1. Name Plate 2.0 (for the multi-location worker) Update: It may help to explain - I work in two different campuses and I often asked what campus I’ll be working from. So while I am working on a physical device with the some of the crew at Milwaukee Makerspace. I dropped an NFC tag behind my nameplate and programmed it to link to my Google Latitude account. Tap my nameplate with your NFC enabled phone and you are instantly show where I am at that point in time. UPDATE: Posted a short YouTube video showing how it works: http://youtu.be/buy-H9ee-Rs

    Name Plate 2.0 (for the multi-location worker) Update: It may help to explain - I work in two different campuses and I often asked what campus I’ll be working from. So while I am working on a physical device with the some of the crew at Milwaukee Makerspace. I dropped an NFC tag behind my nameplate and programmed it to link to my Google Latitude account. Tap my nameplate with your NFC enabled phone and you are instantly show where I am at that point in time.

    UPDATE: Posted a short YouTube video showing how it works: http://youtu.be/buy-H9ee-Rs

  2. Adding Weather and Traffic to Trip Directions I am kicking around - draft mock-up above - some feature options for adding two other factors into Google Maps (Directions): Weather and Traffic. By leveraging weather and traffic data throughout the route, a Google Trip feature can refer the optimal travel time to save on time and gasoline. Avoiding adverse weather conditions can optimize safest travel times. Dots on route represent time increments; time increments change depending on distance. Like time-of-day/traffic algorithms, historical data could relate weather effects on traffic through an area. Changing departure time alters estimates; peak traffic times, construction hours, etc. Weather overlay potentially can offer users to play/ffw/rew stream of moving weather patterns. A little background - Last week we took a road trip to DC and this weekend we headed on a short trip up to Madison to visit a friend. This got me curious about how often do people take road trips (over 2 hours)? I typically don’t, but realized that there are a lot of college students and people in general that have a car/flight limit - under 3 hours and they drive, over they look to fly. We mapped out most our trip on Google Maps and I do like the new social options of sharing trip data with others in Google+. I got to thinking about the other influences that affect driving times. Love to hear how often you’ve taken road trips, over two hours and just generally if you have feedback.

    Adding Weather and Traffic to Trip Directions

    I am kicking around - draft mock-up above - some feature options for adding two other factors into Google Maps (Directions): Weather and Traffic. By leveraging weather and traffic data throughout the route, a Google Trip feature can refer the optimal travel time to save on time and gasoline.

    • Avoiding adverse weather conditions can optimize safest travel times.
    • Dots on route represent time increments; time increments change depending on distance.
    • Like time-of-day/traffic algorithms, historical data could relate weather effects on traffic through an area.
    • Changing departure time alters estimates; peak traffic times, construction hours, etc.
    • Weather overlay potentially can offer users to play/ffw/rew stream of moving weather patterns.

    A little background - Last week we took a road trip to DC and this weekend we headed on a short trip up to Madison to visit a friend. This got me curious about how often do people take road trips (over 2 hours)? I typically don’t, but realized that there are a lot of college students and people in general that have a car/flight limit - under 3 hours and they drive, over they look to fly. We mapped out most our trip on Google Maps and I do like the new social options of sharing trip data with others in Google+. I got to thinking about the other influences that affect driving times.

    Love to hear how often you’ve taken road trips, over two hours and just generally if you have feedback.