RoboCal, WHERE, and Turn-By-Turn Driving Directions

 

RoboCal, WHERE, and Turn-By-Turn Driving Directions Overview WHERE QuickStart Instructions Signup Launching RoboCal Flexibility Future Directions More Information

 

 

 

Overview

 

RoboCal is a mashup, integrating Google Calendar data with the speech and telephony capabilities

of the Voxeo platform. Now, with WHERE mobile GPS application platform integration, we throw location awareness into the mix.

 

Utilizing the WHERE mobile GPS capabilities, RoboCal Driving Directions is a step towards disrupting the turn-by-driving driving directions market by offering a solution for just a few dollars per month.

 

Here's how the process works:

• Users invoke RoboCal from their WHERE-enabled phone, by selecting the RoboCal icon
• The RoboCal WHERE widget launches the RoboCal VoiceXML application, hosted on Voxeo servers
• If the user is already signed up for RoboCal, he is connected to the data from his Google Calendar
• If the user is not yet signed up for RoboCal, he is connected to the data from RoboCal's Demo Google Calendar,
• RoboCal scans the calendar data for the next few days. Any appointments that have location data will be presented, by voice, to the user as potential driving destinations
• RoboCal then reads the turn-by-turn directions to the destination.
• During playback, the user can hit 5 to pause the directions, and resume by hitting any key.

 

WHERE QuickStart Instructions

Here are some instructions to help get you up and running quickly, on the WHERE platform

 

 

Signup

 

Users can start experiencing RoboCal turn-by-turn driving directions without even signing up. The experience will feel real, because RoboCal is able to pick up a user's origin point from the realtime location of their handset.

 

However, when users do choose to signup, they need only fill out a short web form on the RoboCal site. Part of the process is to click through the web-based Google AuthSub system, which grants RoboCal the necessary calendar access. This authorization is easily revocable, through Google Calendar, at any time.

 

Another nice feature is that RoboCal can automatically update the user's demo account to a real one, without having to ask for their phone number again. Thus, the transition from trying out to signing up is very smooth.

 

 

Launching RoboCal

 

Users invoke RoboCal from their WHERE-enabled phone. The WHERE user interface offers this an icon to click, but here is the connection information used:

 

• url: http://www.robocal.com/prod/robocal/ulocate.php
• unique id: AAPP

 

The first time RoboCal is launched from the WHERE mobile GPS application menu, the widget asks for the user's phone number, but from that point forward, the handset is automatically recognized.

 

Flexibility

 

RoboCal has the ability to offer driving directions between any two locations it knows about. Thus, the user can get directions between successive appointments, or directions for the return trip home.

 

The philosophy that underlies the system is that the user probably wants to go somewhere that they have previously noted on their calendar, and that is coming up soon. For example, a user could easily design for themselves a self-guided real estate tour, through open houses in an area, or an historic walking tour through an unfamiliar city.

 

 

Future Directions

 

Driving directions are just a first step, in the evolution of GPS-aware RoboCal. In the future, we plan on offering the ability to locate nearby businesses, etc. For example, we could present a simple form, either spoken, or on the handset where the user could type in the business category, such as "pizza" or "free wifi" and RoboCal could deliver the results back in spoken form.

 

Speech-enabled apps, such as RoboCal, are freed from the usual limitations imposed by small handset screens. Making these apps be location-based could well be the factor that can drive their adoption.

 

 

More Information

 

For more information, see the full RoboCal wiki.. There, RoboCal's other capabilities, such as calendar navigation, and voice memo recording, are more fully described.