GeoContact - see who where

We often want to know where other people are. So, going to a meeting, friends want to know who is already there and who is still at home or on the road. Parents want to know where their children are now, whether they have already returned from school. Organizations want to know where their employees are and where the shipment is shipped. GeoContact is a new service that will answer the question “Where?”.

How it works

The location of users is determined based on the position of their cell phone relative to the base stations of cellular operators.

On the phone, the location is displayed as an approximate address. The site location can be viewed directly on the map. The average accuracy in the city is about 500 meters. Distance to the user and the nearest metro are also available when viewing from the site.
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To work with GeoContact after registration, we create a group to which we invite people whose location we want to know. All group members install a small program on their phones. The program determines the location of the phone and periodically sends this data to GeoContact. From this point on, all members of the group can find out the location of each other, both from their phones and on the site.



Currently, the service is more used to determine the coordinates of other people, and to a lesser extent - for personal navigation.

Distinctive features

• Use of GeoContact is free. To date, to determine the location of other people are used either GPS, or the services of cellular operators. Both require certain costs.
• The accuracy of positioning is comparable to the accuracy that cellular operators provide in a similar service. To determine the location of the program is a statistical portrait of the signals from nearby GSM stations. This data is transmitted to the server, where the user's location is calculated. In the future, the accuracy will be increased another 2-3 times due to special statistical algorithms for analyzing signals.
• Unlike navigation using GPS or WiFi, to work with GeoContact, no special modules are required in the phone. In addition, navigating through base stations practically does not increase the discharge of the phone’s battery. Therefore, location can be enabled all the time. Using the same GPS and WiFi quickly discharges the battery.
• Positioning works both inside buildings and outside the city.
• Users can name their locations, which other users will see later. It is noteworthy that this function can be used generally wherever there is a cellular connection.

The closest foreign equivalent is Loopt . This service was developed with the support of the well-known YCombinator incubator. Recently, the service received a good investment and is actively developing in the USA. In Europe, such projects are unknown to us.

In Russia, the closest analogue is Wi2Geo. They, too, have only recently been launched and are still working in test mode. This service focuses on WiFi navigation. This is a completely different paradigm. We believe that the niches of Wi2Geo and GeoContact will almost not intersect in real life.

Current project availability

Now the service is in test mode. Registration is open.
Currently only NOKIA phones with Symbian S60 3rd are supported.

Currently, location determination with a map display works for almost the entire central part of Russia. In other regions, users can place tags with place names and navigate through them.

Perspectives

In the near future is scheduled:

• The expansion of the number of supported phones. Windows Mobile based communicators will be supported soon.
• Open API.

Then we will improve the accuracy of positioning, expand the coverage area and add new services.

We will be glad to hear from the esteemed community about general impressions and wishes for development. Reasoned criticism is welcome.