I know there are many location based reminder apps which alert you when you have to do something at some place.
What I'm looking for its somewhat different. An app in which I can store things like recommended restaurants and other attractions and then retrieve them based on their distance to me.
Say someone on Facebook recommends a restaurant in London and it sounds interesting. I'd locate it on a map.
Next time I'm in London (or the uk) (or plan to be, this a should work work with virtual presence) I can search this app for recommendations I could fit into my plans.
Is there something out there like this?
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I would like to pose an interesting question. Heh, well, it's interesting to me because i have been pondering it for some time now...
How well do you like to know a developer/company/etc before you can "trust" that their application is safe? What about an application that wants to interact with your Google login credentials?
What started this whole quandry for me is the utterly wonderful, epic, incredible app that is Brut.all's mod of Maps. I have long wanted an ability to cache some map panels in my hotel room (when i'm traveling in a foreign city, something i do often) then be able to walk around outside without any local SIM card and still not be totally screwed if i have to check my location once in a while.
Well... to use all the features of Maps (basically, load "my maps" data from my Google account) i have to give this application rights to my login. I think in this case it's a particularly strong example of the security dilemma because of Brut.all's reputation and status among developers. I mean, this is not some fly-by-night unknown party who made "Cool Bouncing Bean Game v 2.3" and having the app ask for your login creds. This is a well-known person to whom many people here have spoken and such.
Still... i mean, i haven't met the fellow in person. Have you? At what point do you choose to trust an app with your account like that? Again, i hope that this post is clear in that i'm not putting down Brut.all or saying he's a nefarious fellow... just the opposite. But how do each of you draw the line?
How would you decide in this case?
Metr0 is a very useful public transportation app long available on a whole slew of platforms other than Android. On 31 July the developers released a preview version at their blog.
Their website has extensive general information about the program.
What's the big deal given that there are already other transport apps on the Market? Well, this preview version already beats all the ones I've tried, and most of the features available on other platforms aren't even enabled yet. Metr0 is so useful to me that when I travel I carry an old inactivated Windows phone just to run it. It's not just a collection of subway maps (in fact, if you want to see a map of a system, this isn't the tool for you).
Appearance and (eventual) function of the Android version is very close to the iPhone version.
Here are some of the ways in which it's great (at least in the completed versions):
400 cities worldwide
data frequently updated by users
all data stored offline on your device so you don't rack up roaming data charges
enter start and ending points and your route will be computed and time estimated
details provided when you need to transfer so you don't end up on the wrong train
extensive list of POI's since you probably don't know the best stations for unfamiliar cities
autocompletion, which helps with foreign spelling
quick "reverse route" button for returning to your starting point without re-entering anything or reading in reverse order
subway and bus routes for many cities, allowing for optimal routing
set preferences to minimize transfers, minimize walking, avoid buses, etc.
knows when stations or routes are closed, takes this into account when routing so you don't end up stranded
exclude specific lines if desired (smelly hobos, unreliable, etc.)
features of particular use to commuters and locals
features of particular use to tourists
roughly 50 cities have geolocation data, allowing routing to or from particular addresses or from your current location without knowing what your nearest stop is
It's free, has been for many years, and is planned to remain free (although they'll happily accept donations).
I'm really happy about this, if you can't tell!
There's also a database for Liberty City from Grand Theft Auto IV.
I am looking for an app recommendation in the way of maps that I can help populate.
The one I am working on right now, for example:
Open Signal Maps - Staircase3, Inc (google market version 1.06)
This app maps out cell towers, and will tell you what towers are around you and which direction the nearest (or strongest signal) comes from.
The more people that use and upload the info, the better the map gets, and it's already got a pretty decent database.
My job requires a lot of travel, as far as 200 miles from the center of my zip code, and so I keep it running while i'm travelling from site to site.
Preference given for apps that allow me to restrict upload to wifi, but I can live without this if it's a worthwhile app.
Recently picking up a gps capable android device has given me the opportunity to help - so here I pose the question - what are good apps that get better with user populated data?
Thanks in advance!
I've been searching the market and couldn't find this.
I need an app that allows to track where the phone is (instant location only) and sends this information to a website (no sms or email).
Something like GPS Tracker from InstaMapper LLC, but if possible using cell tower location and working only on request from the person viewing the location (no interaction from the phone), to save battery.
All I found was the gps tracker and real time gps tracker, but I found they are always sending the location and spend a lot of battery doing so.
Does anyone know of any better app for this?
I know this is not what you are asking for, but... You could set up something like this using Tasker. (There is a trial version available from the dev's website.) Unfortunately, you would have to set up your own website to accept the location data.
I'm new to Android development, mainly because I've been trying to find a small enough project that was reasonable to bite off as a first foray but interesting enough to keep me engaged. I finally found something I think would be a reasonably sized project for starting out and would also actually be useful to me. Unfortunately, in researching it, I ran in to the fact that there is no API for Google Now.
To back track a bit, the app/functionality I want to implement is a modification to cards, or to one of the data feeds Google pulls from to populate Now cards. I commute in and out of NYC via Metro North, but walk to and from the station on both ends, so what I really need is the information for the next 5 trains scheduled inbound in the morning and outbound in the evening between Grand Central and my home stop, along with the track number the train is slated to leave from. This data is available from a datafeed provided by the MTA (and already utilized by an Android app I already use). The transit and commute Now cards don't provide me the information I need.
Since there's no Google Now API, the direct root is not available to me, so I started to try to look in to alternative methods. I came across the Places API and was thinking of trying to use it as a back door to populating the data I'm interested in in to Now (by having a service that pulls the train info I'm interested in from the MTA feed and pushes it to Now as Events at the stations I'm interested in), but since custom Places data is tied to an app ID and only made available to requests from that app, it seems to me that that angle is a non-starter, since I'm not going to have the Now app ID.
I've been trying to poke around for any other viable approaches to the problem, but my search has thus far come up dry, so I have come here. Has anyone come up with any ways to feed info in to Now cards? Are there even any promising areas of investigation, short of hacking Now itself?
Edit: I also considered trying to push the train schedule data to my calendar so it would bubble up in to Now, but that is just a bit too clunky and spammy, imo.
Does anyone know of anything interesting being done in this area? I'm thinking some sort of integration with calendar is the only way to go...