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ShareBangalore: Cell phone-based Foursquare application might be the latest craze in the west when it comes to social networking but the app works only on phones with GPS (Global Positioning System).A lot of people, who use Foursquare on phones without GPS, have to input their location manually, taking the fun out of such a service.
Ohe, an application developed by Bangalore-based company Stral, on the other hand, does not try to build a new social networking site like Foursquare but lets users connect to existing social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. It uses the nearby cell phone towers to detect the exact location of the person.
As if that wasn't good enough, all possible business are populated on the map, so if you search for a restaurant or a taxi service, you will be provided not just the phone number, but you can also see the nearest businesses on the map, lest you get lost on the way there.
According to Anil Mathews, CEO of the company, the product has been in development for almost one and a half years now. "We have also entered a tie-up with Rediff to use their maps for the service," he says.
Ohe, according to Anil, was initially meant to be just an experiment on their platform called Imere. "We wanted to create an application to demonstrate the possibilities of the platform. The platform Imere can do a lot of things. For example, we were contacted by a truck company which wanted to know the location of its trucks without having to buy costly GPS equipment. So using the Imere platform, the company can have a screen on which they can see the position of all their trucks. So even if a truck driver says he's 200kms away, when he is actually 300kms away, the company can know," says Anil.
Using the Ohe app you can also search for people in the neighbourhood who have the same app and even chat with them, if they accept your request for the same.
Imere platform can be dubbed as poor man's GPS as it shows your exact location on the map instantaneously unlike GPS, which might take a while to show your position. The only condition is that you should have cell phone network, which isn't an issue if you're travelling via any highway in India. The app is able to show your exact location by using a method similar to triangulation where signals from three cell phone towers are used to show you approximate location. The method, though quite accurate, can show your location off by 20-300 metres when cell phone signal is weak.
As of now, Imere platform is free for developers to try out. "We charge on the basis of requests. Our servers do all the back end work so for the 10,000 requests made to the server - to find location, to search, to update location - will be for free. After that they'll be charged a minimal fee," says Anil.
The application is currently available for Symbian phones (S60) only, but versions of the app for Blackberry will be released soon. Versions for iPhone and Android platforms will follow then. To try out the SDk, check out imere.com.
