System for quickly finding the whereabouts of friends

A method relating to a location of a user comprising:

• establishing a location of the user in response to a request for the location of the user initiated by another user using a push notification service to send the request to the user and receive the response from the user without the user and another user having any predetermined relationship except one of:
• the another user has an electronic address of the user;
• and
• the another user and user have no association other than that they are both members of a group of users associated with an event whose contact data is stored within a database accessible by the push notification service.
• establishing an estimated travel time of the user from the established location and a target location of the user;
• determining in dependence upon at least the estimated travel time whether to provide the user with an alternate destination;
• and
• providing the alternate destination to the user via a push notification service where the determination is positive.

A method relating to a location of a user comprising:

• sending a request for a location of a receiving user from a first application in execution upon an electronic device associated with a requesting user to a user notification server containing the requesting user information and receiving user information;
• retrieving at the user notification server a device type associated with the receiving user using the receiving user information and choosing an appropriate push notification service to use based on the device type;
• sending the request for location to the selected push notification service;
• receiving said request for location on the device associated of the receiving user;
• displaying the request on the device associated with the receiving user along with data relating to the requesting user and a corresponding device action;
• receiving from the receiving user a response to the device action;
• determining in dependence of the user response to the device action whether to:
• retrieve location data from the device;
• send a response to the requesting user containing the location data and receiving user information via the user notification server;
• determining at the user notification server whether a response to the requesting user from the receiving user was received, wherein upon a positive determination the user notification server:
• retrieves the device type of the requesting user and chooses an appropriate push notification service to use based on the device type;
• sends the receiving user response including location data to the selected push notification service;
• receiving said receiving user response upon the electronic device associated with the requesting user;
• displaying upon the electronic device associated with the requesting user receiving user location data, wherein
• the receiving user and requesting user have no association other than that they are both members of a group of users associated with an event whose contact data is stored within a database accessible by the user notification server.

A system comprising a plurality of software based modules in execution upon electronic devices comprising at least microprocessors, the plurality of modules comprising:

• a module for sending a request for a location of a user from a first electronic device to a notification server containing the requesting user information and receiving user information on a second electronic device;
• a module on the second electronic device for receiving said request;
• a module on the second electronic device for retrieving a device type of a third electronic device using the receiving user information and choosing an appropriate push notification service to use based on the device type of the third electronic device;
• a module for sending the request for location to the selected push notification service;
• a module for receiving said request for location on the third electronic device;
• a module for displaying the request on the third electronic device along with requesting user information and with a corresponding action to be performed by the receiving user;
• determining upon the action whether:
• a module for retrieving location data retrieves location data relating to the third electronic device;
• a module for sending a response to the requesting user containing the location data and receiving user information sends the response to the second electronic device;
• a module for receiving said response on the second electronic device;
• a module second electronic device for retrieving the device type of the first electronic device and choosing an appropriate push notification service to use based on the device type of the first electronic device;
• a module on the second electronic device for sending the response to the selected push notification service;
• a module on the first electronic device for receiving said response;
• and
• a module for displaying the receiving user's location data on the first electronic device, wherein
• the receiving user and requesting user have no association other than that they are both members of a group of users associated with an event whose contact data is stored within a database accessible by the second electronic device.

A system comprising a plurality of software based modules in execution upon a first electronic device comprising at least a microprocessor, the plurality of modules comprising:

• in a first configuration:
• a module for sending a request for a location of a receiving user from the first electronic device to a notification server containing the requesting user information and receiving user information on a second electronic device;
• a module on the first electronic device for receiving said a response from the receiving user;
• a module for displaying the receiving user's location data on the first electronic device, wherein
• the receiving user and requesting user have no association other than that they are both members of a group of users associated with an event whose contact data is stored within a database accessible by the second electronic device;
• in a second configuration:
• a module for receiving a request for a location of a receiving user from a second electronic device containing the requesting user information and receiving user information;
• a module on the first electronic device for retrieving a device type of a third electronic device using the receiving user information and choosing an appropriate push notification service to use based on the device type of the third electronic device;
• a module for sending the request for location to the selected push notification service;
• a module for receiving a response from the third electronic device sent in response to the request;
• a module on the first electronic device for retrieving the device type of the second electronic device and choosing an appropriate push notification service to use based on the device type of the second electronic device;
• a module on the first electronic device for sending the response to the selected push notification service, wherein
• the receiving user and user have no association other than that they are both members of a group of users associated with an event whose contact data is stored within a database accessible by the second electronic device;
• in a third configuration:
• a module for receiving said request for location on the first electronic device;
• a module for displaying the request on the first electronic device along with requesting user information and with a corresponding action to be performed by the receiving user;
• determining upon the action whether:
• a module for retrieving location data retrieves location data relating to the first electronic device;
• and
• a module for sending a response to the requesting user containing the location data and receiving user information sends the response to a second electronic device, wherein
• the receiving user and user have no association other than that they are both members of a group of users associated with an event whose contact data is stored within a database accessible by the second electronic device.