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Using the GPS Features on Cell Phones?
Rylor asks: "A couple of years ago I bought the Samsung 300NP cell phone, which has a GPS feature that I can turn on or off. The primary purpose is to meet the Emergency 911 calling requirements laid out by the FCC. I've checked the manual several times and it only says that I can use the GPS feature for anything service I want, but that's it. Sprint doesn't offer anything else about it. So my question to Slashdot: if you have a cellphone with this feature, what cool ways are you using it?"
Shopping
Driving
Geocaching
Spying
I have been pwned because my
AFAIK, no carrier has developed applications for the GPS in phones yet. But in theory, it would allow you to get localized directions, or 411, etc.
Keep in mind that it really isn't "GPS" in your phone, but a hybrid using the cell tower for help.
She always remarks on how 'coincidental' it is that we run into one another when out shopping, etc. ;>
Use the GPS to create a map of all the areas where the phone works reliably, and where it doesn't work... aren't digital phones constantly touching base with the cell towers anyway? Then they could get rid of that obnoxious guy constantly walking around saying "Can you hear me now? Good!"
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
Lets just say that with some home-brew hardware I know where all you naughtly little monkeys are at all times!!!!
Taco... steer clear of Graceland for chrissakes!
"Do you know where I am now?... GOOD!"
Of course you might get in trouble but oh well ;)
PS: For the humor impared... DON'T DO THIS
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Well subject says it all. I can already get wireless internet to my PocketPC via bluetooth. Take that another step and add GPS as well, and I could have a handy dandy direction finder. I've run into cases where that'd be useful.
"Derp de derp."
If you want to check out some Series 60 apps, go here and put "GPS" in the search box.
Our company (Blue Cove) is currently testing GPS apps with with major carriers, one of which will be enabling commercial Brew applications to use the Snaptrack (Qualcomm) servers that provide the MS-based and MS-assisted capabilities in the next few quarters across the US. For obvious reasons they don't want apps and the public to use the same physical servers as E-911.
All Qualcomm CDMA chipsets now have GPS functionality. You should be seeing traffic, POI, mapping and all sorts of geo-games this year.
Sigs are for propeller heads.
I contacted Sprint last winter to ask how I could use the GPS functionality in Java applications to run on the phone, or on a web site, with an eye to making something like a little map of the area with little dots telling me the relative positions of myself and my business partner, for example. They told me to sign up for their developer mailing list and website. I did that, and upon diving into their development forums, found that their party line is that such programming information is proprietary, and that they have some kind of exclusive contracts in place with other parties who are supposed to be rolling out services Real Soon Now.
A year later and still nothing. I've stopped bothering with it myself, and keep the locator feature turned off.... it will still tell 911 where you are regardless. Maybe someday one of the other carriers will open up this feature and someone will develop a killer app so that Sprint has no choice but to follow, but their handling of independent developers leaves a lot to be desired thus far.
The LG phones are supposed to programmable via qualcomm BREW, but I don't know first thing about it - perhaps there is some API to read GPS, and may be another to initiate an IP connection and send it somewhere?
This link seems to have some relevant info.
There is no full GPS unit inside the phone. Instead it takes the GPS signal, does some limited processing, and sends the information to the cell tower it's in contact with. The cell tower has the remainder of the equipment to finish the processing (including knowledge about its own location and the signal it's receiving) and can locate the phone to within the usual resolution of GPS (several meters on a good day)
To use the phone as a GPS unit, one would have to write an app that used airtime to connect to the tower and get the coordinates to display on the phone itself.
I suspect that for the next few years we will barely see more than location based spam and perhaps a few games that will ultimately fail in which location plays a role in gameplay.
In short, the only cool use so far is calling 911 and knowing that in two years they should be able to locate you...if the GPS signal is good enough.
-Adam
... she refuses to accept the idea. Supermodels can be difficult that way sometimes.
i just purchased the motorola i730 on the nextel network that leverages a java app called telenav or www.telenav.net it is a full blown gps program... NOT leveraging cell towers but requiring a connection with at least 4 satellites at all times to receive an accurate signal with varyiong degress of accuarcy +/- 150 ft. I am still testing it's GPS capabilities for work though it is very similar to the garmin units found in a hertz rental car. it does virtually everything the big garmin units do for 25% of the price. i can establish way points, call in new locations and they appear on my phone, turn by turn instructions, i can download non-gps directions to my destination, it speaks the turns including the road ways, i can locate local or distant hotels, restaurants, info centers, etc. it is pretty impressive as a gps unit an is by far the most solid performing cell phone i have ever had. check it out... it rocks. if you want more info just let me know.
Like another poster stated, it isn't really a GPS unit but more of a relative position finder to the nearest tower.
I have sprint service as well and just upgraded my phone to one with this service. I turned the locator on and checked the weather using the wireless web option and it gave me the correct local weather (no zipcode needed). When I went to a neighboring community about 20 miles away I check the weather again and it gave me the new city's weather forecast.
There could potentially be plenty of services for this feature. Resturant suggestions, directions, movie times and ticket purchasing, event calendars, multiplayer gaming against locals and many more I can't think of. Most of these are still to come howerver.
This company is marketing a service (covered in this NYT article (cached at the IHT)) that tracks phones on which it's java app has been installed. The service is being marketed to parents and employers and allows access to the location information via a website. They'll also send email alerts whenever a phone travels outside a predefined set of boundaries (a "geofence"). Pretty cool.
There are a few phones that have an actual GPS in them, but for the most part, the "GPS" feature in the mainstream phones use tower based triangulation, along with some other calculations to be more precise.. Most of these phones don't even have a way to report the location info to the end user..