Warning Messages, and Auto start GPS

**travisdh** · 10-15-2009, 04:32 AM

Hi there,

I am looking into Centrafuse and RideRunner for CarPC FrontEnds, Initally i was going to test on my laptop which will eventually go into my car. Anyways i will briefly explain what i am trying to achieve.

I vollenteer at my local fire brigade, and respond to calls directly in my car with my gear. I have a system set up that tells me the pager messages i would receive on my pager, that is my emergency calls for my specific fire brigade, not others.

What i want to do, is be able to display a message as part of the CarPC FrontEnd system, so when the pager goes off, the message would be shown on the screen. In addition i would like to pass the address within the message to the GPS system (either address, or i could geocode lat / long) so that when i get in the car to respond to a call, the GPS has the address and i just drive and get directions

.

I am not asking someone to do it for me, just after rough ideas of how it could be incorperated into either centrifuse or RideRunner. I know some of them allow plugins, but i was unsure if the plugins can actually run all the time. Which is what they would have to do, basically monitor the pager system or my server for the alert message, and display it and automatically enter it into the GPS system and start running GPS without requiring any confirmation.

Thanks for any comments or assistance.

**Bugbyte** · 10-15-2009, 10:35 AM

You have to solve a couple of problems here:

1. How does this pager system get its information and can you somehow get that information out of the pager system?

2. How does, or is there, a GPS program that allows you to auto-program a route into it? For example, can you put a location into your favorites file that is the current response location so that you can simply hit the 'route-to' button? Can you go further and interact with the program to tell it to build a route for you?

3. Standby of the system. Will you have the system on standby or will you have it hibernate or cold boot? Time is the main variable here but also if you are constantly waking up your pc to have it up and running when you get in the car, what happens if you miss a call or the pc wakes up for some unknown reason? It could drain your battery leaving you with a dead batt just when you need to respond to a call.

I'd investigate number 1 and 2 first. You can probably solve number 3 later on but first you must get and process the information for the call.

**Enforcer** · 10-15-2009, 10:41 AM

Sounds interesting.

If you want help with developing a plugin for RR or CF let me know.

PS, yes both systems have the plugins running while the frontend is running, so there just needs to be a way of telling the plugin a new message has arrived.

Depending of the navigation you are using will determine whether, it can then route from those details.

If you are running CF with the Destinator navigation it will be possible.
If you are running RR with my Version of FreeDrive (based on the old destinator) running it will be possible.

Other navigation engines, not so sure about.

**travisdh** · 10-15-2009, 07:34 PM

The pager system works on a radio frequency, so that part is not to hard. Basically i have a scanner which is tuned into the frequency, from there it connects into the computers soundcard, and software on the computer decodes the messages (since they arn't decripted). And i just filter it for entries that have both NAWE (our brigade code) and @@ALERT which is an emergency call. I have software on a different computer which will do this. So it will act as a broadcast server on my local network only. And when the triggers come across, it will send the address details and call details to the CarPC plugin. I can also get it to geocode the address and just give lat and long.

The hard bit is getting the plugin to read the details from the broadcast server (UDP Broadcast) and then tell the Nav system to route to that address automatically. Any tips would be great, or example plugins which show how to code in CF or RR.

Thanks guys!

Standby i will look at later

.

**travisdh** · 10-15-2009, 07:36 PM

http://www.emergencyalertnet.com/eas/filter.html

That is an example of the feed the pager decoder software presents, then i would just code a program to parse the html page, extract the information and geocode it if needed. And pass it via UDP broadcast to any 'clients' listening.

**Bugbyte** · 10-16-2009, 05:18 PM

Rather than having the plugin read the data, why not transform the data into a file for routing that your PC can retrieve when it wakes up?

For example, if your computer is constantly listening to scanner broadcasts and decoding the information, why not have it run a script that transforms the information into a file on that computer.

Then, when your PC starts up, the plug in checks your computer to see if a routing file is present and loads that into your nav program.

This requires internet connectivity, but that was already an issue. Obviously in your driveway, not a problem via WiFi but if you are out running errands, your PC won't have WiFi.

**Enforcer** · 10-16-2009, 05:29 PM

If you have internet access in your then getting a plugin to read that webpage, look for your sign and alert and then send the deatils to CF or RR should not be too difficult.

If you don't have internet access then you will have to doit before you set off, much like BB said.

**travisdh** · 10-16-2009, 07:10 PM

Its really only when i am at home, or have internet access that i want to be able to do it. Given there is a 6 min turn out time, that is trucks are out the door in 6 mins, if i am at work, or outside the area there is very little point in responding. This would also prevent the issue of the system being triggered if i am away from the car.

I think parsing the webpage is the way to go, that way as well possibly if there are numerous calls on the one day, within a predefined period of time, they could be put on the map as favorites or something. Basically id like to be able to visualise the calls i am going to, that is get a snapshot of the location, and routing information. And if there are other calls nearby, map them all there as well.

Would you have any example apps (source code) that gets a html page, and displays the information from it in RR, or CF?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Travis Hale.

**Enforcer** · 10-16-2009, 07:30 PM

What language(s) can you program in?

**UnusuallyGenius** · 10-16-2009, 10:12 PM

I think this is an area of software that should be pursued with a passion, I have the passion for it, but I do not have to programming skills. I have been trying to get on fire dept in MI, but there are few and far between actually hiring. But anyways...
I think a system that would allow fire/emergency responders to have a text translation of Sound Outs/Two-Tone that would allow for easy assessment of the call, and would take the information in the call and automatically put it as a POI in the GPS pane would be awesome.
There is a website: http://www.radioreference.com/ that gives a lot of information on EMS radio, and provides links to live m3u feeds. This would be invaluable to the development.
I think our emergency response professionals should be provided with only the best that we can offer, at no cost, due to the service that they provide.