I am looking for information on sending GPS coordinates from a GPS module to a server. How would I go about doing this?
I have done countless google searches on the subject and all searches fail to reveal any information on how the data generated from the GPS unit might be actually sent from the gps module to a server.
There are obvious ways to do this using a GSM deivce, but I can't find any information on low cost data plans, networks, etc
All I would need to do is occasionally send the GPS coordinates from the module to a server. This would be done several times a day. One device would probably have bandwidth of a couple KB per month, that's it. What options are out there?
you need:
A GSM modem that support whatever frequencies / technology your intended cellular provider uses. Bunch of examples here: http://www.sparkfun.com/categories/66 Make sure the module manages the TCP/IP aspects and has an easy interface (AT commands).
A data only account with that cell provider for each device. 200MB a month is like $15-20 from most carriers in the US
The GPS Module. Examples here: http://www.sparkfun.com/categories/4
A microcontroller to manage the GPS and the cell modem. Arduino is probably the easiest one to get started with.
All GPS receiver modules output serial NMEA data. Which is fairly simple to parse, and from there you can do whatever you like with it, store it send it, plot it, etc.
Related
Is it possible to use the free GPS service to send other types of data such as plain text/XML/HTML??
E.G. systems for taxi companies - each car has in it a box which receives and sends information to and from the controller/ dispatch, back in the office. The driver can view all bookings and accept them, as well as tell the controller when the customer has been picked up and when they have been dropped off.
Is this all possible via the free GPS service? Or would the system's manufacturer have to pay to to rent a private satellite? Or would the system be using something similar to a mobile phone network? I would think it would be one of the first to options, as constant reliable signal is vital.
I know the question above is pretty open, and it's not what I'm too desperate to have answered...I just want to know if it is possible for me to build a device with a GPS receiver and have it send text and XML via the free GPS service?? (I want an admin to operate a team of employees from a browser, like with a taxi fleet management system).
No, GPS is a chip with an antenna that can receive only Location data.
It is not possible to send data via GPS.
All that devices that drivers, taxies, busses, tolling system use, send their data via mobile phone network.
So a device needs such a communication chip and a sim card.
Then you can send what you want.
I am new to development using GPS so any help will be most appreciated.
Project:- I am attempting to locate gps tracking hardware for a student project to locate animals.
I do not want to use cell phone SMS or yearly subscriptions packages as this is not practical where there a number of animals to be tracked. A solar powered device would be a bonus?
My understanding is the following will be required:
A GPS receiver (to get the gps location from satelites) - result is a 'navigation message'. This hardware device would be on the animal.
A transmitter with an antenna which will listen out for radio waves on set frequencies from the receivers, amplify them and its tuner will filter based on a particular frequency.
The 'navigation message' (or number of navigation messages) would be held on the the transmitter.
I am not sure if I can get an appropriate hardware transceiver with both the receiver and transmitter in 1 that can be attached to the animal?
The data would then to be sent over the internet from the transmitter to a web server via a HTTP request and parsed to be stored on the database.
A phone app / web app could then query the database to identify where the animal is at its last stored location or analyse data to determine its route over time when required.
If you have any advice / suggestions on the process above or advice on types of hardware / location of hardware to complete this project I would really appreciate it.
Polly, here are a few commercial solutions for GPS Animal Tracking. Some are rather expensive, but at least this shows what is out there professionally.
I think one of your primary issues here is battery power, size, and weight. GPS receivers use a fair bit of power when on, so it would have to be "off" but for a few seconds every-so-often, the rate determining how long the batteries will last. Solar recharging is an idea, but is that compatible with these particular animals?
If you wanted to construct something like this, there are a vast array of GPS modules to start with, depending on how integrated and customized you want to get with the idea. But these are receivers only - they will not broadcast anything. To get the GPS data remotely, you're going to need both a way to store the GPS data, and a transmitter (your #3) to send it to you. Since the transmitters would be small and low-power, this will limit the range you can receive them from. Not impossible, just a little more challenging.
Is a web developer available that can write that web and database code?
Is a phone developer available for the phone app?
Here are some interesting articles from others that have DIY their own low-budget trackers. I hope this gives you some ideas.
I am trying to create a web service that retrieves my GPS tracking device data.
Let's say for example that I want to create a simple web page that shows me my GPS tracker location by it's coordinate each moment.
