January 5, 2009
Stanford U. Unveils iPhone Application That Will Soon Let Students Locate Each Other
Stanford University recently unveiled a free iPhone application that ties into the university’s student-registration system and offers a range of services for students on the go. Soon the service will let students call up a campus map that shows the current locations of other students in the area who also have iPhones (and who have granted permission for the service to spot them).
Development of the application, iStanford, was led by two students at the university, Kayvon Beykpour and Aaron Wasserman. They weren’t just doing the job for fun — Stanford commissioned the software from the students’ software company, Terriblyclever Design. Last week their creation was touted as the next big thing by Time magazine.
In an interview with The Chronicle last week, Mr. Beykpour said that the new features of iStanford would help students find their friends and send them instant messages right from the interactive map. He said his company was already working with two other universities to build similar applications for their campuses.
It will be interesting to see whether students — or professors — allow friends to track their every move.
For those who do not have an iPhone, Stanford also offers many campus services on a Web site designed for other Web-capable cell phones.
If you know of other innovative college uses of mobile phones, send them our way for our Mobile College Apps series. —Jeffrey R. Young
Posted on Monday January 5, 2009 | Permalink |Comments
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We are very impressed with the Stanford students who have created these iPhone apps. They provide motivation for our CS students beginning to get into our new Mobile Computing Curriculum
— Greg Smith Jan 5, 05:09 PM #
I am thinking that this innovation can be applied to emergency situations such as campus shootings etc. in addition to the emergency broadcast systems already in place.
— Gerry Jan 6, 08:21 AM #
I am thinking this will also greatly assist stalkers of students who forget to turn off the I-want-to-be-located feature.
— A Prof Jan 6, 08:42 AM #
I would like to read more about the application. There is already a free application for the iPhone called “loopt” that does the same thing, except you can be located anywhere in the city. You can send messages to others as well. And its free and already exists. Other colleges might want to check out the iTunes Application Store before shelling out money for another application from this commercial company. I use the application to keep up with my graduate students to schedule meetings.
— David Jan 6, 09:57 AM #
Hi Mr Burglar, I am not currently at home, you can also see when I will come back so please take all your time to steal everything and totally deface my place because I’m such a moron for using that app.
— idiotapplication Jan 6, 11:09 AM #
#3 and #5—yeah, I hate to say it, but I’m more afraid of what the unbalanced students (and others) will find to do with this app than the benefits that it was intended to provide. I served on a jury in a harassment case less than a year ago where the harasser was using public access computers to stalk and abuse someone on his campus.
Cardinal! Use this for good and not Evil!
— Ginger Jan 6, 12:17 PM #
Interesting that 3 of the first 6 reactions here see this as a promising innovation and 3 see it as an invitation to crime. (I smell dissertation topic!!)
My personal response is, way too creepy. Whether the downside is burglary, stalkers, pathological over-parenting or government surveilance, I just cannot imagine an upside worth the price.
— BertW Jan 6, 01:21 PM #
I wouldn’t even let my grad school publish my phone number in the student directory. I would be the first Stanford student in line to opt out of that application.
— Eek! Jan 6, 05:02 PM #
‘Home’ developed apps will be the next big thing. These apps are getting so cool that all of us can explore the 007 in us. Though I am not too sure about the ‘find me’ app.
http://edutechman.blogspot.com/
— Sujan Manandhar Jan 7, 03:56 PM #
If a person could specify the few people who they wanted to be able to see where they are, then it would be cool. But then I can envision the university, grad advisors, significant others, parents, etc, demanding to be on the list to see where the person is.
Could make for some interesting cat and mouse when trying to avoid an advisor or family member.
— DC Viewer Jan 9, 04:13 PM #
Argh, I had this idea two years ago. I hate my life. I hope it turns out to be a horrible idea in practice due to stalking/privacy issues. Then I won’t feel so bad.
— Jonathan C Feb 6, 12:49 AM #