Category Archives: Location Based Services

Google Maps Hacking

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I love the Internet.  Not only can you find almost anything …
it’s all because almost anything is generated by people on the
Internet!  Of course … silly me … once there is Google Maps, there has to be Google Maps Hacking!

It will be interesting to see how Google looks to capitalize on
this.  If they try to stop it … they loose.  If they fail
to capitalize … they loose.  They are pretty good at figuring
this out … take the best hacks and create new services.  Add the
web services APIs that allow people to extend maps.

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Virtual Annotation … Aura at Microsoft
This is one of the Microsoft projects that I have been reading about and studying for the last week or so. I believe that this *is* going to be a big deal.

A number of year ago, some friends and I were reading an article in Wired magazine about “Virtual Graffiti”. The idea was that as more people in the future are wearing “augmented reality” glasses (glasses that allow a computer to overlay additional information into your view) then “Virtual Graffiti” becomes possible. I can simple “draw” a picture on a building, or add my comments to a sign using specialized software. The graffiti will not actually exist on the building or sign, instead being stored on my server on the Internet. Other people, when tapped into my server, would then “see” my graffiti when they looked around the world.

Aura research is moving in this same direction … and beyond. They are using a wider range of input devices to allow for the identification of an item or place, and then allowing for others to add annotations or information to that item or place.

This is another good article about Aura … and this is another good article.

This is extending our ability to “see” more about something we are near or can “scan” … adding to the saying about “… more than meets the eye!”

ETCon 2004: Eat Me and I’ll Kill You. Every product has a story to tell and some of them say “If you
eat me, I’ll kill you.” So says
Marc Smith,
Microsoft’s resident sociologists. Marc is describing a research
project called

AURA. Combine a PocketPC, a barcode reader, and Wi-Fi or mobile
wireless and you’ve got the ability to find out lots of information
about any product with a barcode. The project maps barcodes to
names. Once that’s done, all kinds of things are possible: [Windley’s Enterprise Computing Weblog]

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More power in your phone
This is another great presentation … and I really like the “miniGPS” link that Phil posted. Over the last week or so I have seen numerous new applications for Cell Phones that are really extending the capabilities of the phone. GPS and Location Based Services are the biggest.

The miniGPS link is really fascinating as they are using a completely different model for location detection and notification. They have an application that monitors the actual cell towers that you are connected to, and the signal strengths. They then allow you to assign events to particular towers, etc. The example that the author uses is that his phone will alarm when it comes into the cell near his house … notifying him that his train station is coming up …

Kill Apps for Your Cell Phone. Rael Dornfest and others are talking mobile hacks. There was lots of fun things, but here’s a few killer cell phone apps I didn’t want to lose track of: [Windley’s Enterprise Computing Weblog]

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More automated video security
I have always enjoyed working with video. There are numerous ways that it can be used for entertainment, and also for applications like security. This is a very impressive suite of applications for video security.

As PCs and their web-cams are becoming more cost effective, software suites like this can now be used as extremely ‘intelligent’ solutions for monitoring a home or business. This software has the ability to detect motion on any of its cameras, and then begin to record to generate notifications. What was really impressive was that it even supports multiple zones to monitor within a single camera image. The screenshots give a more detailed explanation of the features.

As I get some time … I might give this a try. I have some ideas on what I can do with something like this …

ZoneMinder 1.17.2. A Web-based video camera security, motion capture, and analysis suite. [freshmeat.net]

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More mesh network attention
This is an article by an IBM employee about mesh-networks. Some interesting perspectives and research going on …

City-Net: The future of wireless. Imagine a wireless meshing network that connects emergency workers, traffic signals, message signs, public transit vehicles, information kiosks, video cameras and other city resources. [Computerworld Mobile/Wireless News]

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Predicting Earthquakes … becoming a reality!
I used to go to SVRA (State Vehicular Recreational Area) in California – near the town of Hollister – to ride my dirt bike. Once while were down there there was a good sized earthquake, and we were less than a mile from the epicenter. It was an amazing experience. I remember that I had walked over to a spigot on the campground to wash some breakfast dishes, and all of the sudden I lost my balance and fell over. And looking up, I saw campers swaying and watched my bike fall off it’s stand. As soon as I stood up, the shaking stopped … and the ground that had felt like standing on a water bed became solid again.

