ProximityCast and Flying Helicopters

I have a passion for ProximityCast and I have a vision.

I don't know how far down the rabbit hole I will be able to take the vision, but I plan on having fun along the way.

Somethings are meant to be. The pieces just seem to fall in place and things seem to happen as they ought.

I became a helicopter pilot much like this. It just seemed to be my destiny.

I wish my journey to entrepreneurial success would be the same. The ProximityCast denouement is not yet written, so I'll try to enjoy my journey whether it remains a hobby or gets wings and takes off.

The making of a helicopter pilot...

I guess it is time to get off track just a bit and tell this story.
My dad would have paid for me to go to college upon completion of high school. I could see the writing on the wall though. With my attitude back then it would have been a waste of time and money.

I wish I could have known back then that I had a potential to love math. I made a D in 9th grade algebra. I think I probably deserved an F, but my other grades were okay and the teacher didn't want to be the one that flunked me. When I finally got around to going to college I learned how to make all "A"s in my math classes all the way through Calculus III. But I did it as an older man, so it took a lot of hard work and has not become as natural as flying helicopters (something I learned in my youth).

Anyhow, I have a bit of a pragmatic streak in me and I wanted to do something worthwhile and practicable. I never ever dreamed I'd be a pilot. Flying was for rich people. I grew up in a comfortable home, but we were a long way from being uber rich. But I was a certified SCUBA diver, and I thought the military could teach me to be a commercial diver. So, I set up an appointment to talk to a Navy Recruiter.

I told this man I was interested in commercial diving. He told me that the Navy has more combat divers than commercial divers. And he said if I was really interested in commercial diving I should talk to the Army.

Well that got me talking to an Army recruiter.

Back in those days the Vietnam War was going hot and heavy. Most people I encountered were pretty negative on the war and tried to dissuade me from going into the military.

I met an Army diver. He told me, "I scrubbed more toilet bowls than I got to dive." It didn't sound too promising.

Then I met a man that said, "If you really have to go in then you should go in as an officer. Cause they have it a lot better than enlisted men."

That comment caused me to ask my recruiter what it took to be an officer. He said, "Normally it takes a college degree, but we just happen to have this high school to flight school warrant officer program. If you successfully complete it the Army will make you a warrant officer."

That sounded like the ticket to me. Not so much that I would get to fly, I didn't know anything about that and whether or not I'd like it, but I could become an officer.

Many wannabe helicopter pilots have approached Army recruiters asking about helicopter school only to be told that it is a tough program to get and they'd have a better chance if they became a crewchief (helicopter mechanic)first. Actually, the truth be know, it was probably easier paperwork for the recruiter.

I happened, just by luck of the draw, to have bumped into a straight shooting recruiter. When I told him I'd be interested in that program he got the gears rolling.

There is more to this story. I passed my FAST test (Flight Aptitude Selection Test) with only two points of gravy. I remember halfway through a sequence of questions where you had to determine the attitude and direction an aircraft was going by a picture of an attitude indicator that I was looking at it wrong. It was a timed test. I didn't have time to go back and correct my error, so I just started answering the remainder correctly. But I made the grade and was set to have my chance at Army Flight School.

I had a written guarantee that they would send me to Flight School. That didn't mean I was guaranteed to pass. That part would be up to me. But if I did pass, I would become an Army Warrant Officer with an Aviation badge.

I ended up getting set back during instrument training. It was a pretty precarious position from which I could have easily been eliminated. That is a story in itself, but I passed my final check ride by some small miracle and was on my way. I spent six years on active duty flying two of them in the Republic of South Korea where I became a Buffer Zone pilot and then a Buffer Zone check pilot as well as being chosen to be flight lead on most of the Air Mobile training missions we flew. Then I finished up my tour of duty as an Army Instructor Pilot back at the home of Army Aviation teaching Contact, Tactics, NOE, Night Hawk, and Night Vision Goggles. It was quite an adventure. I often wonder how life would have went if I elected to stay in.

