Real Live GPS Tracking Anyone?

[Hoss86]

Does anyone know any companies that offer real live GPS tracking that I can integrate to a website for others to watch my location. I know they make SPOT messenger and beacon devices for emergencies, but I'm looking for something I can install in my vehicle. I'm looking for GPS rather than cellular triangulation technology. I heard you can provide some sort of tracking by HAM radio...but I don't have a clue.

 

[Robthebrit]

Spot has a tracking mode (its an extra fee on top of the normal subscription), it sends a location every 10 minutes or so and it works great to let people know where you are. Works great for me, the wife can go online and see where I am and from that she can guess when I'll be home.

Rob

 

[egn]

I know the following two services:
http://www.gpsgate.com
http://www.poi66.com

Please check them whether they fullfill your requirements. I used the second one to track our journey to the russian peninsula Kola last year. I have sent the positions by mobile phone SMS messages from my WM6 pda with http://www.pathaway.com/ .

 

[Hoss86]

Thanks for the postings. They were both helpful. egn I liked those websites. I'll look into them and read further about the services offered. I was trying to stay was from cellular communications to deliver my coordinates because I plan to go to some remote area in Mexico and other places were I couldn't use telecommunication systems. I think I would have to use a satellite phone to deliver my location though. SPOT tracking is great, but you have to remember to have it on and I think it has a battery saving mode and shuts down. I hope they create a better model that will send your location every 30 minutes instead of a couple minutes. It would be great if they had more features that can be easily integrated into the vehicle...possibly external GPS and DC power. :wings:

 

[thallca]

Another solution might be getting a ham radio license and using the APRS, (automatic position reporting system) I think that is what APRS means, for the life of me I can't remember.
In a nutshell, APRS allows your ham radio and your gps unit to talk to each other and transmit your gps data on a schedule that you program into your radio. It could be every minute, every hour, however you want to do it. The only limit is your ability to hit a digital repeater with your radio. The information, which will include you gps data and your call sign, will be visible to anyone with access to the internet.
You might ask this same question on the communication thread. I am sure there is a ham radio operator on there that can give you better info than I

 

[noah]

Automatic Position Reporting System

APRS works great!! Works when cell's don't.

Check out my APRS location.

http://www1.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=AB7KD

Friends and family tract our adventures.


Carl

AB7KD

 

[taugust]

APRS does work great, but I am not sure what coverage you could get in remote Mexico. It works on VHF a ham frequency 144.39 Mhz in the US. I think you can use it on HF bands as well for longer range, but you would need a General Class license. The VHF frequency is generally line of sight range, but there are digipeaters all over that relay the signal and transfer it to the internet. You can use expensive or inexpensive components to build your system, but it takes a ham radio license, ham radio, GPS, and some sort of TNC (Terminal Node Controller, basically a modem for your radio) Some radios by Kenwood and Icom have TNC's built into some radios (expensive), or you can buy a seperate TNC (more expensive) or use a Tiny Track (inexpensive by not many features) http://www.byonics.com/tinytrak/. I suggest buying the book APRS, Moving Hams on the Radio and the Internet for a good introduction.

The simplest solution would be to buy a Kenwood D-700A radio with TNC built in, and a cable to your GPS. The radio can transmit your position independent of voice communication since it is dual band, dual receive. You can also connect a laptop into the system to get other station positions and know where the digipeaters are using a map with UI-View program. There are lots of options. Once the signal hits a digipeater with an internet gateway, your signal (with position, speed, heading and messaging) is on the internet at findu.com