MobileWish Pocket Travel Assistant -- The world in your pocket (25 May 09)

The world in your pocket!

Pocket Travel Assistant (PTA) is a Freeware for Flash Lite 3x enabled mobiles that offers one stop solution for all the information needs by a traveller. Name any major city/town in the world and PTA will provide every possible information for that place which will be needed by a traveler. What is PTA?

Screenshots

Recommended display size : 240 x 320 px
Requires Flash Lite 3x in the handset
Requires GPRS Network connection in the handset
PTA is available in 2 versions:
SIS file packager: for s60 3 rd Edition handsets
CAB file packager: Windows Mobile
NFL file packager : for s40 5 th edition phones
System Requirements Flash Lite 3x

Windows Mobile compatible devices Other Symbian s60 compatible devices PTA is primarily developed targeting Nokia N96 which is most recommended device for the application. Supported Devices

PTA is basically a clever browser with some IQ, targetting all those available data needed for a traveller. PTA application has two layers. The front-end part is made with Flash Lite and uses all the native Flash Lite features of data sending/loading , images/media assets loading . It passes user inputs to the backend ASP based engine that browses internet for mining relevant data via some custom ASP APIs(for Wikipedia, Project Gutenberg etc. ), RSS /Atom feeds, Open APIs like Flickr, Google, YouTube etc. How PTA works?

Types of information available View screencast at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H6cOmWEWFY

PTA provides following information
Emergency information for local doctor, local emergency no.s, helpline, police, medical facilities and clinics etc.(with street address, phone number and map)
Location information such as (street address, phone number and Google Map) for shops& malls, station& airports, institutions, hotels & restaurants, govt. offices and police, hospitals and banks and many more etc.
Wikipedia details for the location such as history, demography, culture, landmarks, which will be useful for the traveller to know more about the place.
Types of information available

Flickr image results for the location , so that the user can see current images related to the location.
YouTube video results for the location . So that he can enjoy videos related to that location, to get a more clear idea about the place.
Weather details for the location such as Temperature, Humidity, Air-pressure and the Weather-condition.
Language Translation using Google Translation for English to major languages like Greek, Spanish, Chez, Russian, French etc. so that the traveller can translate the written scripts and have a better understanding of his surroundings.

Local News related to the location can be tracked to know more about recent happenings surrounding the location.
Geo-Location Detection from IP address of the GPRS network being used is used so that in case the traveler wants to check the city and the country name of the location he is in.
News and Feeds section provides more than 50 categories from international news: from BBC, Reuters, Yahoo, CNN and many more related to headlines, finance, sports, health, science and technology and environment and many more.

Currency Converter tools to allow user to convert money amount in any of the 48 major world currencies with in a few clicks. All currency calculations are done based on most recent currency rates. Currency Rates section lists all the currency values from 48 major currencies.
Search Tools to search for images from Flickr, Videos from YouTube, Information from Wikipedia. (this is a separate section from the location specific results from these services)
To pass leisure time traveler can read from classic works from thousand books available at Project Gutenberg under M- book library section. Search books by title or author name or even the latest 10 books from Gutenberg. Directly read the books in PTA and bookmark.

If you don’t want to read books, just try games section to get some Flash Lite casual games and play them while on the go to pass time.
Under section ‘connect and publish’ user can post to his Twitter account or just read messages from his friends at Twitter . Also there is an innovative way to post about what you are doing. If allowed the PTA can post some messages related to what you are doing while using PTA like reading a book, watching a video at YouTube, local weather details etc. so you do not need to type every time what you are doing.
Traveler can chat with any other online user of PTA in the common chat room . This can be helpful in getting help from the person who is in the same country or location.

Let’s see some sample scenarios where a particular type of information may be needed while traveling to a place and how PTA provides help in that case.

PTA uses a free geo-location service provided by MaxMind, which provides the Country and City name using geo-location data from IP address.* My train is passing by a city… Can I detect the location name?

Geo-Location Detection from IP address of the GPRS network being used, is used so that in case the traveler wants to check the city and the country name of the location he is in. * This being a free service from MaxMind, provides data for major zones only. However this showcases that using a commercial geo-location service the minute details can be obtained. MaxMind Geo-Loaction

PTA provides local details, street address , phone number and Google maps at your fingertips to help you reach any place easily without any help from anyone. Where can I find a local doctor? I am new to the place…where can I find an hotel? Where can I get an ATM machine? How can I find a map to help me get there?

Google Maps and location details Get the street information, phone numbers and maps for anything in your town or city. List related to emergency e.g. Local Emergency, Helpline, Doctor, Medial & Police etc. List related to other Location based info e.g. Hotel, Restaurant, School, Consultancy, ATM/Cash Machine, Bank, Shop, Travel Agency, Airport, Railway Station etc. Or simply search for anything in your location.

Each search result displays a list of available items in the location. The details contain the street address and phone number The Google map section loads the map for the search result with scroll option. The result street address can be sent as SMS without need to type the details The phone number can be called at a click of a button. Google Maps and location details

PTA provides latest weather details like tempaerature, humidity and air pressure for major cities of the world. How can I get the information about the weather of the city I am planning to travel?

