a certain location. For example: next time you're near the post office  
(according to GPS), fetch your package there. (Or remind anyway if a  
certain amount of time passes and you haven't been near the post office.)

* Beforehand notifications dependent on location: usually the organizer  
allows you to specify how long before the event the notification should be  
given. In many cases, this depends on how long it would take you to get to  
where the event happens. The interval could be dependent on the distance  
measured between you and the target location: the further you are from  
there, the more time you need.

* Remember where the contact lives: when storing a new contact (typing in,  
bluetooth etc), optionally store the current GPS position as the location  
for the contact.

* Location-triggered profiles: device profiles can be triggered by  
locations. For example, the phone can switch to quiet mode in the library  
(once you've configured it to do so the first time you visited the  
location).

* Location-guided configuration: automatic selection of configuration  
presets basing on where you are (country and city, maybe also GSM  
network). Can work for GPRS, MMS, call routing (prefix rewriting / routing  
via SIP basing on what is cheaper in what area), currency/measure  
converter, time zones, holidays in the calendar and many other things.

* Device finding service: if you have lost your Neo, you could access it  
remotely and find out where it is, according to GPS.

* Track recall: if the device stores all your movements (or a rough list  
of areas visited) for the last few days, you could recall where you've  
been, when you came somewhere and when you left, which is sometimes handy.  
This includes finding that place again if you don't remember the way.  
Could also be used by sales agents, couriers etc to automatically report  
where they've been.

* Where I am: automatically send someone an email or SMS with your current  
GPS coordinates which are human readable but at the same time parseable by  
another Neo or by compatible software. This lets you quickly tell another  
person where you are if you want to meet up and it's difficult to describe  
the precise location. (Everyone has been through this. “I'm waiting for  
you on the other side of the road.” -- “I'm on that side of the road, but  
I can't see you. Or do you mean the *other* side?”) When received, such a  
message can be used to find out how far away the location is and to plan a  
route.

* Picture annotation: when taking pictures with an external camera (or  
with a camera built into some future device), automatically add comments  
describing the location where the picture was taken in a format that is  
both machine- and human-readable. You can view these pictures pinned to  
the map later. The same applies to audio and video recordings as well as  
text and “ink” notes.

* Public transport planning: provide pluggable integration with public  
transportation trip planer web services that exist in many cities. That  
means, craft the HTTP request automatically from the locations picked on  
the map (or using the current location) without having the user fill the  
form.


-- 
Alexey Feldgendler <alexey at feldgendler.ru>
[ICQ: 115226275] http://feldgendler.livejournal.com




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