星期六, 1月 07, 2006

2 Tracking methods: Dodgeball and Navizon

I did a little research between Navizon and Dodgeball regarding buddy tracking.

Dodgeball depends on teleco operators in more than 20 cities to use SMS mechanisms for distributing location messages about buddies at nearby areas.

On the other hand, Navizon is a peer-to-peer software; it works on Wi-Fi or GSM and GPS is optional.
People equipped with GPS capabilities share location data via Wi-Fi/GSM for those who don't have GPS but with Wi-Fi/GSM.
So it is more like Nepster with the only difference that location instead of MP3 is shared in P2P mode.

In Taiwan, GSM-based location is forbidden by teleco law. So even CHT is ready to go this; regulations forbid them.
What is intriguing in Navizon is that it only receives Wi-Fi/GSM's beacons (no legal issues)
and the rest of things work by itself inside the software. So no telco participation is required and in consequence no fees need to pay from the users.
The more users in P2P positioning, the more accurate the location is.

I am thinking if it can combine match services such as freinds.yam.com,
people can do unplanned blind dates based on computer assisted trait matching (by yam) and location services empowered by devices such as Navizon.
For example, someone in a pub suddenly feels lonely and desperately wants to find someone to talk to.
There are chances that the matched person (provided by yam services) is just around the corner of the pub.
It is only very naive ideas. Sense of control and security may need further elaboration to implement.

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