Why? This is the type of thing the user chooses to activate and share... generally with friends or contacts.

I'm coming at this from a different angle: I want my device to know where I am. Not in terms of numbers, but in terms of Home / Best Buy / Work / etc. When I go home, I want to connect to ESSID HomeNet, open up my mail, and begin a sync. When I get to work, I want to connect to ESSID WorkNet, open up my tasks, and fire up presence services. When I go to Best Buy, I want Amazon (insert favorite review-and-pricing site here up and running as well as their current flyer.

(This is, incidentally, the project I proposed on my N810 application. Currently working on it for the N800.)

Those are great ideas aleksandyr but you don't need a GPS for all those right? In some instances, you only only need other devices that in the area to pinpoint where you are -- sort of proximity sensing devices... for your Best Buy - Amazon example, your device should react to a sensor on Best Buy's entrance to activate its browser and open up Amazon.

Anssi Vanjoki of Nokia did mention something about the same topic to a certain degree. He didn't want car manufacturers to make 'smart cars'. The degree of personalization should be in devices you always carry. On the car for example, it should connect with your mobile device, and adjust accordingly based on your preferences -- from seat adjustment, preferred music, temperature, etc.

Right, and this information wouldn't be abused in the same way I'm sure cellular mast information can/is abused already, this just makes it even more readily available (and easier to hack?) Also, having my location constantly available to anyone, even friends, is a bit scary - I could see myself using it occasionally, but having my location visible all the time doesn't appeal but then that kind of defeats the whole idea as my location would be unavailable most of the time!

I'm also thinking that it makes it more difficult to cheat on the other half should she ever get wind of where the mistress lives... I'd forget to turn off my location when visiting the bit on the side who lives in the north of town having told my wife I'm meeting a friend for drinks in the south... and turning off my location when going "for a drink with a friend" could also arouse suspicion! (I know of a friend who's affair was exposed by a text message from the mistress which happened to be read by the wife... it does happen, and this location idea is just an evolutionary step in terms of how a guy can manage to screw up a marriage/relationshhip via technology!!!)

Great idea for tracking kids though (your own, naturally).

Pretty sure you can use Geoclue to help you do that with D-Bus calls.

Intel are already on top of this line of thinking... I must admit I like it too, and could one day see a tablet being the only computer I ever need.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=G_FS2TiK3AI

@milhouse - just because you would not use it though does not reduce the value in location / context aware applications. People abuse everything ... The latest wired even had a piece on how to take advantage of the GPS system to mess with people.

Again, the user actively participates in the sharing and chooses with whom to share as well. At least that is how Jaiku works and seems to work very well.

As the Nokia Ovi system comes online I am sure we will some new things there too. We'll have integrated Maps, the CellID server which they manage and GPS APIs on the tablet and phones as a start.

I've found the location stuff to be quite cool in my use. I've been able to see contacts were in places I've been or even that we are in the same place and made contact -- something not possible without an active scan and this has led to contextual conversations I would not have had without this knowledge. Of course the geotagging of images is also a nice benefit and time saver for lifestreamers like myself.

The mobile social network is the only one you need... integrated contacts, with location and presence. Share with anyone, your friends or noone. The data can be interesting even for your own purposes.

Hi all,

It shouldn't be too difficult to port Thumbtribes from the Neo1973 once it's complete (Insofar as it will already be aimed at a small device running linux). Was just reading about it this morning and thought it would be relevant here:

(These are a long watch, so be prepared)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ambe5dPz3-A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdBB1g65Nwk

Location-aware devices are going to get pretty exciting.

See ya
ezuall

You misunderstand, I genuinely think location awareness is a great idea in concept however I feel that due to security and privacy concerns some people (possibly the minority, but maybe not) would decide not to use the service which then reduces it's usefulness to the wider community of users. For example, if my security concious friends have concerns about giving up their location (for whatever reason - Big Brother, overly suspicious wife etc.) and don't use the service then the service becomes of little use to me, so I in turn don't use it either and so it goes. Great idea, but it's got some major human/social/privacy/acceptance issues to overcome. Teenagers will no doubt love this idea, but then you can imagine where it leads when a teenage daughter gives out her "location id" to some sad paedo to then stalk while impersonating a 12 year old in a chat room... overly dramatic perhaps but you can see how this system/service can be abused, it's got good and bad uses and some of them could be very bad indeed. Or maybe I have an over active imagination...

Location aware applications that don't give *out* my location but only consume it could have all sorts of possibilities so I'm looking forward to what happens with Geoclue etc., but I really have concerns about giving out my location, as I'm sure will others since it's such an alien concept ("What - so you know where I am every minute of the day? I don't think so..." Yes but you can tell where I am as well! "And I'd want to know that why, exactly?" )

I'm not -focusing- on GPS, but it remains the only really reliable way of doing this. I was planning on picking a location backend, but it's the simple and straightforward methods of creating location profiles that I'm focusing on