http://mobileply.com<p>Mobileply is remote GPS that runs on most GPS enabled phones with a browser (Android, iPhone, some BBs). The app starts tracking you and gives you an id to share with friends, they can enter the id and see where you are on a map, it's as simple as that.<p>My roommate and I had this idea when we both moved to a new city for new jobs. We never knew where we were or where other people were, and simply saying what intersection or roads we/they were on was far too annoying and time consuming to deal with.<p>Over the year we've found many useful applications for this, but we're trying to figure out what to do next. So I'm asking the HN community for some feedback and advice. What should we do with our weekend project?<p>Does anyone else find it useful? Any suggestions for possible uses?
Please don't use sequential IDs for this.<p>I went to the "Track Me" link and got a tracking id of 54. I was then able to look through plenty of other peoples locations for IDs less than 54. I'd suggest switching to something that's much harder to guess.<p>With that harshness out of the way (sorry :)), it does seem like a pretty cool little app. I could see myself using it for a long road-trip or something so that others could track my progress.
Definitely useful. Love the simplicity of it. Foursquare and Gowalla have too much going on, and it's weird to pull out your Spot at a restaurant.<p>One enhancement might be to use the location of your friend to get directions to each other.<p>Charging for something like mobileply.com/matt sounds like a good idea too.<p>My other thought comes from how Spot does it - they use passwords to make sure you can't get in just by knowing the URL. You could even mix that up so the password you give your mum only lets her know you're in Chicago, while someone else can see you're on 42nd & Grand. Maybe that's too much though.<p>The simplicity of it is the best part - keep it up.
Others have already mentioned competition but now you have a bigger player, Facebook, on the playing field.<p>FB has tried to make their application as simple as possible and my understanding (I'm not in the US so I can't use it) is that it basically uses your GPS to tell you the location you're in (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). This sounds like a big part of your app.<p>How will you respond/differentiate yourself as a response?
I just tried this on my nexus one and it works pretty well. Surprised at how accurate the GPS is. The mobile version is very nice too. I like how it is just a map with controls overlayed, very clean. I think this could be very useful for meeting up with friends. Eliminates the "where are you" conversation. I am going to try this out with a friend later when I am actually moving.
Tried it on my BB Bold 9700, asked permission to get my location (and I gave it), then just stuck on "Map Loading..."<p>Should it work for this handset? (UK, in case that matters)
Not to be a total downer but you have a lot of competition in this space. If you plan on building this out so it is widely adoptable you'll need to differentiate yourselves.
pretty cool application. Working on a startup that uses location as well, it is nice to see the simplicity being applied to something like this. It has potential, keep up the good work
Well, this is kind of insulting to YC and it's longest running posterchild, Loopt - <a href="http://www.loopt.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.loopt.com/</a><p>Can't believe no one here mentioned it.