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Nos juntamos con Oscar, Maximo, Matt, Joe, Steve, yo y por ahi apareció victoria… A la playa me voy señores

Google Labs has a pretty nifty new application that tracks limo cars. Since it’s still in the works I took the liberty to send the google folks some feedback to improve the product.

Check the product here: http://labs.google.com/ridefinder

Here’s my feedback

1. Preferred location:
   1. Detect user location via their IP
      1. If I am in NY the google map should point to NY
      2. ISSUE: If the user’s ISP is in another state or country, 1 won’t work
   2. To solve 2, there should be messaging to select a preferred location. This location should be cookie saved
   3. if cookie is disabled, the user should be prompted to sign-in
   4. The reason why I am not requiring users to sign-in at the beginning is because we want the product to benefit as many unregistered users as possible. If the business goals were to drive registrations, the these requirements would have to change accordingly.
2. Auto-update (vs user-driven)
   1. Markers geo-location should change automatically every 5-10 secs
   2. distinguish moving markers vs stationary
3. Car status
   1. Is the car empty or loaded?
   2. Ideally, user would be able to call the car directly before it leaves the area of interest
   3. Short of being able to call the car, the car should have an ID that can be referenced with the dispatch
4. Marker brand
   1. design taxi/limo icons to replace the typical google marker