Location-based Triggering

An end-user application and an API for developers

You are probably familiar with time-based reminders and alarms – they tell you when it is time to wake up or when it is time to rush to a meeting.

Sometimes, though, you’d like to be reminded when you are at or near a particular place. For example, perhaps you need to purchase a light bulb on your way home, or you’d like to check your tyres when you pass the filling station.

So far, you may have tried to estimate when you’ll pass the store or filling station, and may have created a time-based reminder that would pop up in time for you to remember the task.

It’s not a perfect solution, is it? What if your schedule changes?

Enter Location-based triggering – your worries are over!

Location-based triggering lets you create reminders that pop up when you are at or near a place, no matter the time.

How does this work? It’s easy – allow me to demonstrate.

You simply fill in the reminder text as before. Then, instead of entering the time, you select a place. You can choose either the place where you are creating the reminder, a place from the POI (Point Of Interest) repository in the handset (as in the animation above), or you can select from a map. Having set the place, choose how close to it you would like to be reminded by entering that value into the radius field. Finally, you can change ‘repeat’ to ‘on’ if you want the reminder to activate on all subsequent visits to the location.

We now have two active location-based reminders stored in the handset. Let’s see what they look like when they go off.

For clarity, it should be stated that Nokia Maps is used in the screenshot above only because it clearly demonstrates how location-based reminders are shown when approaching a target area. Nokia Maps is not required to be active, however, for location-based reminders to function. Other applications can be used or the handset may be idle in a pocket and the reminder will still activate at the target area.

For developers, there is an API allowing applications to define geographic areas of interest and enable subscription to notifications when the handset enters these areas. These interfaces and services make it easy for developers to quickly bring new and exciting LBS (Location Based Services) innovations to market.