Location based services
I’ve started working on my current project, a web based contact database for SAfAIDS. They’ve got a bunch of offices around the region, and they are looking at simplifying their contact management, across all these offices.
I contemplated using an off the shelf package, but in the end decided against it. Because SAfAIDS want to also manage mailings and publications, the custom component would, I suspect, not warrant starting with a ready-made solution.
So, I’m throwing my own solution together. The project is still in hiding, but it will be made available at SAfAIDS contacts . net.
Because SAfAIDS’ contacts are scattered across the region, if not the world, some form of location based services will most likely be thrown in. For example, for HealthDev.net, I used the geonames RSS to GeoRSS converter to put articles on a map of the world.
Now, a geeky developer from San Diego, Nate Ritter, has created Tiny Geo Coder. You query it with the name of a geographic region, it returns a set of coordinates.
Obviously, Tiny Geo Coder serves a different purpose than the RSS to GeoRSS converter, but it’s also extremely convenient. Now, for example, it’s a a breeze to adapt online address listings to also show a map of the location.
Indeed, very handy for my current project.
The Renegade
No, it’s not Jean Claude van Damme’s next movie. It’s the code name the US secret service has given to everyone’s favorite president elect, Obama.