New MIT iFind Messenger Application Lets Students Locate Other Wi-Fi Laptop Equipped Friends

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MIT (Massachusetts Institude of Technology) this week released a rather cool messenger like application called iFind that allows students to find each other on a campus map using Wi-Fi enabled laptops. Whether your friend is hanging out on the banks of the Charles River that runs alongside MIT or hunched over studying in the library, you'll know it.

 

This new iFind application (see the MIT site for iFind here) was developed by a technology team at MIT and is written using the Java programming language. It will work on Windows XP, Apple Mac OS X 10.3 or higher and of course Linux. Students are able to download the application and then select which friends can see their location on a campus map. It works like a messenger Buddy List, if a friend adds you then you have to accept the add at which point you will be able to see each other. You can also select which times you want to be &quot;visible&quot; so you're not being tracked 24/7. When a friend is logged on you will see their avatar (which a user chooses) and you simply click on the Avatar to pop up a window and send a message.

<strike>Stalking</strike> Tracking your friends on campus has never been easier

The system only works on the MIT campus because your laptop's wi-fi card will determine your position by calculating signal strength from known MIT access points (of which there are about 2,800). Developers of iFind estimate that positioning is accurate &quot;within a few meters&quot;.

iFind Buddy list

While we're not sure this will allow you to do better in school, the cool factor is off the scale here, and finding others to coordinate say a group project meeting would be easy. I'm sure the geeks at MIT will soon have a feature that allows you to find the &quot;center of mass&quot; between a group of people and determine the most central meeting location.

As far as security goes, developers emphasize they're not storing anything on servers in terms of location so your path over campus or location history could never be determined by someone that hacks into the system. Only your buddies would know where you are and where you were.

 

Whoa this is 1337.

 

That's really something. I program in Java (not on a very advanced level though), and I couldn't begin to fathom what the code looks like behind that program. Kudos to the programmers though.

 

That is awesome. Or scary. Depending on how you look at it. But you do have the option of participating or not so I guess that negates the scary.

Both parties need to be somewhere with notebooks open and running though. It'd be really cool to know that a buddy is having lunch at so-and-so snack bar so that you can go and join him/her.

Regardless this is really a cool feature for MIT students. First the U of Miami backup program, and now this!

 

one word...WOWWWWW...
are they exporting the program to other university????

 

My uni is still at 5 Wi-Fi access points... maybe in a couple of decades

I would love to see the code to this - as a former programmer I give my greatest respect to these guys (well... it's MIT, who needs my respect!).

 

I agree with you chirsyano, my first inital though was "oh boy" then when I read on it's an exciting program. Anyone think the government will find a use for this???

 

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Don't give them anymore ideas on how to take more of our freedoms away!

Anyway, this could be a potential class distraction right?

 

Anyway, this could be a potential class distraction right? It sure could Qhs, in many ways.

 

Anything could be a potential class distraction though. The laptop itself could.

Anyways, I think this thing is awesome. Like Chris said, it would be great to know where your friends are eating lunch, or killing themselves over an exam, so you can pop in and say hi.

 

I can just see the day when this is in every school. Finally we will know which teachers have been sleeping with their students.

 

I believe the concept is not new. People have used similar concept for developing navigation app for Trade shows, Fairs etc. Basically you use the application on your pda and it will tell you the location/map where u are at in the Trade show.
mit's concept can be used in citywide wifi mesh networks to find where one's friend is.
A GPS enabled cell phone would be a much better and practical solution. Probably easier to implement too.