caseorganic

Posted

Tue Jan 4 2011, 4:16pm

By caseorganic

Categories

Tutorials

Tagged

How to Use Geoloqi with a Blackberry Phone

Note: Instamapper no longer supports Blackberry. This tutorial is now expired.

Blackberry photo by Mr. T in DC on Flickr

If you have a Blackberry, you can use Geoloqi right now. Currently, the Geoloqi app is in beta testing. The first Geoloqi app release is for iPhones running 4.0 or later, however, Geoloqi has Instamapper integration, which means that you can use Geoloqi, including sending yourself Geonotes, if you have a Blackberry or Android. The only difference is that you’ll have to use the Geoloqi.com website to leave yourself Geonotes – only the iPhone version will allow you to do it from the phone.

1. Log into http://beta.geoloqi.com and enter your phone number in the field provided. Then go to http://beta.geoloqi.com/settings/connections. Under “Geolocation Services” you’ll see “Instamapper Device Key”. Click the “Create” button. A Device Key will appear shortly afterward.

2. Install the “GPS Tracker” application from BlackBerry App World or download it over the air: http://www.instamapper.com/download/GPSTrackerBB.jad
For BlackBerry Storm, you can also try this binary with a higher resolution icon: http://www.instamapper.com/download/GPSTrackerStorm.jad

3. Start the application (look for an icon that looks like a satellite) and enter the 13-digit device key you got from the Geoloqi website.

Usage Notes:

  • Press the red hangup key to run GPS Tracker in the background.
  • Press the “Escape” key to quit tracking.
  • To have GPS Tracker start automatically when the phone boots, check “Auto-start on boot” in settings.

During the first few days of operation, the application will periodically pop into foreground. This is done to minimize the possibility that someone would use our service to track another person covertly (which is against our terms of service). Press the red hangup key to hide the application when it surfaces.

Notes on Support
All recent BlackBerries (OS version 4.2.1 and later) are supported. In particular, almost any BlackBerry bought from AT&T and Sprint should work out of the box. Note, however, that many BlackBerries do not have built-in GPS and need an external GPS receiver. Additionaly, some carriers (most notably Verizon) disable GPS access on their BlackBerries. If you have a Verizon phone, it will most likely not work. Corporate phones may also restrict access to network and/or GPS.

Enjoy using Geoloqi! If you run into any problems, or would like more information on how Geoloqi works, see Geoloqi Help. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, feel free to ask a question! We’ll be there to answer it.

Flickr photo credit: Mr. T in DC.

Posted

Sat Jan 1 2011, 9:21pm

By caseorganic

Categories

News
Press

Geoloqi #6 on JWT’s 100 Things to Watch in 2011

As part of their annual forecast, JWT recently released 100 Things to Watch in 2011. We were excited to find that Geoloqi was on the list as #6!

The report is a fascinating look into the future. You can see it on Slideshare and download it there as well.

In other news, we’re sending out beta invites now, and we’re looking to release the first version of the app mid-January.

Posted

Mon Nov 22 2010, 11:11am

By caseorganic

Categories

Events

Tagged

Building a Location-Based Science Trivia Game with Geoloqi at Science Hack Day, San Francisco

Last week, the Geoloqi team headed down to Palo Alto last week for Science Hack Day, a 48 hour hacking event that brought together scientists and technologist, artists and futurists, for a weekend of development, gaming and overall enjoyment. Many of us slept at the event, while some stayed up hacking into the night.

We arrived at Science Hack Day with the goal of making an experience that gets people to pay attention to the world around them. During gameplay, players walk around town and receive location-based questions via SMS related to education and science and their nearby location.

Location-based science trivia game at Science Hack Day

Each question was worth points, and more points are awarded for correct responses than incorrect responses. Those with the highest scores are listed on a leaderboard.

Science Notes Leaderboard

Players used a GPS Tracker made by Instamapper to play the game.

Science Hack Day Team Geoloqi

Thanks to all those who helped us with development and testing! Kevin Rohling, Liam Holt, Megan Mansell, Devin Drew, Pete Forsyth, Ashish Mahabal and Jennifer Monfrans.

Test Game Lat Long Markers

We left questions at a number of locations around the Institute for the Future, where the conference was being held.