I did well in Aviation. But it wasn't all because of me. There were tons of resources and people that aided in my success. The Vietnam Vets in my unit in Korea took this young kid under their wings and groomed him. Those were and are some remarkable men.

I find the entrepreneurial journey quite different. It is a pretty lonely place. You may find a few books, some blogs, and forums. But, for the most part you are on your own. No body cares if you make it or crash. It depends on your product. Are you developing something people really want? Or, are you missing the mark? There is not much feedback. Some people, Wikipedia, Farmville, Hot or Not, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Geocaching, and others seem to just hit success like I did with flying. At this point and time, that is not happening with ProximityCast. Maybe it is not meant to be, but I have a passion burning and a vision calling that won't let me let go. Perhaps I'm like Don Quixote chasing windmills. Time will tell.

Consider talking about ProximityCast with your friends. Ask them what is wrong with it. Ask them what it really needs. Ask them what they would like. A Chinese friend of mine told me my name was wrong. I explored ProximityCast in the Chinese language. He may be right. I should have used something like Nearby. He had other objections, but my passion won't let me let go. Spread the buzz and share the awful news with me. Play devil's advocate and tell me why ProximityCast will never be like any of those mentioned above... Let me know.

Thanks,

Founder out...ciao

Wideangle photography for Proximitycasting

Here is a link to a photography blog that belongs to a friend of mine: ScottEversPhotography.blogspot.com Scott's post for today makes me really ready to try some wideangle proximitycast shots. All I can say is WOW! And, what wideangle lens should I get for a start?

ProximityCast allows a lot of room for artistic license. ProximityCast also appreciates the "plain Jane" shots taken with a just a cell phone. Anyone who registers is allowed to submit photos. ProximityCast.com is in Beta, so all is not perfect yet. But, with your help and feedback, ProximityCast aims to become the ultimate location based service application on the Internet worldwide.

Latitude and longitude is a bit strange to those who are not hard core geocaching enthusiast, but lat/long works anywhere and everywhere in the world regardless of street addressing systems which vary from country to country.

Paste a latitude and longitude coordinate pair into Google Maps and you are immediately and accurately taken to the location designated by the coordinates. You can't do that with street addresses. Sometimes street addresses work great, but many time they miss the mark by a long shot.

Welcome to the world of ProximityCast and proximitycasting! Please consider being a user and contributor if you're not already. It is only our users and contributors that can truly make this a great internet web application for our time!

Consider getting a ProximityCast buttion for your blog or website to help spread the word.



Thank you for your help,

Founder of ProximityCast

is ProximityCasting something like GeoCaching?

Geocaching has long been popular since affordable GPS has made it possible.

"Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices." You can read more about it at the official Geocaching Website.

Geocaching has gained tremendous traction and has spread across the world.

But not ProximityCasting...(a lonely tear slowly drips down the cheek)

ProximityCasting is a growing treasure hunting game of a different type. Like geocaching you can search for treasure and like geocaching you can provide treasure for others. Search for treasure??? Where is the closest Oyster Bar? What does it look like? Are their any reviews? Can I find it's website?


Copy and paste this Lat/Long into Google Maps: N 30°6'24.6" W 90°25'22.2"
All right! I see where it is at, but street view didn't make it to the end of Peavine Road, so what does it look like?

Ask and receive:
Wow man! Glad some fellow ProximityCaster took the time to upload that image. That place looks like it's worth a side trip.

Let me check the reviews before I make the jaunt: Reviews are found at the bottom of the ProximityCast Establishment Details Page
Cool! Sounds like a place worth stopping at.

But what about the businesses website? Found on the Details Page Establishment 1501 Website
Just what I needed. Their site has a posted menu too. That closed the deal for me. I'm on my way. I sure appreciate that ProximityCaster that posted this treasure.

So ProximityCasting is both searching for treasure and posting treasure for others.

Now if ProximityCast.com can only gain a little traction so more treasures can be found. Is there an Oyster Bar in your Town?

