Comments:

1. Mudak on April 14th, 2009 at 3:41:

   I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’d kind of like to see locations that tie in with current events. A few months ago after Capt. Sullenberger brought his plane down safely into the Hudson river, you posted a few pictures of the scene in your Great Pictures category. Similar current events ought to have associated pictures in the app if you can swing it.

   (Not that I’m asking for pictures of North Korea’s missile launch, but you get the picture…)

2. Maarten on April 14th, 2009 at 6:14:

   I’d want free wifi hotspots indicated (and/or ones that my subscription service (iPass) lets me use).

   You could cache restaurant reviews from TripAdvisor?

   Being able to download markers from a saved Google Map I previously constructed would be cool. I tend to look up hotel locations and such ahead of time and save them to a GMap for the trip.

   Beyond that, ATMs, grocery stores, gas stations.

   I’ve been thinking that I’d like to have an offline copy of wikipedia articles relevant to my travels, but figuring out what articles to cache isn’t trivial–it’s not just articles on places, or the country’s history, but also flora and fauna, geology, etc.

   (More related to your project–cache wikimapia objects for the area?)

3. John Sinteur on April 14th, 2009 at 6:34:

   Current events – that’s an interesting problem, in the sense that keeping an app in the iTunes library up to date for this could be difficult – I’d have to push updates, and rely on every user to follow the updates just before a trip. Cool idea, but it won’t be on the top of list of things to implement until I figure out the logistics a bit more.

   restaurant reviews is interesting – is there a good open source place to get them, and why would I want to compete with the trip advisor app that is already available. If there is a good source with an API, I want to know it.

   ATM, gas stations, etc… I’ll see if there’s a good POI source somewhere.

   wikimapia is a bit young for this, and I haven’t seen an API there…

4. Maarten on April 14th, 2009 at 8:34:

   Re: why compete with TripAdvisor app

   First off, I was telling you what info I would want without filtering for business model. I just came off a trip where I carried an iTouch and had little connected time, so I’m pretty fresh on what I’d like to be able to cache.

   Also, I thought the assumption was no connectivity (otherwise why bother competing with Google Maps), so I won’t have access using the TA app as I don’t think it caches.

5. Maarten on April 14th, 2009 at 8:37:

   PS: does all the info have to be included in the bundle downloaded from the app store? Can’t you make it so you say “I’m traveling here, grab me the info cache now before I leave home”?

6. janmark on April 14th, 2009 at 9:49:

   Why not have it cache the dynamic POI when ever you have the chance, given the location? As to pointing to a long item (i.e. a street) why not point to the closest point to the current location, or the point of entry when the shortest route is followed from the current location?

   However the main thing would be, users providing info for users. To start the off without a distributed (or single user!) moderating system. Why not prepare a limited number of remarks that can be added to current locations? Like, “Route jammed,” “Plain down,” “Good food,” “Hotel full,” “Attraction closed,” etc. A bit like twitter. These messages would age, and if more people tweet the same, it ages slower. (Also a “no more” addition could be made to each message.) On top of these, auto messages could be added, like “Free WiFi, Quality: good,” “Driving speed: good,” “Train late,” “Friends close: Jan, Piet, Klaas,” etc.

   The nicest thing would be a web site that allows people to auto-feed information from websites, etc. This would allow people to set up a user “channel” for weather, sports, events, etc. etc.

   The last part would be the money maker. If loads of people use this thing to get info on for example the actual taxi-availability, the taxi-company can be charged for providing the “cab available” channel.

   I’d better stop, I could come up with ten of these a minute.

7. Andre on April 14th, 2009 at 10:51:

   I would like to be able to save a location, to be able to get back to it later (the car is parked here). Also would like to prepare locations before the trip; indicate things of interest to me. Also would like to be able to turn POIs off, to get a uncluttered view. Supermarkets, post offices, and yes, free WIFI, are all helpful. And it should show your current location, if possible. And museums.

   Combine it with a website where people can recommend places, which (recommendations and places) can be saved to the map. I don’t think it needs to be all in the app, you should be able to extend it using internet access. But offline maps and info ARE incredibly helpful!

8. John Sinteur on April 14th, 2009 at 11:42:

   Tripadvisor – good point, having that info offline would be nice as well. I’ll put it on my to-do list.

   twitter like messages through WiFi when available is an interesting idea as well, but as that requires an installed base, I’ll save that for version 1.1. The info on wikimapia is too sparse, so to get that info it would need to be integrated in a very user-friendly way, to encourage people to enter feedback and new info.

   saving locations (parked car) is a very good idea. Current location is already in there.

   Keep them coming, guys!

Comments:

1. spaceman spiff on April 14th, 2009 at 17:58:

   I think this says it all. A true masterpiece in the art of precis.

2. Roland Hesz on April 17th, 2009 at 17:34:

   I’m currently reading the Holy Bible – Christmas gift from family, don’t ask – and yes, it is about right.