Hi, the AndroidAcademy guys suggested I post this on the forum, to see what you readers all think....

I work for a small research firm/IT consultancy. I'm attending a meeting in a few weeks time, the meeting is being held by the University of the West of England (a UK Uni) and various local business groups. The aim is to discuss the development of a GPS-based program to help encourage children to exercise. As I have a bit of knowledge about various GPS-based software programs and platforms, I have been asked by a contact of mine to attend.

I've been thinking that by far the most obvious platform to target is the mobile phone - every kid has one and most these days have either GPS built-in or can access a bluetooth GPS device. Now, there are five mobile phone platforms, Java, Nokia's Symbian, Apple's iPhone, Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows Mobile. If an app could be developed across all five platforms, it would be pretty much available to all kids.

As I have very limited experience of these platforms, I was wondering if anyone cared to give any views on the difficulties involved in developing for all five platforms (is it even possible to cross-develop across all these five platforms, or would each one be a separate project?) and any other views pertinent to GPS-based programs for mobile.

Also, if you know of any Android developers in the South West of England, preferably Bristol, that would also be great.

Rupert Plumridge
Senior Research and Commercial Manager
OTR-Group
www.otr-group.com