Gnome application specifications

As my project will be touching on a large number of Gnome applications rather than working on a single one, my mentor Dan Winship advised me to prepare a list of specifications or functionalities that I will be providing after successful integration of GeoClue or location sensitivity with the following Gnome applications :

  • Clock Applet

The Clock Applet of Gnome should get the location information from GeoClue provider and based on that information get the timezone settings for the changed location. In case timezone changes are detected, it should pop a notification that timezone change detected, display the new timezone and location and ask for user confirmation to change the time and location values via a checkbox. This checkbox can be useful in case someone doesnt want that GeoClue should automatically change the time/location settings all the times. In case the user will like that the time/location settings should be changed automatically, she can keep the checkbox checked.

  • Weather Applet

Integrated with and controlled by the options selected in the Clock Applet. Will display the weather and temperature values location.that information get the timezone settings for the changed location.

  • Tracker

Tracker indexes the files based on timestamps and also have the option of storing tags for each file. For location specific tags there are two possibilities : 1. Use the updated location name as the tag value (eg, city/country name) 2. Create variables as tags and store the location value in those variables (eg: Home variable can be created and it will store the location value of the place identified as home). My concerns are that although the approach 1 will be easier, approach 2 is desirable in cases of making Tracker search more user friendly (Search the files which were edited in Office, for eg). Will be focusing on the first approach for starters (can result in too many tags).

  • Empathy, Gwibber

In concern with privacy settings, there will be an option of 'Publish my location'. If that is checked, then the applications will take the location information from GeoClue provider. As Adam Schreiber had pointed out while reviewing my GSoC proposal, that in cases of Internet applications, the user should also be able to control how specific the location information is, i.e. a person may want only her country name to be printed or choose the nearest city or town than her exact location (lat/long). Hence, there will be an option of manually editing of the location information. Manual Provider in GeoClue

  • Evolution

Evolution-Calender stores tasks and appointments based on the date and time. It will be good if the location specific tasks are highlighted (maybe with a specific color) for that particular location. Location option is already present in the settings, hence only the highlighting and display of tasks in the Clock panel has to be taken care of. The second option of publishing of location over the Internet (including in mail signature, for eg.) can be controlled the same way as for Empathy or Gwibber.

Initiatives/LocationAwareness (last edited 2013-11-22 21:31:33 by WilliamJonMcCann)