Here's the application on my phone, showing the UK gazetteer and distance and bearing to friends with a similar setup. (Note that the map on the right doesn't correspond to this data and the friends are made up (sniff) though the system does work.) |
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Loved ones or people with nothing better to do could meanwhile be sitting at home watching yon on the map. |
And now for something barely off the testbed though working fairly well.
One of the many reasons for this project is for cycling and the
connection it has had with tracking systems for me over the last few
years. The next major unimplemented feature will direct you to
friend(s) with a similar setup.
About the cost. If you want to use it for cycling or similar that's great. Tell me what you're up to and if you'd really really like it to work on such-and-such a date when you do your end-to-end and I'll try harder not to break it then.
Otherwise you get what you pay for until such time as I work out the details of the commerical variant.
The first method involves typing a URL into your phone's browser to download it. This will cost you a few pence. The (case sensitive) URL is
http://jschneider.net/JaTrack.jad
The second method avoids pushing as many buttons on your phone but still might be more difficult. If you are confident transferring files (could be via Bluetooth, Infrared or the phone's USB lead) then fetch the JAR file below and transfer it to somewhere appropriate or do whatever is appropriate for your phone. For Nokia users that probably means using the Nokia data suite.
This is version 0.93 released on Tuesday 27th May 2008 and features most recently a few more Radar screen scales (for somebody who wants to take it to a festival) and a keyboard lock.
http://jschneider.net/JaTrack.jar
The third way is to beam it from another phone by bluetooth or infrared. What you beam is the uninstalled jar file. The Nokia 6230 is able to receive the file (by infrared but not bluetooth) but then knows not how to make use of it.
Whichever way you should get prompted to install the application and may be warned that it is from an untrusted source. That's because I haven't paid for a certificate to sign the thing. This same tightfistnedness means that on some or all phones you can't avoid being asked per invocation whether bluetooth and network access are allowed.
There are two things likely to go wrong. Firstly the Bluetooth communications. If this is the case "No GPS" is displayed.
Secondly the GPS working but not giving a fix. "No Fix" will be displayed. When there is a fix (lat/long and other stuff displayed) the application will then (and at intervals of 5 minutes or 1 nm) try to send it to the server. The first time the phone is likely to ask your permission. Depending on the phone you might see a globe for a few seconds when these transmissions happen.
When there is communication over GPRS with my server the application emits a high tone. A lower tone a second or so later means it completed. The lack of a second tone points to GPRS mis-configuration.
What is meant by delta is the time and distance since your position was last sent to the server.
Type the identity, BEING THE thing extracted from your phone as above and not your number or dog's name in here, submit and hopefully you'll get your map. You can then bookmark the page. It is the identity not your phone number that is the key to your data. The map will drag in any new data and pan to it every minute or so. Only the last day of data is displayed.
Should the GPS be switched off or go out of range the tracker application does re-connect gracefully (on my phone anyway) though this will take a few seconds. It will never send to the internet when there is no current fix so you can optionally leave the application running on the phone, minimize it (which my phone can do and does not stop it) and switch the GPS module off when not in use.
It currently sends when you move 1 nm or 5 minutes elapses or you press "Force Send".
It ignores failure on the internet/GPRS side of things though some network information may be availble in a debug string available off the menu.
Depending on the phone, you may not be able to avoid getting asked every time you start it whether bluetooth/internet connections are allowed. Obviously both are needed.
Fixes are recorded in the one true timezone UTC (GMT) however the website ought to present in the viewer's timezone. Right now it presents in London time (BST, GMT+1 at the time of writing). I'll fix this soon.
Course is not meaningful when the speed is very low. This is not reflected on the Google Map.
Arrows are tiddly green things that are barely visible on greeny backgrounds such as A roads.
The course is True not Magnetic and there is a T to remind you. Where I live the magnetic variation is only 2° West but elsewhere you may have to be careful if using in conjunction with a compass or magnetically oriented maps. Though variation is supposed to come out of the GPS it doesn't on mine so I haven't made any effort to use it.
The website refreshes at fixed intervals.
As far as I know it is impossible to stop somebody else maliciously or accidentally pairing with your GPS if it has the usual secret PIN 0000, connecting to it (while you're not connected to it) and stopping you using it. It's not that they're stealing the data of where the module is but that you might have trouble connecting to it. Only do pairing away from others. If there does seem to be a problem wait until the tracker has connected to the GPS away from the rifraff before you (re-)join them. This application is well behaved and will, once a device is chosen, remember it long term.
Email me by putting the two digits of this year just before the at sign: Jon Schneider