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MIMOA Mobile!?
Author: Matthijs, Posted: October 14th, 2008 
Want this?
Wherever you are, just grab your phone and it tells you which direction to go for the nearest architectural highlight! Never miss a building around the corner. Just quickly check opening hours before stopping that cab and while you’re at it, show the driver the address and picture of that building you are looking for.
Sorry to disappoint you, but what you see above is just an image. The design phase still has to start. We have to figure out a few things first. Just like how we’ve developed other features of MIMOA, we won’t spend too much time thinking about all the things we could do. Possibilities are endless, but our patience and certainly the budget is not. Let’s start with something small, but of course something nice and useful. We’ll see where it goes from there.
To share some thought:
Should we develop an application for the iPhone, or are we creating something more general that works on other devices too? As you might know, the iPhone doesn’t have the largest market share compared to competing platforms like Symbian or Windows Mobile. But iPhone owners are avid users of their mobile internet. Developing an application (or website) that works on multiple platforms is not an easy task… Just imagine the troubleshooting when one of those platforms introduces a new update.
So, what should MIMOA Mobile offer? We encourage you to think with us. What can we do with GPS, maps, routes, pictures, the camera? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Poll closed! Final results
I think you should develop an app for the iPhone.
October 14th, 2008 at 12:38 amGo for it!!
Check out the google gears plugin. Allows you to create location based content based on a simple javascript API used on a mobile webpage (only gears plugin install required once). Only works for windows mobile right now but they will expand in the future.
http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-gears-geolocation-api-powers-mobile.html
October 14th, 2008 at 4:07 pmHey, Yannick. Great tip. Yesterday I installed Google Gears for my browser before writing this post. I didn’t know there was a mobile version. Things like this will make it easier to develop something for a broader audience.
And what’s going on with the poll. 57% of you with an iPhone?
October 14th, 2008 at 10:56 pmthe poll says it clearly . . . but nevertheless a mobile.site would be nice to use on all kinds of devices.
October 14th, 2008 at 11:13 pmThe iPhone is the platform to go. Having your app in the app Store will give MIMOA a lot of exposure.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:14 amAn iPhone app would be ideal when you could combine the GPS and the online-database from Mimao to find Projects nearby.
I think the option for adding projects on the spot with photos made on the iPhone camera is not ideal. Simply because of the quality of the iPhone camera. (still no zoom options only 2.0 megapixel etc)
October 15th, 2008 at 9:49 amIf the quality and options in the next generation of the device will improve than this option would be perfect for expanding the database very quickly.
I think iPhone is great but am also convinced that the app should be developped for symbian and MS Windows, regardless of the phone, pda or other device
Joop
October 15th, 2008 at 1:27 pmGoed idee Mieke! Zou een top applicatie zijn, zeker als er extra info over de objecten staat die je dan ook direct kan raadplegen. Kan denk ik zelfs wel met taylored reclame erbij (beetje geld verdienen kan geen kwaad!).
succes!
October 17th, 2008 at 10:54 amniels
I’m convinced an Iphone app would be a great addition, and with the app-store it is also the easiest way to promote and install it under a large group of people.
I agree the photo quality of the iPhone’s built-in camera isn’t all that great, but it would be nice nonetheless to be able to add projects on location (with it’s location-based services it would be a shame not to add it).
For other mobile platforms (symbian, windows mobile) it would be an idea to create a clean, mobile-formatted wap-site (example: NOS http://wapsbt.momac.net/pl/svt/si/nos/po/opnl/ ). Considering everything is dynamically generated, it shouldn’t be a very big step to create a clean css for mobile usage.
Roderick
October 27th, 2008 at 1:23 pmGoogle Earth is now available for the iPhone too..
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/introducing-google-earth-for-iphone.html
October 27th, 2008 at 6:53 pmplease make an iphone app! this would be amazing!!!
October 28th, 2008 at 5:49 amToo bad Google Earth doesn’t allow you to add MIMOA KMZ files yet…
October 31st, 2008 at 2:51 pmthis would be GREAT for the iPhone or any mobile device!!!
November 29th, 2008 at 4:09 amThanks for this great article. I have this bookmarked.
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:09 pmI would love to have an app like this. But it has to be an offline database, since data roaming in other countries in too expensive, and that would stop me from consulting the database. Paying for the app shouldn’t be a problem but not more than €2,=
April 15th, 2009 at 4:55 pmКлассная статья, кстати автору хочу предложить установить от яндекс.денег фишку на сайт “Дай рубль”. Я бы дал, так сказать на поддержание.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:21 amAre there any news on the iphone application? Still developing or dead project?
July 6th, 2009 at 8:49 pm@anja the project is not dead: we’re trying to get some financial support! À partner that want’s to be our sponsor. Maybe you have any ideas?
July 11th, 2009 at 7:33 amA little late, but worth looking at, I think. Making a “layar” for an app called layar might be a good idea, since the mimoa database already contains so much usable info on each building. Plus, they’re a Dutch startup, just like mimoa, planning to go international. I think you guys should all get together!
http://layar.com/
August 16th, 2009 at 4:08 pmRE: my previous post. Here’s a mockup of what such a thing could possibly look like:
August 16th, 2009 at 4:51 pmhttp://i31.tinypic.com/j0z985.jpg
Can someone tell me if a can have this app on my BB!!
May 10th, 2010 at 6:01 pmTo me, it seems a bit odd that while the The web was around for many years, and a sudden it just exploded over the course of a couple years and presto, we have everything. I think the government decided in the later part of the last century to initiate Email/Internet to the public in order to keep track of everything that people do. So while you may think the Internet is casual and open, everything that is typed, or sent can be examined by the government.
May 19th, 2013 at 8:59 pm