What do you think? Any resemblance to Geocaching?

Get yourself a ProximityCast button

Help spread the word about ProximityCast! Display a button on your website or blog.

1. Select the button you want
2. Copy the Red Code
3. Paste the code where you want it on your blog or website

Website
original button!

<a href="http://proximitycast.com/"><img src="http://www.proximitycast.com/proximitycast.jpg" alt="ProximityCast.com" title="take me to ProximityCast" /></a>

Blog button

<a href="http://ProximityCast.blogspot.com"><img src="http://www.proximitycast.com/PCblog_sm.jpg" alt="ProximityCastBlog" title="help Spread ProximityCast Across the Globe" /></a>

Website button

<a href="http://ProximityCast.com"><img src="http://www.proximitycast.com/SpreadProximityCast.jpg" alt="ProximityCast.com" title="help Spread ProximityCast Across the Globe" /></a>

Blog button

<a href="http://ProximityCast.blogspot.com"><img src="http://www.proximitycast.com/PCblog.jpg" alt="ProximityCastBlog" title="help Spread ProximityCast Across the Globe" /></a>

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ProximityCast needs BETA testers!!! Please help spread the word with a button, explore the site, and even attempt to upload your own Points of Interest pictures.

Use the ProximityCast Contact Form to provide feedback.

Feedback helps motivate me to improve ProximityCast.com

Latitude and Longitude FORMATS

Note: You should see this image tiled as a background for this blog. If you don't, please let me know in a comment. Thanks...


Typical Latitude and Longitude Formats are DMS, DM, or D

1. DMS: Degrees, Minutes, Seconds
N45°13'3" W123°58'34.2"
2. DM: Degrees, Minutes
N45°13.0500' W123°58.5700'
3. D: Degrees also called DecimalDegrees
45.21750 -123.97617

Some people choose to follow the coordinate number with the hemisphere designator like this:

1. DMS: Degrees, Minutes, Seconds
45°13'3"N 123°58'34.2"W
2. DM: Degrees, Minutes
45°13.0500'N 123°58.5700'W

My personal preference is to precede the coordinate number with the hemisphere designator.

Note that the decimal degree example did not use alphabetical hemisphere designators:

D: Degrees also called DecimalDegrees
45.21750 -123.97617

Latitudes North of the equator are positive +
Latitudes South of the equator are negative -
The above latitude would be north of the equator.

Longitudes East of the Prime Meridian are positive +
Longitudes West of the Prime Meridian are negative -

Note: in the absence of a symbol implies positive +.


The Degree Symbol ° is not found on the keyboard. Most programs that let you enter coordinates usually allow you to skip entering the degree symbol e.g. N45 13'3" will be interpreted as N45°13'3"

The minute symbol is a single quote: ' Since it is found on the keyboard you should always use it to indicate minutes when minutes are used in your coordinate format.
The second symbol is a double quote: " Since it is found on the keyboard you should always use it to indicate seconds when seconds are used in your coordinate format.

If you absolutely want to or need to include the degree symbol you have several options.
1. You can simply copy it from a another place that uses it and paste it where you want it. This ° degree symbol was copied and pasted. Problem here is you have to know a place where you can copy it from.
2. On a PC: Open your Character Map, find the symbol, select it, and copy it then paste it like this: °
This is what your Character Map looks like:


The Character Map can be found in: All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Character map

3. If the document you are editing allows html markup you can use the special entity for the degree symbol:
Name Code: &deg;
Number Code: &#176;
Either the name code or the number code will work. The name code is usually easier to remember.

To understand more about how the earth is divided by hemispheres see the Earth's Hemisphere Dividers educational pages and click "next" to go from one to the other.

Hope you find this post helpful.

Getting Coordinates from Google Maps Revisited

Google Maps continually evolves. I've covered getting Latitude and Longitude coordinates before, but here is the latest info as of this date: 6 March 2010

As you read this blog post open Google Maps in another tab or window and follow along as you duplicate the steps that follow.

