Geo-Blogging Using WordMobi
As mentioned in earlier posts, I have enhanced WordMobi to do Geo-Blogging. The interface is functional, though fairly basic at this time. With my changes, WordMobi should be able to pick up GPS data from either the built in GPS receiver, or an external bluetooth GPS. Worst case, you can enter a value manually.
The rest of this lengthy post describes the user view (selling the idea first 😉 ), followed by software requirements, modifications and installation steps you need to get it working for yourself.
Geo post testing
This is a test post for mobile geo blogging. Coordinates are from the inbuilt GPS on my E71. More details about this in the next post.
Note: The "balloon" for this is on the map. However, you won't see it unless you zoom in!
Ready for Geo-Blogging
I just finished adding Geo-Blogging capabilities to WordMobi. So, I can now post stories during my trip and you can see from where I posted them.
WordMobi in written in Python for S60, and runs on my E71. I use the "positioning" module to get the information from the in-built GPS. There's an option to manually enter coordinates as well. My additions add the position as a shortcode in the post. WordPress and the WordPress-Geo-Mashup plugin take care of the rest.
I've sent email to the developer of WordMobi. It would be nice to have others geo-blogging in their favourite mobile blogging application.
Plans for Geo Blogging
I have plans to switch to Geo Blogging this time. Simply put, this means that all my posts will have a geographical location. These will then get plotted on a map, where you can an overall picture of everything. There will be an overview map on the main page that will show my trail.
First post from my new “laptop”
This is my first post from my new E71. My plan is to use this device as the all-in-one during my october tour: saves me from carrying my bulky laptop. Typing is fast and simple on this. I will use microSD cards as a means of transferring data from my camera/GPS to the mobile and then onto the internet. I'm using Wordmobi for blogging directly to my page. That is part of the intent of this post : testing 🙂
Posted by Wordmobi
Next Tour: Gujarat, Rajasthan & Punjab
I have all but decided on my next trip: wandering around Gujarat, Rajasthan & Punjab in October. I have the whole month. Ahmedabad (hello again!) will be the beginning of the journey. Approximately, I will take the route Lothal, Palitana, Diu, Somnath, Junagadh(maybe), Porbandar, Dwaraka, Okha. The next part is crossing over to Mandvi. travel around Bhuj. After that I'm still gazing at the map. Rajashthan has wonderful places scattered all over the place - so I'll have to choose carefully. Punjab seems to be relatively easy to decide. The Wagah border and the Golden Temple will be part of the tour. In all likelihood, I will fly back from Chandigadh.
Training for the tour has started on a rather slow note, but I have time on my side! My TODO list is still significant; it includes the bike setup, equipment and some software development to aid blogging. More updates on these as they happen.
Best Paper Award at EGPGV 2009 !
Our paper (me: 4th co-author) was earlier selected for presentation at the EuroGraphics Parallel Graphics and Visualization(EGPVG, since the expansion is a mouthful) conference. From http://www.egpgv.org/programme.html
Parallel Solution to the Radiative Transport : László Szirmay-Kalos, Gábor Liktor, Tamás Umenhoffer, Balázs Tóth, Shree Kumar and Glenn Lupton
This also won the Best Paper Award at the conference, which concluded recently. Most of the hard work was done by Laszlo and his team, and kudos to them on this achievement !
This is also my first external academic publication, and I feel somewhat motivated to try some more submissions. I've been doing things for a while, but this paper has been an eye-opener in terms of the professional benefits of getting papers published !
His Big Escapade – Destination Unknown
Sometimes I get phone calls from complete strangers. Typically, the callers get the phone numbers from my "About" page. And yes, that's the reason I keep them there.
Yesterday, at 8 PM, I was riding back from Madikeri towards Mysore. My phone rang. I had to excuse myself & asked the caller to call me again in half an hour or so. Next call at 10 PM. Guy calling was Praveen, obviously a kannadiga, and sitting in Shillong. Between jobs, and travelling his motorbike. He is using the Eicher map. He has been blogging extensively about his experiences on his blog page. He's ridden quite some distance already. Bangalore - Kolkata - Gangtok - Bhutan (yes!) and now sits pretty at Shillong.
Praveen wanted to get some road directions. Most maps show a short route from Agartala to Aizwal. My tour of the North-East had taught me that it didn't exist (or if it did wasn't motorable). I told him as much. And confirmed it today morning by calling Inspector S K Das - who's currently posted in Agartala (remember him from my Tour of North East ? He was posted in Teliamura then).
Praveen is probably busy getting permits now. Good luck to him for the rest of his journeys! Finally, turns out he's not that much of a stranger after all. He knows one of my close friends from engineering days. Is it a small world, or are the junkies somehow connected ? 🙂
The Talk at SAP Labs
This turned out to be a different kind of an experience - and fun, at that. That was expected, since I was giving such a talk for first time.
Part of the problem while giving a talk is finding out what the audience expects OR would be interested in. I didn't have a very good idea, but guess I did a decent job. I tried to tell a story with pictures, following a model of an earlier talk that I had attended. That worked.
Speaking at SAP Labs soon
A first for me, this one. I'll be speaking about my cycling tours at SAP Labs (office in Whitefield, Bangalore) on 26th March 3rd April. Nothing technical about this !
The title of the talk will be
A journey on the road; a journey into the mind
I have a three hour talk slot (including breaks). I'll be addressing a group of 20-30 people. Keeping the audience awake could be a challenge! Seriously, an unfinished travel spanning five years needs to be compressed into 2.5 hours - and that will be the real challenge.