Question Response

Questions and Responses

Questions were sent to a player’s phone by SMS, and they were given points based on their response. Most questions dealt with the area right around the user.

To respond, the player simply send a reply back to the SMS number and the database checked whether the response was correct or not and added points to the user’s id.

Application Architecture

Application Architecture

We used the Tropo API to send the SMS messages to users as they walked around town.

Geoloqi acted as the location-handler, determining where players were.

Finally, the trivia content was stored in a database built by Kevin Rohling.

Player ids and point tallies were handled there and displayed on the leaderboard.

Thank You!

Thanks again to everyone who joined in the game! It made Science Hack Day a blast. Thanks to Ariel Waldman for organizing it, and Jeremy Keith for coming up with the concept in the first place.

Posted

Sat Oct 2 2010, 11:23pm

By caseorganic

Categories

API
Tutorials

Geoloqi API

If you’re looking to build an app that uses the Geoloqi API, you might find the following diagrams useful.

1. Your application can trigger an action when the user enters a location. To do this, you can simply instruct Geoloqi to notify your app when a user enters an area.

For example, your app can tell Geoloqi to let it know when the user is inside a region defined by a latitude, longitude and radius. Geoloqi will only give away the user’s location when his GPS enabled phone enters one of those areas, preserving privacy.

Your app sends Geoloqi a lat, long radius and callback URL, and Geoloqi stores the trigger, allowing your app to be notified of the user’s location without you having to track the user’s location yourself.

2. When the user runs Geoloqi or Instamapper, their phone continually reports its location to the Geoloqi API.

Geoloqi internally processes the user’s location and compares the location with your app’s location triggers.

If the user’s GPS enabled phone enters within one of the areas set as a trigger zone, the user gets a message or action.

3. When the user enters one of your triggers, Geoloqi sends an update to your callback URL.

You can instruct Tropo to send an SMS or make a phone call to the user’s phone, user’s friend’s phone , twitter or a variety of other sources.

Full image: click to enlarge.

Posted

Fri Sep 10 2010, 8:20pm

By caseorganic

Categories

Events

Post-CyborgCamp Open Government Hackathon: 8 Hours of Open Source Action on Sunday, Oct. 3rd!

Geoloqi and Tropo will be sponsoring an 8-hour hackathon to see who can build the best open government application in just one day!

It’s free! You can participate as an individual or a team. Prizes will be awarded to the winners by the Hackathon Partners. Breakfast, lunch, coffee and beer will be available throughout the day, and there will be high speed Internet access and comfortable couches.

REGISTER HERE

Schedule

  • Breakfast and coffee will be served at 8:30am, followed by Lunch at Noon.
  • Coding will stop at 5:30pm, and teams and individuals will demo their apps.
  • Prizes will be awarded at 6:30Ppm.

Location

NedSpace Old Town, 117 NW 5th between Couch and Davis.

Backspace is right downstairs, Davis Street Tavern is right next door, there’s a parking lot across the street, and it’s right on the MAX line.

Who Should Attend?

Ruby, Python, PHP, web developers, coders, interaction designers, graphic designers and anyone who has a passion to code, hack or conceptualize applications that will free (or otherwise enhance) the accessibility and usefulness of government-shared data.

Although the sprint takes place On Oct 3rd after CyborgCamp Portland, you don’t have to be attending the conference to join us.

Participation is free and open to anyone… we just ask that you register in advance so we know how many individuals or teams we need to accommodate.

What’s Going to Happen?

There will be organizers onsite to help get things rolling. At 5:30pm, each app will be evaluated by the Hackathon Partners and prizes will be awarded to those teams or individuals that develop the best applications in the 8 hour. Participants need not show up right at 8:30am, but those who do will have the most time to code!

Hackathon Partners

Partners are companies and organizations that provide tools or services that can enhance open government apps. They’re also providing the prizes and will be choosing the winners. If your organization has tools or services that you think would be useful to the Hackathon, contact @aaronpk or @caseorganic and we’ll see about adding you to the list:

* Tropo – Tropo is a powerful yet simple API that adds Voice, SMS, Twitter, and IM support to the programming languages you already know.
* Geoloqi – A secure, real-time mobile and web platform for location sharing.

REGISTER HERE