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OpenPaths lets you visualize your iPhone location data, donate it to science (video)
What use could science possibly have for your iPhone location data? Well, you won't be curing cancer, but you could theoretically be contributing to epidemiology, land use surveys, or a study proving that people move around just as quickly on foot in New York as they do inching down the 405 in LA. At least that's the idea behind OpenPaths, a web-based tool that lets you securely and anonymously "donate" your cache. If you've upgraded to iOS 4.3.3, your iPhone will no longer store your location, but there should be plenty of coordinates spinning around on your hard drive to play with. After downloading the OpenPaths Uploader, you'll be able to visualize your own location information, and even if you've somehow deleted the data from your computer, the tool will search Time Machine backups (for Mac users) -- a little scary, no? Of course, there's always potential for misuse with any such service, but a researcher probably won't care that those late nights at the office were actually spent in Cindy's home office, unless that researcher also happens to be your wife.
New York Times website harvests iPhone location data
The New York Times Company Research and Development Lab has developed its own tool to take advantage of location-tracking data that caused a kerfuffle when it was discovered that Apple was collecting said data. Although the issue has been resolved, the newspaper points out that regular people can benefit from the information as well as Apple. OpenPaths is a database where anonymous users can contribute their personal location data by uploading it from their phones. The data is password-protected, and contributors can only reveal who they are when they grant access to research requests. Participants can browse their own data after it's uploaded. If you're interested in joining the project, head over to the OpenPaths site to sign up. The site warns that the OS 4.3.3 update can disable access to the data that the site is looking for.
