Proximity as a service

Indoor positioning at this moment is a hot area for LBS applications. There is no common denominator for indoor location but technically Wi-Fi based solutions are probably prevailing.

Wi-Fi based approach for indoor positioning is always based on the net of basic nodes (Wi-Fi tags for example) with known locations. Based on that we can deploy some triangulation for getting position for our Wi-Fi device. Actually, it is similar to cell-id, where Wi-Fi tags play the role of base stations.

So, the main problem is the need for some preliminary preparation steps for Wi-Fi network we are going to use for indoor positioning. And what if we need some dynamic solutions? It is actually a starting point for our SpotEx (Spot expert) project.

What if we will take from traditional indoor positioning systems the first step only – Wi-Fi networks detection? Obviously, if our mobile phone can see some Wi-Fi access point we are somewhere nearby. And the word “nearby” actually dictates that we should use proximity services rather than traditional location based services. That is probably fine because the proximity (being nearby) let us directly provide the relevant content to our users, without the preliminary geo-calculations. But we need some tools that let us add measurement to the word “nearby”. Similar to the geo-location tools we need services for proximity based operations.

Our SpotEx model presents one of possible tools for the proximity services. And as the second step in our “new indoor approach” we will add the ability describe some content that depends on the Wi-Fi networks visibility. We will get some kind of context aware браузер – our user will see content depends on the exiting Wi-Fi access points. Actually, we can add rules for the visibility where we can use Wi-Fi, time, probability, history of access etc.

We do not need in this case any preliminary preparation for that network. We can proceed even dynamically added nodes. For example, Wi-Fi access point we can associate our rules with could be Wi-Fi access point opened by demand right on another mobile phone.

Once again – it is not about access to some Wi-Fi network. Access point could be protected and closed for public access. The only thing Spot Expert is based on is its visibility. Access point plays a role of sensor (trigger) here. If our mobile user can see that network he/she is nearby.

Current implementation provides Android application for end users and web client (including mobile web) for creating rules and setting content nodes. See Spot expert site for details and application downloading.

Possible use cases are: delivering commercial information (deals, discounts, coupons) in malls, hyper-local news data, data discovery in Smart City projects, personal news sites etc

There is also a special simplified version prepared for retail area – In Mall Notes. Contact us for demo access.

A side effect - WiFi chat. This service provides the predefined elements of content: web chat and discussion groups connected to some visible Wi-Fi access point. Suppose we have some Wi-Fi network in train (bus etc.) WiFi chat application provides communication tools for people in the net’s area. You can get more details in our article about WiFi chat.

Android location

"Android distinguishes two location provider types with the following accuracy:

- Fine-grained location provider like the GPS provider with an accuracy of less than 100 m.
- Coarse-grained location provider like the network location provider with an accuracy of 100 – 500 m"

A Good Look at Android Location Data - nice article

GeoSMS on Android market

A first version for Android application Geo Message is available on the market. From your mobile you can search free application geo message from Coldbeans on Android market, right from PC you can check out Geo Message via App Brain for example.

You can download this application right now via the following QR-code



P.S. still curious about search on Android market. World leading search company has unsearchable web page. It is fine!

WAC on Android

WAC 1.0 - Supporting runtime for Android: Installation instructions and release notes - by Opera. Great news. Web development for phones is coming. And by the way, one of the first implementations for our Geo Messages was a widget.

Geo SMS

http://servletsuite.com/GeoSMS.apk

You can download an updated version of GeoSMS for Android application right from the above mentioned QR-code and link. Lets you share location info on mobile without the social networks.

/via Geo Messages

SMS URI and Android

Bad news, but SMS URI implementation for Android is completely broken (Desire, Android 2.1, Android 2.2). Really not a good news for mobile web developers. No words from Google when and why.

Another bad news related Android web development is onClick event. We can confirm this thread. Really Javascript onClick event practically does not work. The main approach for dynamic content generation in Ajax applications by the way ...

End of Java?

Oracle's decision to sue Google for infringing its patents and copyright on Java in Android has certainly stirred up a hornets' nest of commentary and analysis on the web today, but it's only just now that we've received Google's official statement, in which the search giant calls the suit "baseless" and vows to "defend open-source standards." - from here

Mobile video chat

Video-chat for Android. 30 lines of code for mobile chat roulette :-)

SMS with attachments

A new look for old things. Really, a new way for sending SMS was described. See details here