Fun with a GPS

At least fun for me... for others, maybe not so much. But anyway, back to the techie posts...

Last month I got a Dash Express GPS for navigation in my truck and whenever I'm traveling. One of its cool features is its always-on Internet connection, providing up-to-the-minute traffic information, gas prices, and movie listings, but also making searches for just about anything possible since it can pull information from online; it isn't limited to just the database it has internally like other GPS devices.

Another of its cool features is the ability to add custom written applications to the device. This week I found several cool applications, including a White Pages search, so I can just type in someone's name and it will find their address and route me to them, and several local information apps, like population, community, and cultural information. I even found and installed a Twitter app.

Being a programmer myself, and always wanting my toys to do more stuff, I looked into what it takes to create my own apps for it, and it turns out that it's pretty easy. So I wrote three of my own on Friday.

The first is a reverse phone number search. So I can just type in someone's home phone number, and it will retrieve the name and address associated with that number, and map and route to them. Since it was my first app it took me a couple hours to get working. I'm still undecided as to whether I'm going to make it totally public; but for right now I've got about 25 other people that have signed up to use it.

The second one I created is a calculator. (With my two hours of experience with the first app, this one took me all of 10 minutes to put together.) Sometimes I want to calculate my gas mileage and I'm too lazy to pull my phone out of my pocket, so now I can do mathematical calculations on the GPS. It even knows trigonometry, not that I would expect anyone would use it. I made this one fully public so anyone can add it. About 20 people have installed it so far.

The third one, and one that I most definitely will not be making public, is one that will look up the names, addresses, and phone numbers of anyone who lives near my current location. I can either enter a house number (it already knows what street I'm on) or request the information for everybody on that block. I don't see myself using it much, but I will definitely not be sharing it with anyone because of the 'creepiness' factor; would you like someone following you home, pressing a couple buttons on their GPS, and find out your name and phone number? I wouldn't. So that one stays safely under wraps. It was mostly a test to see just how much information I could get for free off of the Internet knowing only a lat/lon coordinate. And it's almost scary how easy it was.

Ultimately I hope to be including some of the functionality of this device into the point-of-sale system, specifically for routing drivers to their delivery destinations, and allowing store managers to keep track of drivers while they are out. I'm working with the guys who created the Dash to see if they can add some additional functionality to make those things easier to accomplish, and so far it looks promising.

It's been fun. How often do you get to buy a consumer electronics device (besides a computer) and create new functionality for it? Not too often I don't think.

New Toys

I know, I'm always getting new toys.  But I wanted to blog about the two new toys I got yesterday.

Dash Express

First was a GPS Portable Navigation Device (PND).  Since I'm doing more traveling than I have done in the past, it kind of makes sense to have one.  I have used my laptop and/or cell phone in the past, and they work, but both are kind of awkward for navigation, requiring too long to start up and input your intended destination.  I had looked at a bunch of standalone units a while ago (before my last trip to Texas) but gave up because none quite matched up to what I was looking for.  But I got an email this last week that the Dash Express was on sale at Amazon.com, so I got one.   Not that it has everything I want, but it's closer than most.

This GPS is different than most in that it has its own cellular radio for an always-on Internet connection.  It uses the connection for searches (I can search for specifics like "hamburgers" instead of general categories like "food" for example), but also to do real-time traffic updates.  And as I drive, it also updates their servers with information about how fast traffic is flowing to provide that information to other Dash users in the area.  It also uses traffic data when routing to any destination, so if I want to go to Salt Lake, for example, it will find me the quickest route (allowing me to pick from three proposals), avoiding poor traffic conditions in the process. 

One of its other cool features is that it has gas prices and updated movie listings at all times.  I can see who has the cheapest gas, and see what movies are playing at the different local theaters.  I've also got a plug-in that displays weather conditions and forecasts as well.

The Internet connectivity part of it does require a subscription fee, but in the long term it isn't much more than you'd pay to update the maps on other GPS devices. 

Lego Indiana Jones

The other thing I got yesterday was Lego Indiana Jones for my Xbox 360.  I really really loved the Lego Star Wars games.  And this is pretty much more of the same, set in the world of Indiana Jones.  It seems to be designed for people who are already familiar with the mechanics of the Lego series of games; levels are longer than they were in Star Wars, and the puzzles you have to solve along the way are more challenging.  But even though it's harder, it's an awesome game.  So far I have played for about three hours, during which I finished the first three levels of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the first level of The Last Crusade.

And speaking of Indiana Jones, I saw Crystal Skull on opening night.  It's okay.  Not as good as Raiders or Last Crusade, but better than Temple of Doom.  It takes the mystical nature of the previous films to a new level, and ups the "oh sure, that would never happen" factor quite a bit.  Aside from that, though, it's kind of fun.