I'm not sure if I want to be tracked all the time, but hey If want to this is a way to do it.
Based on GPS information from your cell, you can even be very specific.
Tommy

There could be some "big brother" ways of looking at this idea but as the other location based services, like Jaiku, indicate that this is something the people are looking for. Of course it depends what service are you using to publish your location as many services only show your status to your friends and/or family and not the whole audience.

GPS based location could also be implemented as an advanced feature but using the Bluetooth would allow much wider user mass.

Jaiku also seems to be using mobile phone network cell data but to get that information from the phone would require application to be implemented as native and would therefore also block out big part of users that doesn't own for example Symbian OS based phone.

is this still an idea or already on the works?

sounds good for some markets. how do i make money from it

I don't want to be tracked like this...
Who needs to give out this info anyway???
What does it rely give you in the end?

]V[oogy

To all those who are saying that people won't want to give this information away - what about services such as Twitter? No matter how daft it sounds, I'm sure there will be people who would use it.

Agree with Moogy, I don't want to be tracked.

I could see it being something employers would try to force their staff to carry while on the job, ostensibly for reasons of efficiency or safety.

Employees would respond by forgetting to carry the device. Unions would oppose it as an invasion of privacy.

However, I can think of a few occupational groups which might benefit from a service that tracks their location, though I don't know if the tech you propose would be the right way to do it.

As proposed, the idea is too invasive. Perhaps there are mods to it which would be useful to niche markets.

To saigon: This is still an idea. (Although I have created some prototypes for the technology)

To phaze: That is a good question how to make money out of this. Maybe shareware so that free version could only store two bluetooth locations and commercial version could store unlimited amount of locations.

Jaiku is already doing this and looking at the popularity of other social services (such as Facebook) I see that there could be some demand for this.

I'm sure that there are people with the privacy in mind but the point here is to provide current location that is shown only to selected audience such as friends or family.

Might be good background for you, I remembered the articles on the original oliveti badges : http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/3047

substance, if the info is shared only with a small group that sounds a lot better than how I first imagined it.

There is a charity in England, the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, set up in 1986 after an estate agent (realtor), Suzy Lamplugh, disappeared after going to a meeting with an unknown client. She was presumed abducted and eventually declared dead, though no trace of her has turned up. suzylamplugh.org

The trust is dedicated to personal safety. If you get serious about this idea they may have some relevant and useful information about what works and what to beware of.

I do not know of other organizations like this, but there may be a number in other countries.

Good luck.

it seems to me like its becoming so much easier to stalk people. I can't wait till Google earth comes up with automatic updates for their site every 3 minutes....
then I can see if john smith's drive has any cars in it before I go rob his house.....
Do we really need to know where everyone is all the time.

Twibble already performs this function for twitter.

ok this is a good idea but where dose the money come in on this one? am I going to pay $30 for this service?

I've submitted this idea for the sake of ANDROID consideration. ANDROID offers a better chance at writing mobile services which access GPS and Bluetooth hardware.

While Anathema points out an app called TWIBBLE performs this function for TWITTER, I'd like to brainstorm on a slightly more extreme version of this...

Assuming you wanted to broadcast your status non-stop to people... and your mobile is assisting you in this matter... how far could we conceivably go?

Justin.TV, right?

I mean it could be possible to do that now with mobile devices, as a steam of video and audio. Now there is some value in this? People DO Twitter, people DO watch Justin.TV.

Aside from small assists like presuming-where-you-are-based-on-bluetooth-signals, what is a potential advantage of allowing everyone to stalk you, and broadcasting your every move?

Maybe its a photo taken every 60 seconds (no audio), and so anyone wanting a "gord" update can watch a brief timelapse movie of what's happened so far in my day, ending with where-i-am-now.

If we assume maximum transparency in our daily lives, what does that eventually look like? And are there any compelling upsides to it, which make it worth pursuing?

Gord said "If we assume maximum transparency in our daily lives, what does that eventually look like? And are there any compelling upsides to it, which make it worth pursuing?"

This is a tangent on that idea. I've been thinking about "life casting" every single minute of my life in order to explore that idea of complete transparency. 24 hours per day. No editing. No turning it off. Social suicide or complete liberation?

Sort of like Justin TV. But no turning it off. Excpet the camera would be facing away from me so the audience would see what I see. Ecept when i slept then it would be turned towards me.

As long as there is any kind of editing then there is a tendency to hide the undiserable by editing. So be be completely honest I would never turn it off.

then we would have a 1984/Truman Show self imposed. What would we all learn?

LarsBell, Yeah I wonder how many people would want to do that. Myself I could probably handle hosting an edited copy. Its not that I think my life would be terribly interesting to people, but once in a while something neat happens and I wish I could share it with people. But to save those random moments you need to be recording constantly.

Even if you're recording over top of 1-hour-old boring footage.

So there's an always-on, everything available for review model. There's a continuous record, but edited content model. Timelapse photos.

How do people process this? It could be a DIGG/REDDIT type site where these moments are available for voting. Anything flagged as interesting rises to the top. Boy, there's be a lot of boring material... probably too much for anyone to really maintain interest in voting.

Maybe its voting one moment against another. KittenWars, but Gord-burshing-his-teeth vs Lars-driving-to-work?

It all sounds boring on the face of it, but I just know there's an angle here where eventually this perpetual capture will wind up being yet another trend among a sub-set of techies or extroverts.

If you wanted to record constantly, how could you do it? Leave the phone on your belt, and record from waist height? There's be no way to quite get your perspective without mounting a camera on your head.

Heck no! I play hookie so much.. this would ruin my scheme.... show my face at 7am so everyone thinks I'm that devoted hard-working early riser... take a 6hr 'lunch' (ie. sit at Starbuck on my laptop and work on my inventions like ChessSphere)... go home and take a nap... then come back from 4 to 6pm and I'm seen as a cube-warrior. Man I hope none of my co-workers are on Cambrian House.

Could be good for cheaters and stalkers as well.

"Could be good for cheaters and stalkers as well."
Ya so, a newspaper could be used to kill a man.