Location-Based Reminders

Mauro Cherubini brought our attention to a useful form of location-based service: location-based reminders (LBR). As Cherubini points out, the reminders we’re most familiar with (email appointment alerts, alarm clocks) are set to go off at specified times. With LBRs, we could be reminded to perform a certain task (buy toilet paper, check our bank statement) upon reaching certain destinations (- this could be cross-tagged with a specific time as well, like only during opening hours or on the weekend). Geominder is a basic tool that notifies Symbian series 60 phone users of their to-dos based on where they are (no GPS required), but we haven’t noticed much else like it for other mobile devices. We hope to see this spatio-temporal organizational framework explored more; not only would it be useful for alerting us to those less time-sensitive errands that keep slipping our minds, but it could also serve as an emotional tool, reminding us of those special moments we shared (but may have forgotten) at places all around us (… sorry, getting wistful).

[via Mauro Cherubini's Moleskin]