Scenario: You are on vacation in Mountain View, AR and have lunch at the local Pizza Hut. You notice this Pizza Hut is not in the ProximityCast database and decide to add it, so you snap a picture. You forgot your GPS at the hotel so you decide to get the coordinates off of Google Maps later for your picture.

1. Okay your are back at your hotel ready to process your picture for uploading. To find the coordinates you go to http://maps.google.com/

2. You enter Mountain View, AR into the Search Maps text box and click the "Search Maps" button to get you in the neighborhood.

3. You see the "A" marker over Mountain View and click it use the "Search nearby" feature on the pop up to narrow your search.

4. You enter "Pizza Hut" into the Search nearby text box and click "Search" hoping that will drop you in closer to the Pizza Hut.

5. Numerous Pizza Hut markers show up for surrounding towns as well as the new "A" marker over Mountain View. The map is zoomed way too far out, so you proceed to step number 6.

6. You click the "A" marker on the map and cause the pop up info box to appear. Then you click the zoom scale found on the left side of the map close to the "+" sign to zoom way in hoping to see the Pizza Hut red roof on Satellite view.

7. Shucks, the "A" marker is in some farmer's field and looks like it is in the middle of no where. This is why you like ProximityCast so much. Google Maps are great, but so often you don't find things in their correct spot.

Well, the pop up info box did say, "Placement on map is approximate" Another reason you like ProximityCast because the picture is taken by a real person who places the coordinates on the picture as their certification that the location is correct. No more navigating to a location that is not correct.

8. You click the "-" minus button on the bottom of the zoom scale several times to zoomout hoping to see something recognizable.

9. Alright, were in luck, there is the intersections of 5 9 & 14 just north of the "Days Inn Mountain View" that the popup info box told you about.

10. Right click on the intersection and click "What's here?" on the pop up menu to place a green marker closer to hopefully the correct location. Now click the "+" plus button on the scale adjuster several time to zoom in.

11. GREAT! Now you see the red roof for what you think is the Pizza Hut where you ate. Right click on the map once again where you took your picture. In this case right click just to the left of the Hwy 5 symbol in the parking lot outside the Pizza Hut and once again click "What's here?" on the popup menu. A new green marker will be placed where you supposedly took your picture.

12. Click the green marker to see another popup info box. This box has latitude and longitude coordinates in both Decimal Degrees and Degrees, Minutes, and Seconds format. Drag across to highlight the format you prefer for your pictures, then right click and copy for pasting on your picture in your photo editor.

I got 35.865380, -92.108185 for Decimal Degrees and +35° 51' 55.37", -92° 6' 29.47" for Degrees, Minutes, Seconds. I would edit +35° 51' 55.37", -92° 6' 29.47" like this: N35° 51' 55.37" W092° 6' 29.47" and place them on my picture as I like.

Finally, click "Street view" on the popup info box to confirm you are at the right place before saving your edits on your picture and uploading to ProximityCast. As ProximityCast grows users who submit pictures will get an accuracy rating to give fellow users the proper amount of deserved confidence in their submissions.

Wow! This street view picture of the Pizza Hut looks really good, but not as good as the picture you took which is another reason you like ProximityCast so much. And there you have it. Leave your comments with how you thought this tutorial worked out for you.

Thanks,

Dave

ProximityCast on iTouch

I recently purchased an iTouch so I could view and improve ProximityCast.com for viewing and using on small devices.
The Safari browser on the iTouch is pretty amazing in its ability to allow the user to browse full size web pages. Without making any changes I am able to navigate and use ProximityCast. Com which is pretty cool to me.

Familiarity with a site makes it easier to navigate on a small device. Anyone that uses a blackberry or other small device besides an iPhone or iTouch let me know by leaving a comment or using the contact page how well ProximityCast worked along with any improvements you would like to see.

Also, as well as Safari does on small devices, why would a site also create an iPhone app?

Post created on my iTouch