The thought of the ability to predict these quakes will be extremely valuable to communities around the world. And knowing people these days, it might prove to be a whole new “real world” experience! I can just imagine the news: “Scientists predict large quake … thrill seekers flock to location.“

Predicting the Next Big One. Scientists at UCLA have successfully predicted the magnitude of recent earthquakes around the world within a time frame of mere months. What’s next? A quake in the Mojave Desert, and it looks like it’ll be a big one. By Amit Asaravala. [Wired News]

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Earth Browser …
Again I have to thank Adam for pointing out this great application … it is a great example of the aggregation of, and presentation of, a wide range of planetary sensors.

earth browser. Last week on my way to florida I met a 747 captain who was very enthousiastic about showing me all the cool stuff he had on his Mac. With ease he showed me qucktime DV movies of him flying a gypsy moth (with wooden airframe) only feet above the surface of the English Channel and other neat multimedia stuff. I noticed an icon titled ‘Earth Browser‘ on his desktop, he couldn’t show me the whole application since it rerally needs a net connection to function properly, but I downloaded it this morning and was amazed at botht he program and the business model.

Earth Browser is a graphic rich application that aggregates all kinds of freely available weather related data and presents it as an interactive world map that can be customized to who weather, webcams, forecasts and almost anything a pilot wants for a general weather briefing. $29.95 removes some limitations and let’s you zoom into 2 kilometers depth.

Sure I can get the same information free from online sources, but I’m happy to pay for the packaging the developers of the software did. Great job guys! [Adam Curry: Adam Curry’s Weblog]

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Mesh Networking continues to emerge
As I have been watching the wireless world explode over the last 8+ years, I have begun to realize that “mesh networking” is where it’s at. Mesh networking is the peer-to-peer solution in the wireless world. It begins to leverage the power contained in each radio to provide “relaying” capabilities for other nodes. Mesh will break the trend of “client-server” designs of traditional multi-point radio networks, and allow for self-configuration and distributed designs.

Mesh networking is going to change the entire way that wireless networks are designed, and also enhance the overall usability and capabilities of these networks. These guys are working in the right area!

Firetide Intros Mesh Routers. You can sign up to be an early adopter: Firetide is introducing a cool new product that it calls a wireless mesh router. It aims to eliminate the wired backhaul from traditional APs. So a company could distribute a slew of Firetide routers which self-configure to pass data from one to the next, back to an AP that is connected. Firetide is also opening the door to companies that want to be part of its early adopters program. HP Labs is already using Firetide gear. In a briefing Firetide gave to Glenn a few weeks ago, the company discussed some specific scenarios, such as unwiring hotels, in which so many of the costs were in the wireline side that their products could drop a project’s cost by more than half…. [Wi-Fi Networking News]

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Google … an amazing entity …
From my early days on the Internet, I have been facinated with Internet Directories and Search Engines. The various players have come and gone … and some have stuck around. Yahoo! is still one of the “old-timers” in the industry, as Excite, Infoseek, Lycos, and Altavista have all gone there own ways.

The one “newer” player that has come to dominate the landscape is Google. With their radical new architecture for gathering, storing, and indexing web content, and then “ranking” based on URI linking frequency, they have created an amazing solution for managing the wealth of information on the Internet. Ouside of all of this technology, there is also the “clean” and lightweight design of their website. Google appears to be the most used resource for searching the web.

There is another side to Google that many people do not see, nor understand. It is the core technology, and how is can be used and repurposed … and expanded. This is what I am most interested in with Google. If you have not visited their Advanced Search page, or explored the Google Labs, then you might not have seen some of the other aspects of Google.

Over the next month of so, I am going to be posting about a model that I have created in my observations of Google and what they are developing. I am hearing more and more about the impending IPO of their company … and I have to admit that I believe they are on to something. I believe they are creating something that is truly amazing.

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The transparent society gets closer … or a closeup?
There is a merging of technologies, and the evolution of technologies, that is creating the possiblity of every person becoming a “sensor” that can be used by others. With the Internet, 802.11 wireless, wearable computers, cell phones with cameras, and now embedded cameras … we’ll soon be able to share and broker audible and visual information from anywhere.

This article shows what HP engineers have been up to with embedded cameras in glasses. When coupled with a small computer that has recording capabilities, GPS, and wireless connectivity, we could all be sharing recorded information about almost anything that we experience. If you have not read David Brin’s The Transparent Society … you ought to. We’re getting closer and closer …