GeoCoding a Post
This should come up as posted from Santa Cruz. With a map.
jeepx.net
public jeepx.net extends jeepx.blogspot.com implements freedom
Mashups, Hacking Street View, Geocashing
Cool mashup from Finland via Make.
Hacking Google Street View.
Google Stampede, Navteq next? Via AllPointsBlog.
Mobile Search
Looking for the closest cashiers that will take your money for goods? Sprint makes GPSShoper available for $1.99 a month (plus data plan). Mobile customers can:
“use their cell phones to find any of 85 million products available at 30,000 stores across the country. People type in a keyword, product name, model number or UPC number to search for the product.”
Local Match making at Meetmois.
GPS Hardware News: HTC, iPhone un-rumours, Nokia N800
Rumors of a true GPS in the iPhone fading out. Most probably Bluetooth GPS support and some cool apps to go with it. Where it started and PocketPicks in UK. Via Tech Digest
From jkOnTheRun what Nokia N800 looks like, YouTube has a good 13 mins “open-the-box” experience. The N800 NavKit includes the LD-3W Bluetooth GPS receiver. The video shows how easy it picks a signal, even under a roof.
Also Via PocketPicks: New entry from HTC in UK, very iPhonish. Via ItWorld.
Solsie and a video on the Future of the phone from CNET.
Garmin Zuno at GPSLodge.
Germany looking at Public Funds for Galileo.
MIT WatchMe project “a platform for mobile communication and awareness” (photo), via PCMag.
PR Dept
SirfDirect: Dead Reckoning or how to keep track of things while no signal is available. SirfDirect “couples the SiRF star III chipset with acceleration sensors to tell where it’s going when GPS signals are blocked”. At GpsLodge, GpsPassion, LBSZone and Navigadget.
WhereCamp: Reaching Critical Mass
Almost like watching a baby being born such the focused energy and creativity.
LBS, Mobile development, Locative Media, Hacks. Free flow and format. Five minutes shots.
Sunday afternoon had some more five minutes rapid fires. A great stack presentation among them.
The connection between APRS, GPS and OpenMoko was almost latent: an Open Phone and the possibility of an Open Carrier.
That still to come. Maybe on an OpenHardware Camp?
That might create the spark. O’Reilly’s next?
bliin: mobile blogging ahead
Take pictures with your cell phone while geotagging them with the respective GPS coordinates. Upload for sharing with text, sounds and videos. If you got the compatible Nokia or Sony-Ericson model you can try it right now with Bliin.
Bliin uses the GeoTracing framework, covered in another post. Registered download a J2ME midlet to your phone or MacOSX and Windows desktops clients with Bluetooth GPS.
You can upload and share photos with the phone clients but not the desktop versions. In fact, the sharing, made through bliin.com/share and most of the features will “come soon”, the whole package is going through a public beta.
Blogs Mashup
After you upload your photos you can visualize them in a Google Maps screen (satellite, maps, hybrid) with a cool widget from zooming in/out, toggling map types and accessing your own stuff.
Bliin will show your location in a world map at the website along with other users and photos at their corresponding locations.
The phone client has a radar view that displays who’s around within a given range to feed into the social networking take.
MacOSX Client
If you want to try the Mac client first create an account at the website
It asks for your Bluetooth GPS. Turn Bluetooth on if it isn’t, search for the device and pair it up (you might need the passkey).
If you don’t have one around, check Semsons for Bluetooth models (pick one with Sirf Start III GPS chipset).
Bliin now sits at the menu bar as a task item.
If the color at the center is red it couldn’t login to the server.
Blinking green, GPS is working fine.
Check the PDF with more info on the color scheme.
The only thing that will happen is that you will be able to see your current location in the map.
So
For desktop usage because of the lack of support for photo (or text, sound) upload the package isn’t quite there just yet.
But if the target public are users of mobile phones which might take precedence in the implementation of feature set bliin promises a good punch (and you can upload photos right now).
First at Mashable.