A mobile app to suit a dkit need?

Atomic Pineapple

Ok, I'm doing my final year IT project on Android which is a new mobile development platform from Google, My initial idea was to create an application that used location awareness (gps) to show people around the college so it would show a person how to get to a certain room in the college by sensing there position within the college.

However after researching and testing the hardware I've found out that the gps isn't sufficient to track the mobile device inside a building.

So i was wondering if anyone had any ideas on what a DKIT student would like as a mobile application, assuming your mobile device had gps and was aware of its location, what would you like to have? what sort of information would you like on your mobile about dkit?

keep in mind I'm doing a location aware app so it has to utilise that somehow and the limitations of gps (has to be outside)

Just interested to see what dkit students would like?

smemon

DKIT-only makes it pretty tough as it's a really limited area to play with... realistically nobody is gonna use sat nav to get around a small campus but i guess that's where you have to prove me wrong and make this app useful to me.

Here's what i'd do;

• Get a list of all car parks on campus and their numbers.
• Find out exact capacity of each.
• Ask me if i want free parking or am i willing to pay.
• If i want free - direct me to carpark 6 or 9 or whatever it is.
• If i'm willing to pay, direct me to largest capacity car park.
• Get a list of known clamping hot spots in nearby estates, hoeys lane etc... and mark them with warning icons.
• Get my current time and day (parking is free after and at weekends)
• If it's after 6 and a weekend, tell me i can park anywhere.

Bit of a messed up order there, but basically a parking app which helps me park is what i'd go for. It's pretty much the only semi-useful gps related app you can create that's within the DKIT campus and can be used outside on a mobile.

Other than that, maybe an app which labels all the buildings and directs me to them? That's an obvious one.

I have an n95 so i'm used to sat nav on a mobile and the big problem i find is that i don't know what direction i'm heading as i'm moving so slowly on foot that my position won't update enough for me to get a sense of what direction i'm heading. Unlike being in a car, you can't tell quickly whether you're headed in the 'right' direction or not...

Ideally, an app should incorporate a compass of some sort - if you can do that - you're flying

Maybe asking the user to enter what direction they're currently facing (if they know - if it's nighttime they could use stars) would work.

It's a tough one... not very easy to do and will involve creativity because you've got such a small distance to work with.

Atomic Pineapple

Cheers Smemon, some good ideas there, it doesn't have to be limited to DKit as such, just I have went and got myself the G1 and my supervisor has said that if I had an app that I could show doing something when i present it so something that I can show in Dkit.

But it doesn't have to be limited to Dkit, it just has to do something when I'm presenting it in Dkit

I had toyed with the idea of an accommodation finder, so as you walk around the estates then you can view where available student accommodation on a Google map and get directions to the spot if needed and call the owner directly from the app too.

Only problem with that is the need to store the data on a web server probably and have wifi/3g(Edge) access. (unless I just save mock data to the phones sd card)

The Android platform comes loaded with google maps and a compass from the box anyway so it does

Agreed its not an easy thing to think of

General Zod

From my time in DKIT almost 10 years ago, a map that tracked skobies stealing your golfballs from the pitch and putt course up by the college would have been welcome!

Cpt Tremendous

A nice app would be one which show locations of various places in the vacinity of the college and in town. I know that directions to the train and bus stations are available in college but many students would appreciate directions to other services in town, like cafes, shops, chemists, barbers/hairdressers etc.

Im the only local guy in my class and my class mates are always asking me for directions and advice on where the best places are.