Vehicle Tracking

**boxwellm** · 06-19-2006, 08:27 AM

Please excuse me if I'm being a numpty, but I've been checking through the forums and not found anything yet.

I'm looking for a cheap way of being able to track a couple of vehicles in near-real-time using a GPS-enabled mobile phone or PDA and be able to see where they are on a PC.

I know there are lots of big and expensive commercial options out there, involving someone installing a black box in my car and charging me £30 a month for three years for the privalige. I'm not prepared to pay that amount of money for this system - even if I was running a business I wouldn't do it, so for my own personal use that's a complete no-no.

Does anyone know of a low cost way of doing this?

**DigitalDub** · 06-19-2006, 09:59 AM

You could take a look at GPSSecure and WhereIsMyGPS.net. I know nothing about either but have seen them mentioned a few times. Don't think they charge.

Where is my GPS
WhereIsMyGPS.net Online Tracking

GPSSecure
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/gpssecure/

D.

ps. Nice to see someone else from the land of cookies and bulbs btw.

**boxwellm** · 06-19-2006, 10:39 AM

Both those systems appear to work with in-car PCs, whereas I want to keep what is in the car to a minimum - ideally just a phone and a GPS receiver.

I'm fully prepared to write my own software if needs be - I've written various commercial GPS applications before, including sat nav and multiple-drop routing stuff before - I was just being lazy and seeing if anyone had done it before.

**DigitalDub** · 06-19-2006, 11:28 AM

Hi,

Doh! Sorry. I should have read your message properly.

D.

**clemen** · 06-19-2006, 12:16 PM

Use a phone with symbian, or windows mobile.
Then you can program in Java.

Get yourself a bluetooth enabled phone, and gps unit.
Put a pre paid card in the phone, and then it isent hard to make a app. that every 5min. upload the posisition.

Or you can make a app, that if it recives a sms with the right code in, then it answers with the position.

Hope yoy can use it.

**mauri72** · 06-19-2006, 05:52 PM

Hi Clemen, hi guys

could you elaborate a bit more on your (clemen) post?
For example:
* the gps has to have bluetooth as well?
* how can I be sure that a phone can communicate with the GPS?
Is windows mobile the only thing necessary?

Interesting stuff

**clemen** · 06-19-2006, 06:29 PM

yes the gps receiver has to has bluetooth also.

I am running tomtom navigation on my Nokia 3320 with a bluetooth gps unit.

But basicly every mobile with bluetooth, and java support is suiteble.