One of the hallmarks of Web 2.0 is that the extrovert user can, and does, document their life online. Flickr is there for your pictures; YouTube gives your videos a portal; throw on top of that blogging, twitters and whatever tool is the belle du jour. And now Ian Ratcliffe and his FindOnAMap service comes along to help blog your location.

In actual fact, it’s not really blogging – it’s all done behind the scenes with a lightweight client on S60 that connects to a Bluetooth GPS unit, and then at a pre-determined interval (alterable in the settings) this is uploaded to a server and plotted on a map. But before you start worrying about a Big Brother in your pocket, broadcasting every move, you’ll be glad to know that your location isn’t public. If you want someone to see where you are (and have been) you have to pass them a unique serial code provided by the client on your S60 smartphone.

And if you want a bit of privacy, just close the application rather than leaving it running in the background.

An application like this on a mobile phone could be used for any of a number of things – it’s only limited to the imagination of the user. I can think of three good uses…

• When I do my three-to-four week long travels around America, I can have a ‘Where’s Ewan Today?’ tool on my blog.
• If a family member goes on a school trip, I can (as a concerned guardian) have a way to locate them if anything goes wrong.
• I could set myself up as a private eye, hide this app on an adulterers phone, and earn millions with my superior detective skills.

…but I’m sure you can all come up with more practical options...

Find On A Map is still in it’s early stages, but Ratcliffe is to be lauded for providing this service for free - but if you start using it heavily, he suggests a donation via PayPal, which seems fair to me. There are some obvious things that I’d love to see in the next version of the client – accessing the built-in GPS unit on the N95, N82, 6110 and E90 devices as an alternative to needing a Bluetooth accessory should be at the top of the list. Plus an API to the Foam web site so a personal blog could pull out and show the details would open up Find On A Map to the Web 2.0 generation.

But this is primarily a web service, with a mobile client. It’s got a small but targeted brief and it copes well with this. I’m looking forward to see where this goes over the next weeks and months.

Ewan Spence, Nov 2007

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