Oh man, this is awesome...
johnprzy wrote:The big hurdle to get across is how to eliminate the email bottle neck. Right now I'm thinking hitting a URL with specified parameters is the way to go.
What do people think?
This is obviously the preferred method now that everyone knows it's an option. It just hasn't been implemented well from the handset side of things. (Hint, hint!)
berkinet wrote:One, there needs to be the ability to define multiple "targets."
Two, the app needs to be always on, that is always looking to see if it is "near" a target.
Three, battery usage needs to be well controlled.
The last two points seem to be mutually exclusive. But, I was thinking the app could normally use Cell Tower location (if that is possible) and then only switch to GPS when within the same tower area as the target. This might requiring some learning on the part of the app. But, if it can be done, it would meet the criteria noted above.
I don't think these things need to be mutually exclusive at all. Apple already has a framework, called Core Location, that allows location-based actions without serious battery drain (when implemented correctly, I assume), and it's apparent in many apps already. Reminders and Find My Friends are two Apple apps that use background location tracking to prompt actions based on your position, and Instapaper is a great example of a third-party app that does the same thing. (I use all three of these daily. I didn't put a lot of effort into testing GeoMessage extensively for our purposes due to its one-message-per-day limitation, but I suspect its drain is similar to these other apps, which is minimal.) There is an impact on battery life from the background tracking, don't get me wrong, but it's certainly worth the tradeoff if you want location-based actions to fire without manual intervention. It works well and it works right now - this isn't something we have to wait for or experiment with extensively. It's already happening, and it just needs to be implemented in an automation-friendly manner. John probably already knows this quite well - having developed GeoMessage, I assume he is very familiar with the benefits and drawbacks of Core Location.
I do agree, though, that we need to be able to define multiple targets. The GeoMessage app already handles this very nicely, so modeling a new app around GeoMessage seems ideal to me. The fact that you can customize the location radius really makes for a lot of flexibility for actions as the user moves in and out of the defined areas. (It would be nice to re-use these definitions though, regardless of the direction of movement, for precise borders that span more than one action. But that's splitting hairs, I think.) Initially all that really needs to happen, from my perspective, is that the actions that GeoMessage executes (currently, sending emails) need to be converted over to the RESTful URL model. The app is damn near perfect as it is for our purposes; the limitations really only being what's already been discussed here, in other threads and via direct email communication.
Of course, this is all just my opinion. As I've stated before, I am no developer, just a very, very hopeful user.