What is Where am I...?

Where am I...? (or whami for short) is a reserach project into whether a typical consumer can use their laptop anywhere in the world and have its location tracked.

In theory there are two ways this can be done. First the user can use solutions that use GPS tracking which is costly and requires technical knowledge, secondly you can use geodata from existing systems like Google Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth.

How does whami work?
Where am I...?, uses geo-tagging to map the location of users computers in a central database system, when a user connects to the Internet on their laptop the whami software will query this database to see if that location is in the register, if not the user will be asked to add it by entering some simple information of their location. This only needs to be done once for every new site found and thereafter everyone who visits the same location who uses whami will get mapped automatically.

What is geo-tagging?
Geo-tagging is a process of taking a locations geographical latitude & longitude and tagging it to something. This process has been used for tagging photographs, maps, traffic information and more.

What are the uses of whami?
There are several applications for the whami software, for example a user could map their visited holiday locations and then look back through them using a "where was I...?" location tracking tool, or maybe you lost your laptop or a personal possession and you needed to "trace back" your steps. A serious application is in law enforement where a thiefs usage could potentially be traced atleast to the last point of connection.

How do I take part in the research?
First, download the software from this site, you will need to agree to the Terms & Conditions, which includes your consent in the reserach before downloading. Once complete you can then register your laptop device and start using whami straight away. There is no cost for using the software whilst it is in its research state.

About the author
The author and creator of "Where am I...?" is Rob Lucas a masters student at the Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK. he has a background in networking, software engineering and web technologies. He runs a small consultancy firm in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, UK where he manages IT projects and managed services for the SME market.