After much feedback from users I’ve decided to add geotagging functionality to the next version of BlueGPS. This will allow you to click “Tag This Location” on your device and add a note (even a photo in a future version) and upload it to a server. Users will be able to share their favorite locations with the community or with just friends and family. I’ll be working on a basic server piece built on top of Ruby on Rails. I’ll continue to post updates both from a technical as well as conceptual perspective.

This isn’t an entirely new concept as there a few “Web 2.0″ companies getting into the social location sharing space. The ones I’m most familiar with are socialight and flagr. This isn’t an attempt to compete with these startups, but create something defined by BlueGPS users and see where we end up. It should make for an interesting experiment to say the least. The value I get out of this entire experiment is working with the community to craft something that can be used by technology enthusiasts….and push the limits of our imaginations!

I’ve spent a lot of time lately thinking about the next useful piece of functionality to build into BlueGPS. While I’m not sure this is something that everyone could benefit from, I’m going to post my ideas and gather feedack. The idea is to provide a map interface that can be shared with your friends/family where they can view your trip in progress or current location. Let’s forget about privacy and security for now as that’s something that will need to be resolved at some point.

Jamie calls me every now and then asking how to get somewhere. She’s generally in the car and I’m at the computer digging around Google maps. An interesting app may be to provide a mechanism where I can click an icon denoting her current location and then send a text message saying “Go 2 miles and then turn right on Mockingbird”. Once again, let’s forget that she’s driving and should be paying full attention to the road, not reading text messages. With that being said, I could serve as an almost realtime navigation assistant providing directions and information on her mobile device. Yes there are onboard GPS units we could purchase, but this is simply a brainstorm. You can test the functionality by clicking here and it will actually send a message to my device. Luckily I have free incoming text messages or this could get ugly. You can see a screen of the app below:

I think there are unlimited possibilities with this type of messaging and I’ll continue to explore them. Even a cool social aspect where you select all your buddies on a map and send a message saying “let’s meet at Pei Wei for lunch” may be cool. Think about it…

I just finished up the initial alpha version of BlueGPS for Windows Mobile.  I’m calling it alpha because  there are a couple of known bugs and the functionality in the app is limited right now.  I’m hoping to build a community of users that can provide suggestions and help drive the direction of the product.  More and more location based applications are on the horizon and I think it’s essential to have devices that support GPS and other sensor based information.

At any rate, please feel free to download a copy and let me know how it goes!
http://www.db75.com/bluegps

If you’re looking for good information on executing multiple threads in Windows Mobile then check out this article. There’s a code snippet that really helps demonstrate the process of creating and terminating threads. I’m by no means a thread expert so I found the article extremely useful. I’m currently dealing with multiple threads in my Windows Mobile version of BlueGPS. Threading in Symbian was a nightmare and I must admit that it’s 100 times easier with Windows Mobile. I’m hoping to get a threading issue resolved and will release the BlueGPS cab for WM tomorrow or early next week.

I’ve received quite a few emails about the Windows Mobile version of BlueGPS.  Just last night I finished the compass animation and should have a few bugs worked out this weekend.  I’ll be releasing it for public beta sometime next week and will create a landing page for the app.  It’s much more elegant than the Symbian version and updates should be easier to implement since C# keeps the code simple (and I need all the help I can get!).  Below is a screen of the compass in action and I’m very suprised at how realtime it updates.  I was walking in circles in front of the house last night (insert wise-crack here) and the compass stayed right with me.  It should since the display upates every second.  This will probably pose a performance issue at some point, but we can cross that bridge another day.

Google scores a point. Well not really, but I did find this kind of funny when trying to download Google Maps to my Windows Mobile device: