I like the look of zhiing, a mobile location service emanating from California. The key things it's got going for it is that it's platform-neutral, service provider-neutral, free and straightforward.
But it's based on the idea that you drive, or that you're being driven around. That makes sense in the US, but it's a little limited here in Europe, where the directions you need might involve public transportation too - and even, whisper it now, walking.
Transport for London's brilliant Journey Planner gives travel options for trains, tubes, buses, trams and river buses. Look carefully at the advanced options and you can also grab a tailored cycling route. This would be immensely difficult to do well on current mobile platforms if the full graphic content were to be carried. But translated into the equivalent of turn-by-turn instructions, it could be zhiing-ified. And that would be great!
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This is a really good point. Now, I would like to point out that I do live in America and I actually do walk and take public transport as well as driving my lazy butt around, so not all Americans just drive everywhere.
ReplyDeleteI just read on the zhiing site about some people who used zhiing to rustle up cattle, which I found pretty amazing! So I think that it's effective for those that are traveling in all kinds of usual and unusual ways, and it's due to go global in 2009, so stay tuned!