I’m going to be heading to my parents house in Virginia for the holidays and have decided to drive. I’ve always loved road trips and have really missed seeing the country this way. Back in the day I used to drive from coast to coast with no sleep without even thinking about it. We’ll see how I do this time. I will be taking I-40 across the country which will keep me out of most of the inclement weather. I-80 at this time of year can be very bad news when going through Utah and Wyoming. I will begin my journey sometime early on Monday.
Since I’m doing this road trip I thought that it would be a great opportunity for another dead drop! This one is quite different from the other ones you may have read about. I built a cool little iPhone application in Flash CS5 that updates a database with my current GPS location. Assuming I have a data connection it should do it every few seconds. I have also built a Flex 4 application that plots my current position using the Google maps API. It also will automatically update my position every few seconds. The goal is simple. Find me out on the open highway and do a yet-to-be-determined action to claim the prize. More details will come about the prizes, rules, and what that action will be. Below is a screenshot of the Flex application which you’ll be able to use to track me.
Stay tuned!
Lee
Too bad I will be on I40 several days behind you. Have a safe drive and enjoy the sites.
hmm yes thank you for that
I would strongly recommend getting as close to Raleigh, NC as possible to avoid traffic before heading north. You should be able to jump on I85 right around Durham…
Clever idea!
I wanted to try that google maps api, maybe in a game
Good luck to all the chasers!
Hey Lee,
How will you be getting to I-40 from Silicon Valley? Is your route through California fair game for the dead drop?
Thanks!
And your family vacay just became a write-off. Love it.
Interesting idea, has a bit of a “Catch-me-if-you-can” vibe that Even Ratliff suggests in the article “Vanish”(from Wired magazine’s 17.12 issue (pg. 144)).
It was a great story about testing the possibility of shedding your identity and vanishing in the digital age, all while provoking the public to find you. Check it out, it’s worth reading if you haven’t already, and it’s pretty rad to see what intelligence the collective can conjure up using the internet and the tools surrounding it.
Hi Lee, would you do a tutorial/post on how to build the same gps-tracking app. looks really fun to implement in websites.
cheers.
Andrés.