PTA provides location specific weather details such as Tempaerature , humidity , air pressure and weather condition statement. This feature currently supports all major cities round the globe. Local weather details

PTA provides Wikipedia details about major places round the globe in an easy way, which covers topics like history, demography culture, education government etc. for that location. I am a tourist.. Is there any way to know more about a city I am visiting? Can I know something about the city’s history , culture etc.?

Introductory details such as history, demography, population, culture, landmarks, education, government etc. related to the location you are in or planning to travel is searched from the pages of Wikipedia. This “about the location” type information is most helpful when you want to know more about the place you are visiting. You can also search for generic tags/key words from Wikipedia Wikipedia

PTA searches Flickr to get the images related to any particular location. You can even custom search Flickr for images. If I can get some images of the place I am visiting, that would be great.

View images related to your location from Flickr. Get an idea about the location you are in. Search for image tags in Flickr Flickr

PTA searches YouTube to get the images related to any particular location. You can even custom search YouTube for videos. If I can get some videos of the place I am visiting, that would be great.

View videos related to your location from YouTube. Get an idea about the location you are in. Search for videos in YouTube YouTube

In PTA you can search for any classic books by author or titles from Project Gutenberg and read them anytime anywhere. I am waiting for my flight…Can I get a good book to read and pass time?

To spend leisure time in creative way you can read books from thousand books available at Project Gutenberg. Search books providing a part or full keyword of the author name or book title. Also you can read from the 10 most recent books uploaded at Gutenberg site. Read the book in PTA without any help of any other reader software. Bookmark the book you are reading to start from the page you last left behind. You can even download the book as a text file to read offline. Project Gutenberg ebooks

PTA provides some Flash Lite casual games, which you can play to pass your time while waiting at station, bus stops etc. Can I play games to pass time?

In this section are some of Samir’s personal Flash Lite games are available . The mini Flash games are loaded from the server on demand and can be handy to pass time in an entertaiuning way while waiting for something like waiting at bus staion, airport etc. Flash Lite games

PTA provides a currency converter to convert any amount from one currency to another from available 48 currencies. There is also currency list with converted values for all these 48 currencies. How can I get the latest currency rates for a particular currency ? How can I convert the money of this country into dollars as per latest rates?

PTA provides latest currency rates for world’s all major currencies (48 currencies are added till now) The currency converter section allows you an easy way to convert any amount from any currency to another. The currency rates list allows you to view any one currency against all other 48 currencies Currency Converter

PTA provides latestest news upadates from different news sites and feeds like BBC, reuters and CNN. Also provides local news for any major location round the globe. Where can I get the recent happenings in this city ? I am traveling, can I get the latest world news or local finance news etc?

PTA provides latest news updates in two major categories:
Location Specific news : This allows you to know about what is happening around you in the location you are in.
World headlines : This allows you to get the updates from world headlines, updates in international politics, finance, science, environment, entertainment, lifestyle, business etc. from sources like BBC, Reuters, CNN and many more.
News & RSS Feeds

PTA provides easy way to follow your friends at Twitter and allows you to publish to your Twitter account. Even some information about what you are doing or looking for can be set to be posted automatically while you use PTA on the move. I want to know what my friends are doing. How can I follow my friends at Twitter while I am traveling? How can I messages at Twitter while I am traveling so that my friends can know what I am doing?

Publish messages to your Twitter account directly from PTA Read the latest messages of your friends at Twitter. Twitter

Innovative way to share messages about what you are doing without need to typing in, while using PTA (e.g. messages like your are looking for a book at by author, playing a video, searching for doctor in your location etc.) – easy way to be connected with your friends who can help you if you are looking for something in a new location. Twitter

PTA provides Google translation for the languages like French, Chez, Spansh, Russian, Greek etc. I don’t know French…how can I translate my words from English to French so that I can communicate?

Using Google Translation API PTA provides translation future for the following languages : English, Dutch, Czech, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Russian and Spanish . Google Translation

At different sections of the application, using left soft-key, you can see the screen specific help . This makes it easy for the user to use the application even on the very first time. In the index screen you can use the top and bottom button to scroll the list and at the same time use of left and right keys can be used to change the main sections. Once the focus is set on any specific section, it waits for few seconds before locking it (circle turns blue) and loading the related index data to the list above. Some of the other unique features of the PTA application includes its context based help and navigation Usability and Navigation

PTA is developed with the aim to showcase the potential of Flash Lite and the server side technology ASP. The idea was to showcase what is with the use of only Flash Lite features and a backend (no third party tech like J2ME, Python or any special plugin like GPS etc. is used with Flash Lite client ) PTA is a non-commercial proof-of-concept application View screen cast at http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v =6H6cOmWEWFY For more information/question mail to [email_address] Developed by Samir K. Dash www.mobilewish.com More info

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MobileWish Pocket Travel Assistant -- The world in your pocket (25 May 09)

by Samir K. Dash

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