Thread: Plans for Maemo Mapper v2.0
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2007-06-13 , 17:28
Posts: 1,245 | Thanked: 421 times | Joined on Dec 2005
#70
Originally Posted by talmage View Post
There's a way to do that and let MM remain strictly an application program. Suppose there were a number of ways for MM to signal that it's near a particular POI or class of POIs, such as play a sound, pop up a little window that describes the POI, or run another program. You could choose to have MM run the "Select Connection" program.
The thing is, the N800 already intermittently attempts to connect to nearby (known) wifi hotspots. The only advantages of incorporating this functionality into Maemo Mapper would be:
1. Importing a POI database of "unknown" wifi hotspots, so that one could connect to hotspots not yet encountered.
2. Adding this functionality to the 770.
3. Not having to wait for the N800's "periodic attempts" - getting immediate connection when you are within range.

Besides the ethical (and legal) issues of #1, these advantages (except maybe for #3) require functionality that should be implemented in a separate, possibly-background application. #3 is just not worth incorporating such complex functionality into Maemo Mapper - how much are you going to be able to download when passing a wifi hotspot on the road?

Now, this doesn't disallow the possibility of Maemo Mapper providing some indication of the presence of a nearby POI - talmage's suggestion is certainly a good one. It's feasible that a popup or sound could be presented when you near a POI (such as a hotspot, or a gas station) within a certain radius. This would notify you of a nearby hotspot, at which point you could utilize the rest of the device's capabilities to connect to the hotspot and download whatever you like.