Topic: Utility Mashup
My utility mashup will incorporate the smartphone phenomenon and the google maps magic. Getting lost is common place especially in places we are new or unfamiliar with. Ever heard of the song with the line “The heart is not so smart..?” May I replace with mine that goes “the legs aren’t too smart, they keep going where they are not supposed; keep finding there way to trouble.” This is the problem I intend to solve through a combination of cutting edge technology at our disposal today (The Week, 2012).
Every holidays, tourists from different corners of the globe become holidaymakers in places far afield. Theirs is a predetermined adventure. On the hand, each day and particularly every weekend, drunkards find themselves roaming with the street aimlessly. Theirs can be said to be an unprecedented adventure. The common point of these two clusters of people is they often find themselves having veered off to no-go-zones in their adventure. Their spirit of adventure whether when sober or when high of alcohol often lead them to acclaimed dangerous areas with great potential of being mugged, kidnapped, raped, or even killed. The utility that I propose herein aims to afford people a guardian angel of sorts by helping them not get into bad areas in the first place.
Basically,the intention here is to create an organic yet reliable security system with the aid of Google maps and smartphone. When a person is walking the streets or visiting other places, the Google maps accessory would be able to figure beforehand that the neighborhood being approached is not too safe thus an alert or notification would be sent to their smartphone. This come in particularly handy if one can be signaled that the area being approached is not as good as it often is during the light of day. In my considered opinion, the utility is highly viable considering that there is no shortage of smatphones and its supporting supporting technology, Google Maps. If you think of Android, Blackberry, iPod all have WiFi feature that enables identification of locations of Earth in real time. What we are adding is the all-important security element (The Week, 2012).
The utility I present here is one of its kind, has not existed or tried previously. There are an array of reasons why the utility would be a success if implemented. First, it common knowledge that M-commerce is the new sensation in the world. People across the board are conducting research and placing orders while on the go using their smartphones. Research and travel plans are increasingly being made through smartphones in real time. As such it would as a blessing of security information of given places would be forwarded to us so that we can take adequate precautions. The wise adage goes that It is better to stay safe than sorry.
Secondly, location based offers are also gaining popularity with ocassional travelers expecting mapping and city guides at points of destination. It would add value to their travel experience if they would a user based “bad street” application/filter along with the maps.
Thirdly, the solution would be hinged on actual experiences besides being able to alert and message users prior to setting foot to potentially dangerous places. This would be a notch better than the existing facility used for crime statistics that offer only generalized overview of good and bad areas. Furthermore, a real time information system would come in handy owing to the fact that conditions of areas are greatly opposite during nights and days.
In summary, therefore, a utility that will help individuals to become in charge of their own safety and security through just-in-time information system is needed. It is my belief that the development of this utility mashup will go a long way to drastically reduce the number of criminal experiences that tourists and visitors of new places have across the world.
Reference:
The Week Publications, Inc. (2012). Microsoft’s ‘avoid ghetto’ app: ‘Racist’? Retrieved on April 5, 2012 from: http://theweek.com/article/index/223122/microsofts-avoid-ghetto-app-racist
