Questions about the geosocial game app - Moundz

[Derrick]

Hi Damon / Sebastien,

Thanks for your great effort in writing the book "Pro Android Web
Apps", I enjoyed the info in the book.

I have some questions below:

1) On pg 316, the download for the Geominer lib does not seem to be
there?
https://github.com/DamonOehlman/geominer

2) Gowalla seems to have been acquired by Facebook, and the Gowalla
api used by Moundz no longer exist?
http://gowalla.com

3) Do you have a working copy of Moundz that uses Facebook Places or
FourSquare check-ins?
Urgently need workable Moundz code to decide on some platforms to use
asap.

Thanks and have a great day!
Derrick

[Derrick]

For Q1, the website given on pg 316 was
https://github.com/sidelab/geominer
which does not exist. I managed to find Geominer at:
https://github.com/DamonOehlman/geominer

Regards,
Derrick

[Damon Oehlman]

Hey Derrick,

I'll try and have a look at that on the weekend. I can probably clean up the implementation a little and make it work with other platforms.

I'll try and have an update for you early next week.

Cheers,
Damon

[Damon Oehlman]

Thanks Derrick,

I'll put a holding page at sidelab which directs to the right location.

Cheers,
Damon.

[Derrick]

Thanks, Damon.

I look forward to the updated code.
Derrick

[Derrick]

Hi Damon,

Any update on the code?

Thanks,
Derrick

[Damon Oehlman]

Hey Derrick,

Not yet mate - I've been down with the flu the last few days.  Also, I'm going to port the server side code to use Node rather than Groovy as I'm a fair bit more productive using Node these days than other alternatives.  I'll do my best to make some progress on this tomorrow, and give you an update then.

Cheers,

Damon.

--
Damon Oehlman
http://distractable.net/

[Derrick Lo]

Hi Damon,

Thanks, get well soon :)

Best Regards,
Derrick Lo

[Damon Oehlman]

 Hey Derrick,

Still have managed to refresh the Geominer site yet.  I remember that you said you needed to get something done sooner rather than later.  So if you would like to catch up on Skype sometime perhaps we can catch about what it is that you are wanting to do...

Still trying to get something done, but there just seems to be so much going on at the moment :/

Cheers,

Damon.

[Derrick Lo]

Hi Damon,

Thanks for the update.

I managed to download and look thru some PhoneGap and Android SDK sample apps on Eclipse.

Like to ask you if we develop an Android app, then use PhoneGap Build to auto generate for iOS and BlackBerry, will it work? For an app like Moundz, how many percent likely to convert OK to iOS and BlackBerry?

Have you actually used PhoneGap Build? Any advise on this?

Need to develop one copy for Android only (on Eclipse, Android SDK, ADT, PhoneGap) . What is the best way to auto build for iOS and BlackBerry? Without install iOS and BlackBerry SDKs.

Best Regards,
Derrick Lo

[Damon Oehlman]

If you write the app using web techniques, then you will get a large portion of the app convert over really nicely for iOS and Blackberry.  In my experience (and others from what I can tell) is the implementation of Webkit on Android is one of the poorest across those three platforms so once you get it working well on Android you should find that only minor tweaks are required to have your app working really well on iOS and Blackberry too.

With regards to PhoneGap build, I can't recommend it enough.  It's an absolutely brilliant service and as you say prevents the need for installing each of the native SDKs for developing apps.

If you can, work out how to build your app avoiding Eclipse.  While it will be a bit harder in the first instance, you will find it easier to transition to building for other platforms on your machine if you do decide not to use things like PhoneGap build.

Cheers,

Damon.

[Derrick Lo]

Hi Damon,

Thanks for the suggestions and advice.

I'm sure this info will be very useful to others as well.

Best Regards,
Derrick Lo