I'm getting sick of location-based apps

[spottyelephant]

Does no one else think that location-based apps are been given far too much attention?? Apart from navigation and maps, i don't bloody want to "know where i left my car", "use augmented reality to find my way somewhere", or "find other people who like music in my area", and im certainly never going to play a location based game. I dont even want to geotag my photos. And i know that 80% of people will have the same view as me. Not 80% of people on here mind you, the fact that we're using a forum says more about us than the general public!

Can we please have some innovation. I've skipped the majority of apps on adc. Innovative games such as sketch online and space physics are what will make developers money. Useful utilities that can reach mass users like musicCube will do well. I really just do think that "location based" is getting way more attention than a) it deserves, and b) majority people care about!

To any developers that are working on location-based apps. First, im sorry, this is just how i feel. I don't want to undermine the development time you're putting in, but while these apps may operate well, please think of realistic use-case scenarios and variables.

 

[Bill]

I have yet had the oppertunity to play with some of these types of apps but if they work as well they are designed I can see a lot of usefulness. Easpecially for the traveler that is not familiar with the area. It would be like having a personal guide with you know matter where you are at.

A lot of advertisement opportunity as well. So there could be big money there but unfortiantly that may ruin if not done properly.


-Bill

 

[spottyelephant]

Yes, SOME of them will be useful. But the majority aren't and it seems like people are just trying to get location based services in for the sake of it.

For instance adc offered me one yesterday that "tracked your movements and allowed you to share them with other people in a (bespoke for this app) social network". No thanks.

However another one called "geonote" or something was then offered which is the 1st one i think could be very good - it allows you to drop digital "notes" so when someone else walks through the area, they can pick up your "note" and see what you wrote e.g. "go to x restaurant" etc. That one will be very useful for the traveller.

 

[tisti]

Yes, SOME of them will be useful. But the majority aren't and it seems like people are just trying to get location based services in for the sake of it.

For instance adc offered me one yesterday that "tracked your movements and allowed you to share them with other people in a (bespoke for this app) social network". No thanks.

However another one called "geonote" or something was then offered which is the 1st one i think could be very good - it allows you to drop digital "notes" so when someone else walks through the area, they can pick up your "note" and see what you wrote e.g. "go to x restaurant" etc. That one will be very useful for the traveller.

If it was used by lots of users than sure. But because it suffers the classic social app achilles' heel -> lack of users to reach critical mass

 

[Plymouthbiker]

Location based games are good... or at least two of them I love.

Zombie Run!
and
SpecTrek.

So much fun!!! And now I've had some exercise which is more than last month.. lol!

 

[ari-free]

I think the general problem is this. People think "well, the PC has zillions of games but it doesn't have any AR games so I want to go all the way with AR games in order to get noticed."
Or: "I now have an accelerometer so I'm going to design all kinds of games around it" even though it would be easier to use the keyboard and trackball/dpad.
Or (from google): "the cloud is our big asset so let's do everything off the cloud and nothing is stored or processed on the phone."
Focus on the solutions and not the tech.

 

[Merlin2000]

Location and social networking are two major factors in the next generation of mobile computing. It's good to see the trends of how people interact based on their location. Imagine a phone that is configured with your calendar, that knows when to allow calls to come through based on your meetings.

When I'm in the market for a new computer, and a local shop has an amazing deal, I may want my phone to inform me before I'm driving by. Imagine a phone that is hooked up to the car and tells me when & where to stop to get gas.

Phones are going to turn into smart devices and work with us to accomplish certain tasks.

Here's an interesting video of some cool mobile technology: Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry demo SixthSense | Video on TED.com

 

[takeshi]

Does no one else think that location-based apps are been given far too much attention??

If you don't see the need for them then don't bother with them. Are you going to rant about every type of app that you don't see the value in?

We're all going to have differing views on apps that are and are not useful. I find LB apps very useful for travel. That said, it doesn't mean I load every single LB app I can find. There are good apps and there are poor apps in every category.

 

[pjakesmith]

Thanks a lot for the post!

 

[spottyelephant]

Well it looks like the judges of adc2 seemed to mirror my thoughts in that there wasn't a huge amount of innovation coming out of location-based apps. A lot of solutions to problems that don't exist.

We need more truely new and "wow"-factor apps like plinkart. Wavesecure is deservedly a winning location-based app because it provides a solution to an actual use-case scenario.

And no takeshi, im not going to give out about every app i dont like. Are you going to give out about every post you don't agree with!?