Displayed widget users should be smarter

[GoogleCodeExporter]

If I'm at a bar with 3 of my friends, I don't want the widget to use all 
its space to display those three friends.

The widget should instead merge those three entries into your own checkin-
row and say something like:

AVA Joe L. and 3 friends
TAR  On The Corner     4 minutes ago
AVA Bob B.
TAR  Little Star       6 minutes ago
AVA Ryan M.
TAR  Brickhouse Cafe   4 minutes ago

instead of

AVA Joe L.
TAR  On The Corner   4 minutes ago
AVA Mike H.
TAR  On The Corner   4 minutes ago
AVA Kevin R.
TAR  On The Corner   4 minutes ago

Original issue reported on code.google.com by jlapenna on 27 Nov 2009 at 11:26

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I'm willing to code a patch to fix this problem, but I had a question. What 
happens 
if it currently displays:

AVA Joe L.
TAR  On The Corner   4 minutes ago
AVA Mike H.
TAR  On The Corner   5 minutes ago
AVA Kevin R.
TAR  On The Corner   6 minutes ago

How do I group them together? Do I display option A:

AVA Joe L. and 3 friends
TAR  On The Corner     4 minutes ago

or option B:

AVA Joe L. and 3 friends
TAR  On The Corner     6 minutes ago

or option C:

AVA Joe L. and 3 friends
TAR  On The Corner     4-6 minutes ago

Additionally if the list is:
AVA Joe L.
TAR  On The Corner   4 minutes ago
AVA Mike H.
TAR  On The Corner   5 minutes ago
AVA Kevin R.
TAR  On The Corner   2 hour ago

Do I list Kevin R, or should I only group together friends that are within say 
60 
minutes of each other?

Original comment by brampton on 6 Dec 2009 at 11:57

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Use the most recent checkin as the focus of the item, that is "Joe L and 3 
friends" 
and "4 minutes ago" opposed to "Mike H and 3 friends" or "5 minutes ago."

I agree on the 60 minute thing.

Original comment by jlapenna on 7 Dec 2009 at 12:32

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Under the same heading of making this display more useful, it should sort by 
city in
the last day before it lists someone out of the area.
On that "w/others" - what's the 4sq limit, it uses logic in the checkin reply, 
and I
think it's more like 90 minutes.

Original comment by mitch.fi...@gmail.com on 29 Dec 2009 at 9:07

[GoogleCodeExporter]

On the topic of making the widget more useful, it would also be handy if it 
didn't display an update at all when a 
friend hides their check-in location. Currently if four friends check into a 
place in hidden mode, you see a list of 
names but no locations, making the widget fairly useless for some time.

Original comment by jshrieve@gmail.com on 27 Apr 2010 at 10:05