Application Idea: What do you think?
Andrew Bolster
Senior R&D Manager (Data Science) at Black Duck Software and Treasurer @ Bsides Belfast and NI OpenGovernment Network
As part of the whole New Years Resolutions plan, I’m gonna get started on the OSS development thing.
The Gist: Cross Platform Mobile application to collect international data on cell reception.
The Gimmick: While services that do this exist, they assume even circular propagation of the signal. Granular reception maps that tell you where to head to to get more bars.
The Detail: Low level should be relatively simple; the Android, Blackberry and Iphone API stacks allow easy reading of the current cell ID, RSSI, and GPS Co-ords. Upload those three values over XML (or Something), Web service plugs that into a MySQL server, which is then aggregated, and displayed on the Web, and can be queried by the mobile app. The Potential: While its unlikely that its going to ‘blow up’ since there is relatively little incentive for the end user, since the Applications are going to be free, there will be some that will install it for the sake of it. There is the opportunity to license the data gained service providers but the aggregated data will be made available online in open formats.
The Dream: Development of accurate localised RF propagation modelling for dirt cheap compared to professional surveying, so maybe people like AT&T and others could give better service in built up areas…
I’ll be keeping notes on the relevant Trac page
What do we think?