GPS position reports over the internet.

[Stuart Robinson]

I was relying on Allison House for this solution but I see that they have just pulled the plug on the project which believe me is a real shame.

Given that I actually have a internet connection via a Sprint PCS card is there any applet that can transmit my real time GPS location to the APRS servers over at www.findu.com in order that a third party can see where I am? I do have a APRS radio transmitter over the HAM radio network (Kenwood 700) but experiences in 2005 tell me that there are not many APRS receiving stations out there in the plains.

So does any one know of an applet that will interface a GPS position over to findu ??

Thanks in advance if you can help me.

 

[Max Slover]

Given that I actually have a internet connection via a Sprint PCS card is there any applet that can transmit my real time GPS location to the APRS servers over at www.findu.com in order that a third party can see where I am? I do have a APRS radio transmitter over the HAM radio network (Kenwood 700) but experiences in 2005 tell me that there are not many APRS receiving stations out there in the plains.

So does any one know of an applet that will interface a GPS position over to findu ??

Thanks in advance if you can help me.
[/b]

For this I would probably run something like UI-View on the laptop. That should provide you with what you need. I can run the program on my system at home in stand alone mode with just my fixed position and it works very well. I think you can also take the NMEA data from the GPS and relay that through UI-View for position reports.

Max...
K0AZV

 

[Stan Olson]

Please check out my post on how to set this up:

http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=10694

Stan, K9SWX

 

[Stuart Robinson]

Thanks Stan I did actually miss your post on this subject

For non Hams (I am a HAM myself M3JNU) I do wonder if a position report can be bounced off the FINDU servers by using the CW agreement - if you run a weather station then position reports can be submitted with out a ham licence using a call sign such as CWXXXXX.

Over all UI-VIEW is good - I run this full time on my weather server at home - but is there a simple applet that will submit postion reports to FINDU? it seems a shame to run shuch a large appliction and only use a small fraction of it.

Allison House had this sussed out using there own servers (but not FINDU) so I do think that it can be done.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Thanks Stan I did actually miss your post on this subject

For non Hams (I am a HAM myself M3JNU) I do wonder if a position report can be bounced off the FINDU servers by using the CW agreement - if you run a weather station then position reports can be submitted with out a ham licence using a call sign such as CWXXXXX.

Over all UI-VIEW is good - I run this full time on my weather server at home - but is there a simple applet that will submit postion reports to FINDU? it seems a shame to run shuch a large appliction and only use a small fraction of it.

Allison House had this sussed out using there own servers (but not FINDU) so I do think that it can be done.
[/b]

Stuart,

I modified an sample application last year from Franson (it was like GPStools or something -- they make GPSGate)... With some help from JR Hehnly, I was able to add some vb.net code (never dealt with that before) and get everything up and running. Here's a screen shot of the program.

You enter your callsign and findu password, and it'll use the "inputpos" CGI script provided by Findu.com to input your position. So just hook up the GPS... This lets you update your position in the APRS database (so it'll show up on Allisonhouse or anything else in the APRS internet network) while using the internet (so a fulltime cell connection is nice).

 

[Tyler Allison]

I yanked it..but it will be back. We are just taking a different direction with it is all.

If I can find a VB programmer with free time it will happen sooner

 

[Bill Tabor]

Do we need to use amateur radio for this type of thing? As I understand all our cell phones have gps in them and there are applications that track the cell phones as they pass from tower to tower in handoff. I heard there is a company that is upgrading an entire state's traffic network to pass this information along so that traffic routing and accident awareness can be obtained. I don't know if there is any way to get to that info individually but if so then anywhere we went with our cellphones on we could be tracked whether we had a connection (data/talk) or not.

 

[David Drummond]

Just a thought, but when your chasing, do you really WANT everyone and their brother knowing exactly where you are? I have mixed feelings about it. I can see the fun and usefulness of it in one hand, on the other, I get enough people I don't know following me around without advertising my exact position.

 

[Tyler Allison]

I don't know if there is any way to get to that info individually but if so then anywhere we went with our cellphones on we could be tracked whether we had a connection (data/talk) or not.
[/b]

Those are not available free of charge. In fact it is VERY expensive and fraught with privacy issues once you try and attach a person to a phone.

Just a thought, but when your chasing, do you really WANT everyone and their brother knowing exactly where you are? I have mixed feelings about it. I can see the fun and usefulness of it in one hand, on the other, I get enough people I don't know following me around without advertising my exact position.
[/b]

Oh come on..do you really think there's going to be a rash of people using a google maps and a laptop to follow chasers around?

I think the real value is with coordinated storm spotters more than chasers though.

 

[David Drummond]

Oh come on..do you really think there's going to be a rash of people using a google maps and a laptop to follow chasers around?

I think the real value is with coordinated storm spotters more than chasers though.
[/b]

Indeed, there is great value in storm spotting coordination, in fact, some nets are already using this to some degree.

I don't think there is going to be a "rash of people" hunting down chasers, but yes, I do think some people might use that as a tool to find someone that may or may not want them tagging along. They do it without asking now without anything like that, why is it so hard to believe they might use that as a tool to find other chasers? It was just something to think about. Obviously it's a personal choice to make. If one feels comfortable continually broadcasting their exact position at any given time to anyone that wants to see it, more power to them.

 

[Mikel Shively]

Is there any other way to broadcast your position over the net without being a ham? I have googled but havent really turned up anything.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Is there any other way to broadcast your position over the net without being a ham? I have googled but havent really turned up anything.
[/b]

JR uses an application that doesn't use Findu, so you don't need a ham license. You can find more information at http://www2.okstorms.com:8080/projects/GPSlive.php ...

You can check out my page at http://www.tornadocentral.com/aprs.shtml ... Now that I know more about mySQL, I'm sure I could spend a few days to redo my AIUU application to avoid having to use FindU, thus removing the need to be a ham. I'm not entirely sure JR has his application set up, but I imagine it'd be easy to set the program up to upload or edit a small file on your website / webserver, at which time another script will see that new file, and add the data in that file (lat, lon, time, date, etc) to a mySQL table. You can pretty readily set up a webpage to use Google Maps to display your location by reading the data in that mySQL database table. It only took me a couple of hours to figure out how to do this (display the current position on a Google Maps map), but now I see that the text in my position box isn't formatted perfectly on Firefox.

As far as the need... APRS or other position reporting system probably is greatly advantageous to spotters. I've used it to help my nowcaster (so he knows exactly where I am), as well as for those who are curious. I'm not too worried about tag-alongs, since folks would need to have internet access to view my page, or be hams... By using AIUU, I don't actually broadcast my APRS packets, since it's fed right to the FindU CGI script on the internet. I figure that if folks are going to go through that much trouble to follow me around, more power to 'em. :lol:

 

[Stuart Robinson]

Some good feedback there. I have some spare time tonight so I will try to rewrite the PHP script in ASP as I know that platform a little better. I will also investigate the findu CGI script as well.

As for me, being 5,000 miles from home and away chasing for over a month one of my “conditionsâ€￾ is that my better half knows where I am at any one time.