I made a little research and found out that I need a server that will accept GPRS input and will parse the data to tcp/ip.
I am not sure what I can do with this information. The best solution for me would be to use a cloud service that could do this for me.
If not, Do I need to purchase a GPRS modem?
I'd be happy to hear about different solutions that would make it easy for me to create my web service using the GPS tracker.
Thanks
I can comment as an owner (and developer) of GPS tracking solution. The basic things you will need:
GPS tracker with GPRS connectivity.
GPS tracker communication
protocol (often they are proprietary and will cost you extra)
Protocol implementation on the server side
Web based application to
display the current device position.
The development process will take you at least couple of months.
Cheapest way is to buy the device monitoring service from your local provider. This will save you money and effort.
We are planning for vehicle tracking system. We would like to relay on GPS Tracking System and view position report via Google Maps.
For hardware requirement we are thinking of GPS modem that can transmit data to our system.
Which GPD Modem is suitable for my project?
Use a smartphone. Haha.
On a more serious note, since it's for vehicular application only, there are a lot of companies that manufacture GPS modules (u-blox is one of them). Just google and you'll find thousands of companies manufacturing them. But before you choose a GPS module, make sure you check the regulations of your target country. If the module works on the Iridium satellite network, countries like India & China won't allow it as Iridium frequency is close to their military frequencies. In Europe you'll be better off with the Inmarsat network. So, do your homework & you should be good.
Also, if you're developing your own map interface, you might wanna ask the manufacturer if they have any existing mapping interface you can hook into or disable. You mag be charged for either.
All the best!
Are mobile networks (like GSM/GPRS/UMTS) available where you are?
if so check-out the tracking products from this site or this site (Google keywords: GPS GPRS)
If not, you should consider a custom solution, maybe someone like this company can help...
I have worked on a project that involved sending data over GSM/CDMA network. It used a simple GSM/CDMA modem connected to an embedded linux device and was a stationary piece of hardware. Attach a GPS device and it may very well be a tracking system. The problem is when the network drops or the device moves out of the network coverage area. I am not sure if there any GSM/CDMA modem available with GPS added to them as we didn't have this facility in our hardware and it was very much desirable. We needed to use a separate GPS device, mostly iPhone, separately to determine the lat long of our device.
You can use any GSM/GPRS modem equipped with GPS device. The modem will forward the GPS data to your central server through GPRS and at the server side you just need to process rcvd data and display it on google maps.
Well, I tried to ask this question as a comment on this question, but I thought that maybe no one will notice it, so I decided to ask it as a separate one.
The question is about how to do real-time GPS tracking system things; if we have the following scenario:
Rather than connecting a GPS receiver to a PC, the user will have a mobile device with an integrated GPS receiver.
Location data will be sent over mobile network using GPRS data connection to a server side.
The data will be processed and a KML path file will be created and updated on time intervals and used to track the user using Google Earth.
The question is: what is the best method to accomplish this scenario for the server side; is it a web service, a web application, a windows service, a windows application or what exactly? Taking into account that the system will serve a number of users simultaneously, and that more users may use the system in the future(scalability issues).
Thank you in advance and I highly appreciate any help :)
What kind of device are you using exactly, something like this or something more sophisticated / configurable? If we assume that the device sends its data over TCP, I would consider the following approach with separate input/output processes:
Input: a process listening specific TCP port and storing incoming coordinates to database with a device id. Preferably, your listening loop must be able to handle simultaneous connections without them blocking each other.
Output: web application reading coordinates from database for a given device id and displaying them through the Google Earth API.
Use whatever programming language(s) you are familiar with.
For me there is a technical limitation/risk here -> the mobile device, and its connectivity.
1) What are your requirements? Do you need to support various mobile devices or will you focus on only one platform ?
2) More importantly, you have to understand that GPRS data connections differ from a PC connected to the Internet. There are various connection restrictions imposed by different mobile operators.
If I was to design such a system in order to minimise those risks I would go with a web server running on port 80 which the mobile devices would upload their Long/Lat through POST (or even GET to simplify things).
EDIT: Regarding scalability, it would be very easy to scale things up in the future using tried&tested load-balancing techniques.
EDIT2: Whichever technology you decide to use, i would HIGHLY recommend that the first thing you do is to mock up a prototype. Those connection restrictions could be show-stoppers. Ideally you need to explore them before you have made any serious investment.