Most of the phones (mid-level onwards) have GPS. GPS itself may be useless, but if we can combine it with the correct apps, it can make our lives easy. If you have the habit of getting lost, maps can be a great help, but what if you are trekking or walking and forget which way you came so that you can take the same route back?

‘My Tracks’ from Google can help you here. You can record a ‘track’ and refer to it while coming back so that you use the same track. You can also publish it online or send it to your friends using Google Maps, Google Fusion Tables, or Google Docs, so that they can use the track recorded by you.

If you would like to mark a spot - like a good eating joint or any other landmark - you can drop a pin and mark it as a waypoint.

Use of the app requires a good GPS connection and if you have to share it Google Maps, Google Fusion Tables, or Google Docs and also to Facebook or Twitter, you need a GPRS / 3G connection. Of course, you can always come back and share it using your WiFi connection, but the fun in instantly letting your friends know what you have been upto.

A guy who threw a birthday party in a hill resort hit upon a novel way to inform his friends of the route. He recorded the ‘tracks’ of his walk from the railway station to the resort and shared it to his friends through Facebook. The single URL had all the information - the exact route, waypoints (so that they know exactly that the landmarks on the route), and the time taken to reach there.

dinakaran.rengachary@thehindu.co.in

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