Hajj season is here and flights from Pakistan and all over the world are taking the pilgrims to Saudi Arabia onward to Mecca / Makkah and Medinah . With more than 20 million Muslims coming from all over the world , Hajj is among the largest congregation of people anywhere in the world .
During all this hustle and bustle it’s easy to lost your way even miss your apartment complex in Azzizia or your tent at Mina and if you are taking Aarafat to Mazdalfa Journey on foot GPS is there to help you .
GPS or Global Positioning System is works through a constellation of satellite managed by the US Government and Department of Defense and works through a dedicated GPS chip built into almost every high end phone being sold in the market from Nokia N95- 8GB to Nokia 5800 to iPhone ( every variant ) to Samsung Omnia . This chip , pin points your position through the help of satellites and helps you in marking you current position to be used later and also for navigation in the city of Makkah and Medinah
When I went for Hajj in 2007 , I took my Nokia N95 – 8GB with me and it proved to be very helpful to me during my Hajj Rituals , how I used it and how you can use your GPS equipped cell Phone with updated applications is as follows
The software to carry on your GPS equipped phones
Google Maps with Latitude Layer Installed for all the Phone
For Nokia only
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Nokia Maps 3.0 with Saudi Arabia mapping installed
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Nokia Sports Tracker Beta
Why all these software.
I’ll start with Google Maps with Latitude which can be installed on all the latest devices including iPhone ( requires a web page shortcut ) . With Google Maps , you can pinpoint your location at any place and mark it on the map , the best part of the software is that even though if your GPS is not working or you don’t have GPS equipped phone , it will pinpoint your location depending on the nearest Cell Tower and from there you can locate where you are and mark your location .
With Google Latitude , you can also broadcast your location to your family and friends back home , who can see where you are on Google Maps online and also you can see where your friends / family are ( if they are also broadcasting their location ) at Makkah or Medinah , just by checking out your Latitude overlay on Google Maps application .
The catch is that Google Maps is highly data intensive and will eat much of your cell phone credits in downloads if you are looking at Satellite maps , it’s better to stick with vector based maps which also gives a street location .
You can download Google maps from m.google.com , Latitude comes as a pre installed layer ( to be activated ) or you can go to google.com/latitude on your mobile web browser .
Coming to Nokia Applications ,
Nokia Maps , comes with fully downloadable maps for Saudi Arabia for free . It will not let you navigate around the city except if you have bought or running a7 day trial license but still it will pin point your location where you are and also let you search the Point of Interests so if you don’t know where the nearest mall or eatery or even location of Kabba , you can use your phone to guide you . Nokia Maps and Map Loader can be downloaded from http://europe.nokia.com/explore-services/maps
Nokia Sports Tracker , is your companion during Tawaf , trust me sometime you do forget how many rounds you have taken out of the obligatory 7 and the lines on the Nokia Sports Tracker shows it to you. I also used the application in gauging my speed and time as most of my Tawaf were on the Roof top , min per Tawaf round was my average . You can download Nokia Sports Tracker from http://sportstracker.nokia.com/nts/main/index.do . You can also use the software to keep track of your locations for offline viewing on Google Maps through a Exported KMZ file once you are home
Even if you don’t have any software installed , still you can use your GPS equipped phone to mark the location of your apartment in Azziziya and also your tent in Mina , trust me it will help you a lot , when coming back from Kabba the first night , I had no clue where my apartment was but the Radar type display on my phone helped my taxi driver reach my location easily . The same was with my Tent in Mina , I just had to whip out my N95-8GB , start the GPS and see how far am I from my tent and find it’s location among the millions erected there .
One of the main benefits which you can take from Google Latitude location broadcast is have your friends and family at home follow you in real time , they can see you at Mina , SMS you for prayers when they see you have reached the Ground of Aarafat , they can check out on you when your Haj has completed it’s all about getting yourself tracked .
Beside with the latest cell phones , you can always take a snap of a particular sight you see and upload it instantly to Facebook , Flickr , Twitter with location markings , saw the latest construction of Al Abraj Tower , just post the snap online and people can see where it was taken , A very handy addition to the nostalgic trip in the later years .
The uses of GPS are unlimited , limited only by the user’s imagintation , how you will use your GPS equipped phone during travels and especially at Hajj do let me know .
For those leaving for Hajj and find the post useful , do remember me in your prayers
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