Why SMS my GPS?

My parents, my wife and I were visiting the Rose Bowl Flea Market. If you've ever been to this market you'd know just how big it is.

At one point we were separated, and desperately trying to figure out just how to describe over the phone (using SMS, because it was just so loud out there) where the other had gone. And I remember thinking "if I could only SMS my GPS location to my parents, or them to me, then this would be a lot easier."

And so this program was born.

Meeting friends somewhere and you don't know where they are? Lost track of your family? This solves the problem of finding where someone has gone off to by allowing you to send your location as a link in an SMS message or by E-Mail. And you can save your current location so you can find the location later—such as finding your car in a large parking lot.

What is SMS My GPS?

SMS My GPS is an iPhone application which finds you on a map, and can send your location via SMS message or by E-Mail. When you send your location, it's sent as a URL, such as smsmygps://?lat=34.0075&lng=-118.5&acc=30.000000. If you click on that link with an iPhone or iPad with SMS My GPS installed, it will immediately open the application and drop a pin at the top of the Santa Monica Pier, giving your distance and the direction to the pier.

If you're near by, and you walk around, you will see the distance and direction in the compass rose updates to point in the direction of the pier, making it easier to find where your friend has gone off to.

Security

Unlike other applications, your location is not being sent to a central server, being processed or stored in a massive database by people trying to figure out how to "monitize" the data. (Translation: figure out how to advertise to you.) Your location is never sent to anyone—until you press the button to send your location. And even then, it is only sent to the person you want to send it to, via an SMS message or an E-Mail message.

Your location is not being broadcast to the world, to be shared on a public site. It's not being harvested continuously: if you go to a new location, you'll need to send your location again. And you can't find someone's location unless they explicitly send it to you.

Where can I get SMS My GPS?

SMS My GPS requires iOS v4 or later, and runs well on any iOS device that supports a GPS and compass, though those aren't required.