API Soft Launch

Today we posted documentation for the first iteration of our API. Using the API, which authenticates via OAuth, you will be able to get at your own datasets programmatically. Check out the documentation for more information.

This is an important first step toward moving OpenPaths toward a more general platform for using and sharing your own location data — stay tuned for more to follow.

The possibilities of using location data are clearly quite endless. Brian and Jer created a quick example which uses the API to build a Google Street View video; code (python) is included.

Let us know if you’re using the API for your projects so we can start building a stable of example code in various languages.

New and Improved Uploader

The openpaths uploader for Mac will now search your Time Machine backups for location files that are no longer accessible on your computer. This may be of particular interest to people who have already installed iOS 4.3.3 — if you use Time Machine, the uploader should now be able to find your location data prior to the update.

Additionally, the uploader will warn you if your iTunes files are encrypted; previously, you may have encountered a blank map and not realized encryption was turned on. If this is the case, give it another try.

If we’ve missed any bugs, please let us know at support@openpaths.cc.

Front Page Relaunch and More Map Points

You may have noticed if you visited the site today that we’ve updated the front page. We hope this look and feel will make our mission more clear to newcomers and still express the urgency in collecting this database.

In addition, we’ve added a new map feature. Some of you have mentioned that you’re not seeing all of your points on the map. This is because we throttled the number of points you could load to 4000 so we didn’t crash our servers or your browsers. We’ve now added a way to let you choose how many of your points to display. f you look below the map key, you’ll now see an option to display as many points as you want. We’ll even tell you how many points we have in our database for you so you know what your max is.

We hope these changes will make the site easier to navigate and more useful to people. As always, feel free to let us know what you think.

Download CSV Now Available

UPDATE:  Some people were getting 500 errors when downloading their CSVs.  That’s fixed now.

One of our missions in building this site was to allow you to use your data however you see fit.  Being able to visualize it on a map is cool, but what if you want to mash your data up in some other creative way?  Well today we’re glad to announce that you can now download your data in comma-separated value format (CSV).  Just log into your data page and at the bottom of each dataset you should see a “Download CSV” link.

For this first release, you’re getting the averaged points for each timestamp. What this means is that you’ll get rows providing your latitude and longitude at each timestep, along with the device that point was recorded from.

(For the geeks):  The original data files from your iPhone store a whole lot more information, often reading the locations of hundreds of WiFi routers and cellphone towers for a single timestamp.  We’ve done a simple averaging of these points (yes, we know that relies on radial symmetry of the points around you, but so far it’s a good starting estimate) for each timestamp on each device, so you’re getting those results filtered to you.  We’re working on a slick way to give you the full dataset directly as it comes off your iPhone, so look for that down the road.  In the meantime, you can start playing with your location data in averaged form right now (which is plenty useful to start with).

And yes, we’ve got JSON and KML in the pipeline too, so check back soon for those as well.

Fixed: Delete Dataset

We’d been hearing from a lot of you that you were having some trouble deleting your data.  We built this site to allow you to have total control over your data, so obviously it’s critical that you can all delete it as well.  We looked into the problem and we’re happy to announce that any deletion issues should now be fixed.

Before you do delete your data, remember that a big thrust of this project focuses on allowing you to donate your data (at various levels of anonymity) to researchers doing studies on mobility, epidemiology, urban planning, and all sorts of other great things that make the world awesomer.  Your data is completely secure and not accessible to anyone without your passphase, so we’d encourage you to keep your data up on the site even if you’re bored with the map by now in case a good research opportunity comes along.  Just our two cents.

As always, be sure to contact us at support@openpaths.cc if you’re having any issues.

Windows 7/Vista Uploader Released

We’re excited to announce that our Windows 7 and Vista Uploader is now available on our downloads page.  Get that data up before iTunes finally updates your location files into oblivion, Windows users!

openpaths.cc on Flickr

If you’re a publicly-minded person and want to share a piece of your iPhone paths with the public, why not post an image to Flickr, like openpaths.cc user Roland Tanglao?