Minor Problems at MMISoftware
Well, things have been quite at MMISoftware, not because we have not been working, but because we have been working! One thing we have been doing is working with Duncan and Rob over at Minor Problems who are taking part in the 2007 Mongol Rally. Basically, MMISoftware are sponsoring them! Our first ‘official’ sponsorship!!
So, what has MMISoftware been doing for Team Minor Problems?
Well, we have ‘taken-over’ the updating and maintenance of their website. Have a look at Minor Problems to see what is going on, and we have also set up a blog for them.
In addition, we have been providing technical support in ‘equipping’ the guys with the necessary hardware (and some software) so they can send ‘live’ (or as close to live as we can get) reports from the rally, and also provide a ‘tracking solution’ so they can record their route.
Rob and Duncan decided they wanted to be able to:
- send back photos
- send back reports of our progress and any problems
- give a ‘live’ update of our location
The solution we came up with is to use internet cafes to send reports and photos, when such cafes are available, and to use a mobile phone to send reports and photos when they can’t get to a cafe.
The phone they are using is a Samsung U700, which has Bluetooth and a 3.2 megapixel camera. Using the phone it is hoped that the guys can send back photos and text files as emails attachments. For writing the blog text we have donated a Palm T3 on to which we have installed a text editing package (TexT) and a file zipping package called HandZipper (Handwatch) (HandZipper compresses the text in to a smaller file so it is quicker, easier and cheaper to send).
The way the guys are going to have to work this, when they can’t get to an internet cafe, is to write blog posts on the Palm, zip the file and use Bluetooth to send the zipped file to the phone, where they can be attached to an email, along with any photos, to be sent back.
To work out the location they are going to use a Garmin Geko (again, donated by MMISoftware), to provide the current location (latitude and longitude), as well enabling them to ‘track’ the number of miles they do each day, and their average speed. The GPS unit is fairly basic and does not provide any mapping or ‘direction’ functions, but will be more than sufficient for their needs.
Finally, we hope that Team Minor Problems will be able to produce a GPS track record of their adventure, and for this MMISoftware has given them a Sony GPS data logger… It is hoped that they will be able to send back some ‘track-logs’ from internet cafes, but we may have to wait until we get back to the UK.
If all goes well, and to plan, we hope that Team Minor Problems will be posting regular updates and news to the blog of their rally adventure, so to follow their progress why not subscribe to their blog rss feed or their email newsletter?
If you are interested in GPS tracking, why not visit the MMISoftware GPS Store?
