Jordan Running's dashboard

Will this update your database in a way that will allow others to search for "Cloud 9 Frozen Custard" and have bkite recognize it? Also, please add the bracket tip to your SMS related documents. This will be valuable when out and about. – sallymander1979, on June 30, 2008 04:54

Sallymander, we use Google's public geocoder which unfortunately does not match everything that is in Google Maps. We are working on a way to easily update this sort of thing. In the meantime, you can add a custom label to a location. You would just enter your search on the web like this:

4300 E 8th Ave, Denver, CO 80220 [Cloud 9 Frozen Custard]

Then your location will show as:

http://brightkite.com/places/954faeb2...

Hope that helps some.

I think it would be a good idea to make it possible to write in places you're visiting them the morning, night, week and even month before you're visiting them, so they update automatically at a set time/day without you having to come onto the website, or send a text message.

Checked in "Denver, CO" searched for "Cloud 9 Frozen Custard" no dice. Searched for "Cloud 9", still no love. Checked in at the address of the shop and still couldn't find it. Why won't brightkite allow it's users to add businesses that it doesn't recognize? And more importantly, why isn't brightkite using Google's local search?

Email is working great again with my phone. Replies from Bkite are coming back via the email address, so even if you haven't registered your phone via SMS (I somehow pulled that off weeks ago), it'll still work just fine for you.

Beala, Verizon still does not support SMS for Brightkite. Glad to hear that email is working for you though! :) – Lesley, on June 19, 2008 16:22

I'd just like to add that I'm using a Blackberry 8130 on Verizon, and it's working great (the email, that is. Haven't tried sms).

For the record, I have an XV6800 (windows mobile) and I have my own independent email account setup on the phone and it works seemlessly. If you have a WM phone, you should consider doing the same and updating brightkite always through email.

Yay! – texburgher, on June 18, 2008 20:55

Chris J is correct. We've unblocked it so you can email texts to Brightkite, but Verizon still does not support Brightkite through SMS. – Lesley, on June 18, 2008 20:40

They still don't have the SMS number. Where you would put the number, you instead put your private ****@bkite.com email address. Then you can send the update. – Chris J, on June 18, 2008 20:34

ok is there some delay? I texted @ 37203 to 80289 and it no worky.

We have unblocked the vtext.com emails, please report any problems to us immediately. :)

Evolver, one thing you will be able to do that will give you a similar result is if you make your home address private, you can modify your privacy settings so that your checkins in Private mode are hidden to Twitter. So if you're out and about and posting in Public mode, everyone can see your locations, but as soon as you checkin at home (which you have set to Private) it will not show this checkin to Twitter. I realize that isn't quite the same as the feature you are describing, but I hope it helps. – Lesley, on June 16, 2008 18:59

Evolver, one thing you will be able to do that will give you a similar result is if you make your home address private, you can modify your privacy settings so that your checkins in Private mode are hidden to Twitter. So if you're out and about and posting in Public mode, everyone can see your locations, but as soon as you checkin at home (which you have set to Private) it will not show this checkin to Twitter. I realize that isn't quite the same as the feature you are describing, but I hope it helps. – Lesley, on June 16, 2008 18:59

Great compromises - now:
π (3.1.41592) - Mega Mashup: Devs implement GPS location updating. You have three options in your account if you've checked in from GPS before. One being the default, is checking in manually still, but from the GPS-enabled application on your phone - therefore guessing where you automatically. Essentially no different than the current system, but with the GPS helping you check-in faster (but still manually). Once back at your computer after getting the GPSware installed, you'll have a new profile setting - a checkbox for two and a checkbox for three. The second checkbox is "Do you want to automatically be checked in when you arrive at favourite placemarks?" if checked, things work as Josh suggested above. Finally, you can check off "Do you want to automatically be checked in when you have arrived at your destination?" If this last one is checked, you will be queried as I described - by ping from the GPS application, or by SMS, or however you want, it's up to you, the user is queried after being 'stopped' for a reasonable amount of time. Perhaps the query is nothing more than a reminder - "Hey! You've been here a while, why don't you check in?" - or perhaps it tries to guess your location "Hey, you look like you've arrived at Foo Bar Inc. Are you staying here (1) or are you staying at a different place nearby (2)?".

This solves the novice user problem - the default is to just make the GPS facilitate the current check-in environment.

Ah - defined locations make much more sense. My only point was that I don't want people randomly spamming me with checkins just because they're driving down a street two away from my house and I have nearby checkin notifications enabled. – elliottcable, on June 16, 2008 16:28

I think that there are a few ways that brightkite's checkin can work:

0 - Current way: manually check in only, currently through typed address in sms, in the future though 1 click on device app.

1 - Elliotcable's way: receive an sms notification after you stayed more than 15 minutes at the same location asking if you would like to check in there.

2 - Josh's way: you manually setup placemarks and you are automatically checked in when you are close enough to any of those placemarks. The daily routine of home-work-home would fall well into this scenario.

3 - Chris + Elliotcable's mashup way: auto check-in whenever you stay put more than 15 mins at the same location. This will check you in wherever you go but will avoid check ins along the way. Should reduce some of the notification overload.

3 - Chris's way: you automatically check-in to a place every certain amount of time/distance if you moved from where you were before. Generates a lot of messages, but is useful for bike rides and other events where route is interesting to transmit (crazy bar hoping night outs? :-) )

I don't think that the developers need to choose one of the above, instead, brightkite should aim to implement a method where ALL of the above are possible configurations. With simple default and very private settings (1 maybe) for starting novice users and then advanced settings that would allow greater and fine grained configuration of auto-checking.

The more control and application gives the user the better. No two users are alike and the more options the more likely someone will find a use for the system. Also, by giving a lot of options, Brightkite fosters innovation and emergence of new usage patterns instead of trying to lock the users into the initial designed behavior pattern.

The drawback of excessive control is that excessive freedom can be overwhelming for novice users. So there should def be progressive methods of getting into deeper setting that novice users should not be confronted with unless they feel like going into them.

Excellent summary Josh. – Martin Dufort, on June 16, 2008 14:43

elliottcable said: "If someone had access to a truly accurate system - such as an external GPS unit instead of the one in their phone... then this wouldn't be a problem."

We're going on the _assumption_ that the GPS systems in use to do automatic checkins are sufficiently accurate. Getting into the nitty gritty of which devices are able to get coordinates that are accurate to within how many meters is not a part of this idea, and is left to good implementation. It doesn't need to be discussed here. (I understand the ideas are related functionally, but they are entirely separate topics.)

Again, the central idea here as stated above by me and others is that if you are sufficiently near a check-in point that is already known, you can be assumed to be there, and you will check in at that location automatically. As it's already been said, many people wouldn't want even their friends to know their location at every second of the day. I'd prefer that my friends can know when I'm at one of these five locations. Other than that, I want to be invisible. I don't envision driving down the street and "checking in" every 100 feet as I drive. That's not part of this idea.

There's also a possibility that if you roam outside the tolerance range of your check-in point (perhaps set by user-specific preferences?), you check out, and your location is unknown until you manually check in or come within range of another known check-in point.