The new X200 I’ve been configuring comes with an integrated GPS. I played with the utility application ThinkVantage GPS 2.01 inside the house — which is of course stupid as the device needs to be outside, under the blue sky, in order to pick up the satellites and triangulate a fix.
So I went outside this morning in the December chill, turned on the software, waited a few minutes for the satellites to be detected, and then output the results to Google Maps.
Ta-da. A map of Cotuit but no icon showing me where I am in Cotuit.
Now I need to figure out the application for everyday consumers like me. Velcro the laptop to the dashboard? Not as cool as my Garmin. Take sailing? Would need to buy a NOAA nautical chart pack and hope the waterproof keyboard is up to green water over the bow. Which it won’t be. What can one do with a GPS in a notebook? Stay tuned, I’ll figure something out.
I know you’ve read this David, but I’m not sure that you readers have.
I’ve wondered the same thing.
http://lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=149
You could call in airstrikes on unruly neighbors!
How about GPS tracking for all the Lenovo educational institution clients? Incoming freshman at more and more schools receive a laptop as part of the tuition. Imagine GPS tracking for all those “helicopter parents” who ask their sons/daughters if they *really* went to class today.
In case anyone wants to play with the GPS under Linux:
http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2008/09/24/apone/#comment-483236
A couple of the things i’d like to do are:
plot farmers’ roadside fruit stands in the adjacent towns of Valley Center and Paula
Build a map of the routes ridden by mounted mail carriers that begins at the top of the Grass Valley Gold district and continues downto present day Placerville and thence in to Sutter’s Fort in old Sacramento.
Using the same map, I’d love to plot the locations of gold mining camps and little known Gold Rush cemeteries whicxh I think could be turned into a small commercial product for retiring boomers who go arftifact hunting withg metal detectors.
Finally, locate and fix the locations of my most productive fishing sites on the San Gabriel River’s East Fork, includiung to two abandoned and little known encampments on that stream that are seven miles or more up the canyon.
I tink integrated GPS is a natural for consumer notebooks. Ans, I believe i can see family tree applications incorporating this as a feature that illustrates a family’s migration.
thanks for the idea for a blog post, David.
buenos dias,
JimF