The Qi! platform Feedbacks from the Blogfest
Leave a CommentFirst of all, it is worth saying we have named our RESTful platform Qi!, wating for some good ideas for our client application names. It is worth becouse maybe (hopefully) you will soon hear about this.
A snapshot of the application for iPhone tested during the Blogfest
The test of our services during the blogfest was a success. We have distributed 20 iPodTouch with the iPhone application already loaded about 30 times. Furthemore, it has been installed on other 15 iPhones. We have also distributed around 50 usb keys with the desktop application in Adobe Air on it. The test has been conducted for around 36 hours, and after that period we came back to the previous system.
These are the most relevant feedbacks we got from people using and trying the services:
Toward a RESTful server for LUNA
The 3rd of October will be the moment of truth for the services we have developed in the last 6 months.
The 3rd of October in fact we will come up with our REST-based applications at the Blogfest event that will take place in Riva del Garda. We are in fact going to launch several clients application that will leverage on a RESTful server, offering all the needed resources to the clients themselves.
When I am saying clients I mean a desktop application developed in AIR, an application for iPhone and iPodTouch and a brand new web Access Portal and mobile Access Portal. All these applications are based on user’s “spime”, i.e. his/her space and time and the information returned by the server is always based on user’s position within the LUNA network and on the moment he/she is doing the request.
The information stored on the server are events, city’s points of interests, news and other users. LUNA users can create events to be seen by other people in the surroundings, can add a user to the list of contacts and contact him thanks to a totally internally developed chat.
This is done to let user access “casual” localized information as soon as they log in into LUNA and create a sort of local community to share information, experiences and create an added value strictly bounded to the territory. The final goal of that is well described by Luca Mascaro from Sketchin, the company that has developed all the concept and visual for us, in his post about hyperlocal web and how it is possible in LUNA.
Apart from the service oriented architecture we have designed, the concept and the applications, the most interesting and challenging thing is the way users are localized. We use three different techniques.
First of all we are finally able to know in real time the AP a user is associated to. This is done thanks to a SNMP trap sent by each AP whenever a user is associated to it. This localization is used for all the clients that use web applications, either standard or mobile.
Second, for those devices which have it, we use GPS localization (why not, it’s there!), but only if an application is installed. So, at the moment only iPhones will use it.
Third, and the most interesting, we use WiFi localization for the clients that have an application installed and do not have GPS. Basically we have created a database of all the WiFi beacons detected in the target places (not only LUNA AP, but each and every AP in the environment), together with the corresponding position. A client detects the near by WiFi beacons and send the list to the server. The server evaluates the client position leveraging on the beacons database and other techniques we have implemented and gives back the estimated position to the user.
Now we are in the final testing phase, running and working night and day for the ambitous goal of having everything working in 10 days. Let’s see how it will end up!
Going mobile on wireless networks
The company I am currently working for, Futur3 is actually small but trying to reach big targets at the same time.
We can be defined as a wireless telecommunication operator, but this is somehow not explaining well what we are doing. Thanks to a local government research project, the so called LUNA project, we have been able to deploy hundreds of WiFi APs in the main cities of Trentino, a small region north-east Italy and let the access to the web for free. Yes, web access for free and for everybody!
Actually, the company business is based on personalized advertising provided to users while they surf the web.
This network is really unique for several reasons. First of all it is all wireless: it is in fact a Wireless Mesh Network where nodes communicate in a multihop fashion in order to extend web connectivity throughout the city. Second, users can log in as they are connected to a WiFi hot spot, but as they move away from they can stay connected to the same network without doing anything. Finally, we are developing application and services for our users based that let them use the network not only as a free access to the web but as a localized intranet, strictly bounded to the territory.
I am directly working on the design and development of such mobile services, and this is what I have been always working on. This is why I called this blog “I do Mobile”!
