If you have visited this site before, you know I do a lot of lists. They are both hierarchical and ToDo style lists. Depending on the list of items, they may have dates/alarms, be tied to other activities, synced across multiple devices and shared with others.
iOS4 has brought many new capabilities, and TaskAware is going to use them for your ToDo list management.
Since your iPhone can run apps in the background and know where it is based on cell towers (and GPS if you so choose and don’t mind the impact to battery life). The TaskAware app allows you to tie a ToDo item to a location. Then, as you get near (you set the distance) the location you will be reminded of the ToDo item.
Need to remember to pick up ground coffee on the way home? Drop off a package at the post office? Be reminded of event particulars as you enter the parking area? That is just a few of the items I have actually already used TaskAware for. Most important for me so far is to remember things that I need to do when going to/from home and the office. I have not hit the doorstep over more than a week where I have had to debat if I can do without or I should head back out.
Your milage may vary in how handy you find having a ToDo reminder tied to a location as you approach it. Of course, this doesn’t help me with my long lists of tasks at the office but it has had a positive impact to anytime I need to pickup/drop-off/move while commuting. I do not travel on a commuter train, but it would interesting to see how well it would do to remind a person that they need to transfer to a different train than they would normally use when going someplace other than the norm.
Create your ToDo list, with all the expected level of importance and dates assignments.
Choose a location for any ToDo items you need to be aware of when approaching.
Then get an alert for the task per the distance you set, handy if you have to take an off-ramp way before a location.