the working name for the android app is IceNest, with the backgroud process called 'Pigeon'. all these names are horrible but the code needs some sort of name so there you go.

status update

background process

The background process starts when the application starts. The process tries to read from the GPS device. The background process sends this information in an HTTP post to a hard-coded URL* every 10 seconds*. The background process continues to run when the application is stopped, when on a call, etc. * = will be configurable through the application.

application

The UI is a tabbed interface with two tabs, "Radar" and "Settings". The settings tab has the most important button - the On/Off button. The button has yet to be connected to the background process.The radar tab is blank but will contain a list of near-by objects or a map of near-by objects. The code is available under the GPL license.

schedule

The timing is working out nicely. The application will be soft-launched at the Android Meetup on Oct 13th, and more formally launched at WhereCamp on Oct 18th. The G1 phone goes on sale around the same time. Hopefully by then the details of the 'Android Market' will be known and the app put up there. Thats 3 weeks of time to get something usable. I imagine the backend will only be able to support a small number of people at that time.