GPS is becoming a part of our life in the Caribbean. I know, I know, we don't have those cool navigation systems that are common place in the developed world. I believe though that with GPS capability becoming readily available to us via our cell phones, we have the leadway to easily and cheaply experiment and explore ways in which we can put it to good use.
I have done some experimenting with Google Maps and Google Latitude and Blackberry Maps. I found that the GPS technology itself works great, but we lack the information to be posted on the maps to make them more informative and much more useful.
I can hear those you out there calling me a a technie, nerd, geek … you are there thinking we don't have much use for GPS in the Caribbean.
Here what, let me get on with the review and stick with me here. You get to express your opinion at the end in the comments section.
Review of Gpsed.com
I have been experimenting with Gpsed.com for a little while now. Mapping Impressions. http://gpsed.com/
What Does Gpsed.com Do?
Basically it uses the GPS in your phone to track your movements while you travel from point A to point B. It then uploads this track in an online database where you can trace your track on google maps. You can also add your photos and waypoints to the track to make it more informative.
This is very similar to the Google My tracks feature only available on Google Android – check it out here –http://mytracks.appspot.com/
GPSed.com is compatible with iPhone 3G, Nokia N95, BlackBerry Storm, Bold and other latest models, Windows Mobiles. GPSed is also compatible with a wide range of mobiles that can connect to the external GPS receiver via Bluetooth and with any gps receivers (like Garmin GPS, TomTom GPS and others) that can record tracks in GPX, PLT, KML and other formats.
User Experience
I love the main page which is a simple screen displaying –
- Speed
- Time/Duration
- Distance
- Compass (I love this feature)
I must make mention of the compass, I really like this feature! I have done alot of hiking and i know how convenient it would be to have your phone also be a compass!
I find that general interface to not be as intuitive as it can be, however its not hard to find you way around.
Features
Waypoint – as you make your tracks, you can make way points that could signify landmarks on your journey. This is very easy to add.
Photos – you can add photos to your tracks as I mentioned before. I uploaded my geo-tagged photos to Flickr and they were automatically added to correct points on the track. Just a few clicks and it was done!
Privacy – You can easily set your tracks to private or public. This was a real help when I was making the map to my buried treasure.
Live Sharing – You can share your location live, or you can share your location while you are recording your track. There is also have the option to embed a small map on your webpage or blog that pin points your position, up to you if you want to do that!
SOS – I thought this is a nice touch. The SOS is allows you to send your location via email or SMS to the people u have saved.
Show your tracks and photos to your friends – You can share your tracks by simply making them public.
Sharing Via Social Networks – there is facility to share you location using blogger, twitter, myspace and facebook.
Click here to check out the track I recorded for you
In summary, I would say this is a great app. It would allow us to do alot of interesting things. Here are a few suggestions.
- track hiking trails
- public transport routes
- track carnival bands
- rally stages & rally cars at major rally meets.
- it might help with traffic?
- directions for tourists
- track a fleet of vehicles – check out GPSed.com Monitoring Service
There are lot of possibilities that can be opened up with this software.
Corey Graham 2.0
http://74.53.83.70/~cgraham/coreykgraham.me
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