Location Based Alarm for Symbian Phones

Location Based Alarms(LBS)

Let me define Location First:
Cell-Phones (GSM/CDMA) use a simple algorithm to decide to which tower it is closest to & "Hooks-on" to that tower. Villages usually have a single tower -- hence, wherever you will go, the "Hooked-on" Tower will stay (however weak the signal). Cities have numerous towers for two reasons:

1) Consumer density is high (Towers can only handle about 1000-5000 users, depending on the type & make of the Receiver & Transmitter mounted on it)
2) Provide Seamless connectivity wherever you roam in the city.

Many users must have felt the need to step out of their ancestral homes in villages just to "Catch" the signal better.

Now, a Cell-Phone Tower not-only provides access to the network (Airtel/Vodafone/Tata/Reliance) but also beams other services Like: GPRS/EDGE & also its own Location. This service is FREE (Indians Love this word!!), but to use it, your Phone should support it.

Location Based Services are applications which provide software solutions which are location sensitive.

Location Based Alert is a very useful kind of Location Based Service with which alerts can be set based on your location but not based on your time. So that when you travel long distances, you need not set alarm in your mobile phone based on your "expected / estimate" time to reach, Instead you can set alarm based on your destination and need not worry about the time delays in your travel.

Location Based Services are used the most only in mobile phones as Cell-Phone towers are a very reliable & automated way of judging where you "Physically" are.

Currently there are two different technologies that are used in LBS

1) Mobile GSM Network Signals
2) GPS device

1) Mobile GSM Network Signals

The approximate location can be predicted based on the network signals from the Mobile tower or based on the CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) known as "Cell Info Display" in Nokia or "Area Info" in Sony Ericsson. So what basically a Location Based Alarm application does is that it records all network cells that you visit and later use it to set alerts based on the already recorded network cells.

So that when u log into the corresponding network cell your phone will ring. Since this does not require any external hardware it is the cheapest location based service you can afford. The only investment would be the mobile application which is an one time investment.

There are lots of applications to this Location Based Alerts like

- Set alerts to notify you to switch to Silent Mode when you enter into the church
- Set alerts based on your destination when you travel long distances

and lots more like this

One such solution is already provided by mobyqube.com in which all you got to do is just download the mobile application Java to your phone.

Another, "excellent" software is "Geominder". This software works ONLY on s60 v1 Devices :(
"Geominder allows you to create location-based reminders that stay attached to physical locations."

I am still searching for similar App that works on s60 v3 Devices using "Cell Info Display" feature which is rudimentary in Phones.

Though, similar systems are already in use: Psiloc Photo tagger works in ways similar to Nokia N82's Photo Tagging or N95's in-built Location Tagging. However, all these apps require an "Extra" service: GPS to work.


2) GPS

GPS devices are devices that gives your exact Location in Latitude and Longitude approximate to + or - 1 Metre.
There are bluetooth enabled GPS devices from which the mobile phone can get the location data through bluetooth and use that location data for Location Based Services. The only hestitating factor is that you got to buy a separate GPS device in addition to your existing bluetooth phone for this to work. But since the GPS gives you the exact location data it is got lots of applications compared to the alternate solution for this GPS.

There are lots of GPS Location Based services provided by various companies
Check out: www.gpswatcher.com

Comments are Welcome. Please do suggest any App which works as desired on the s60 v3 Platform.