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| Subject: | RE: MobileLBSList: GIS and Wireless PDAs - MapInfo versus ESRI |
| Date: |
09/19/2000 05:24:39 PM |
| From: |
Neil Havermale |
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For you "mobilebslist"ers interested in GIS we "mapinfo-l"ers have an
interest in wireless......
We MapInfo GISers are very curious about the pending wireless era. I guess
the thread that we pickup on in the G3 thing is that one of the increasing
common features on WEB sites are maps and instructions on how to get to some
place (if you know where your are) - a Yellow Pages with instructions on how
to get there. There are a number of internet and intranet designs we could
go on about.....
The PDA GIS model we are concerned with is the difference between the ESRI
ArcPad which is a tiny(?) WinCE PDA stand alone GIS for heads-up feet-down
GISing and note taking versus the MapInfo design of I what I may reference
as GIS-just-in-time via the wireless revolution.
For MapInfo the key technology is MapInfo's alliance with Oracle. Oracle as
you may know is really pushing the envelope to provide wireless access to
their 8i and now 9i Oracle WEB data servers. While 2MB+ G3 remains a
glimmer in eyes of the stock market, it offers to the PDA form of wireless
access, a very powerful and enabling GIS opportunity.
I doubt I will ever carry a GIS in my mobile phone but I just might carry
access to a powerful GIS via my wireless PDA.
I don't know what the "LBS" thing is other than potentially a reference to
how much a person can carry in a pocket? We MapInfo-ites are a bit new to
this G3 and wireless thing. May be you could contribute to our discussion?
MidNight Mapper
aka Neil
-----Original Message-----
From: Alistair Edwardes [mailto:aje@geo.ed.ac.uk]
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2000 9:20 PM
To: Neil Havermale: mobilelbslist@geocomm.com
Subject: Re: MobileLBSList: GIS and Wireless PDAs - MapInfo versus ESRI
Neil, Carolyn et al.
Do you think there is a risk of placing too much importance with respect to
LBS in the PDA Market?
As the saying goes "All that glisters is not gold". Whilst all the
multimedia extensions may seem superficially tempting - is this really what
the mass market wants? I think there is a strong argument to say that people
want 'handy' devices that are optimised for making phonecalls, with
supplementary data features that provide information useful in a mobile
environment.
If the supplementary features start to become to obtrusive to the core
function, for example by draining battery power or increasing the complexity
of interaction, then the device is no longer useful. Of course there are
proven niche markets for PDAs, especially in areas such as forestry and data
capture where a GIS in the field is exactly what is needed. But in
comparison to the 1 Billion market that has been quoted, these are niche
markets. Do people really want to carry or even wear a host of devices
communicating via bluetooth? What new useful applications
does this provide?
It seems that many people are looking at super PDA phone hybrids and 2 Mbit
3G as a panacea for LBS, but I'm not sure if mobile GIS is what the mass
market needs. What are needed are simple,effective, personalised and
timely application services which can readily be implemented with thin
clients on more pedestrian technologies. I hope this isn't too off topic
from the original thread!
Regards Alistair
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