Approved Beta Tester for Instamapper 1.1 (Pre-release candidate) – [Updatedx2]

Posted on August 20th, 2008. Written by Arron.

[Updatex2 - 02.09.08] (15.19pm)

Andy from Geekant informs us of his WordPress plugin which actually allows you to embed Instamapper readings into your standalone WordPress blog.

You can find his plugin: Here

[Updatex2 - 26.08.08] (19.33pm)

Version 1.1. of Instamapper [App Store] is now available on the app store.

Original Article:
Last Friday I received an e-mail I’d been waiting on. Instamapper informed me I was successful in securing a provisional beta license for their latest update of Instamapper for iPhone. Version 1.1 is not yet on the App Store.

Instamapper [App Store] is a new application for iPhone only, and provides a tracking service using the built-in GPS profiles of iPhone 3G. For people new to beta-testing products for iPhone, and people who have possible been offered a beta tester position, but didn’t quite know what entailed, I’d like to briefly detail the process …

First off, in order for the developer to give you the application, it is usually carried out under two conditions:

- The application only works on one of the devices you own
- The developer’s assurance that that application will expire from that device on a certain pre-defined date.

Surrendering your Unique Device Identifier
Your ‘UDID’ is a unqiue number assigned to your device only. Whether it be an iPod touch or an iPhone, no two of these numbers are the same. No personal indentifiable information is sent with this information. So, how do you know your device’s UDID? – Erica Sadun, the popular blog columnist created a very simple application called just that, UDID [App Store]. This simple but powerful application allows you to drag your UDID from your device and immediately create a new e-mail containing it. When a developer is beta-testing an application they usually provide an e-mail address to send your UDID.

What happens Next?
When the developer receives your UDID, you are added to a list of ‘unique’ devices of which the pre-release candidate can only run on. After this the developer can simply e-mail you the files needed to compile the application in iTunes (called Ad-Hoc distribution) .. and you drag, drop and sync.

You can check the application has installed onto the device properly,
by choosing Settings > General > Profile

This article continues below …

What has changed in 1.1?

[Update] – 22.08.08
- Choice of units. About 50% of InstaMapper users come from outside the US.
- Choice of accuracy. We previously discarded all positions with reported accuracy of over 100 meters, which made InstaMapper difficult to use in urban canyons like New York City and made it impossible to use on the older iPhone / iPod Touch. In this version, you can choose the accuracy threshold. The choices are Any, 500m, 200m, 500m (GPS), 200m (GPS), 100m (GPS), 50m (GPS) and 20m (GPS). The first three settings do not require a GPS fix and will work with cell tower / wifi triangulation.
- Instead of just displaying “Locating…”, we now provide some additional information such as the current accuracy and the acquisition time.

Ok, What does Instamapper for iPhone do?
Simply? – it tracks your iPhone – anywhere in the world as long as your connected, it will find you, and keep pinging their servers, for a precise result. The service is managed in two parts. Online, and on device. Online you sign up for a free account at Instamapper.com and confirm your e-mail address. Then you are sent a unique tracking code. On your iPhone, you then open Instamapper, plug in the tracking code, and away you go.

So, tell me more about Instamapper v1.1 …
As far as my current tests have taken me, the update seems to be performing well. They have added numerous enhancements in this release. Some updates are for existing features, and others are entirely new. Overall, the update seems strong and the application stability seems fine on version 2.0.2 of the iPhone software.

I hope to be involved in more beta-testing of applications for iPhone or iPod touch, in the near future.
If any developers wish for me to test their application for them, drop me a line at: razorianfly@gmail.com

Instamapper (aka GPS Tracker) v1.0 is available here,
and as of posting this, is currently FREE.

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