Cool new project...GPS Tracker!

[rudeguy]

Don't worry, its for work. We need to track some of our equipment out in the field. I have to admit...I do feel kind of creepy just having this thing.

 

[sdifox]

you should buy a few decoys and mount the decoy in a more or less visible area, for it to be destroyed instead of the real one

 

[lxskllr]

 

[luv2liv]

dont you need a monthly cell phone service for it to report the location back to you?
how much monthly/annually?

 

[SKORPI0]

http://www.amazon.com/Vehicle-Tracke...241000&sr=1-10

Vehicle Car GPS Tracker 103B with Remote Control GSM Alarm SD Card Slot Anti-theft

• Remote control with alarm on/off function. GPS/GSM station positioning.
• SMS/GPRS/internet network data transfer. Point-to-point, point to group, group-to-group monitoring.
• Continuously auto track upon different time and distance intervals.
• Absolute street address with GSM network. SD card for data logging.
• Support 9-36V, so it can be installed on Bus, taxi, truck ,personal car, business car etc.

 

[rudeguy]

dont you need a monthly cell phone service for it to report the location back to you?
how much monthly/annually?

that's the part I've been working on. The unit will send texts, receive texts and also communicate over the internet. It uses a GSM sim card, so whatever provider you want to go with. I messed up and thought that one of my company's sims would work, but all of ours are LTE.

So it looks like Net10's $30 for 60 days service is the cheapest I can find with web and SMS.

 

[rudeguy]

http://www.amazon.com/Vehicle-Tracke...241000&sr=1-10

yep

This thing can do a ton of things. All I need is the tracking part and movement alarm.

The software is pretty cool. It ties into Google Earth and can track up to 522 devices or something crazy.

 

[DrPizza]

Just a thought that occurred to me: do police cars have GPS trackers so that "headquarters" or wherever knows where the cars are?

And if so, is it possible for someone to make an app that would alert a driver any time the driver was within, say, 1/4 miles of the police (e.g., a highly sophisticated radar detector)?

 

[rudeguy]

Just a thought that occurred to me: do police cars have GPS trackers so that "headquarters" or wherever knows where the cars are?

And if so, is it possible for someone to make an app that would alert a driver any time the driver was within, say, 1/4 miles of the police (e.g., a highly sophisticated radar detector)?

yes

no

 

[Imp]

Low... jack...? Thanks, Die Hard.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Could you get a prepaid card for a carrier with a set number of text messages.... Then write code so it only reports back when you query it.

As long as you have a viable power source, that would limit the communication by only answering when probed.

 

[Cerb]

that's the part I've been working on. The unit will send texts, receive texts and also communicate over the internet. It uses a GSM sim card, so whatever provider you want to go with.

I realized you must not be from the U.S. from that last sentence . After that, I looked at your location.

I messed up and thought that one of my company's sims would work, but all of ours are LTE.

So it looks like Net10's $30 for 60 days service is the cheapest I can find with web and SMS.

Why is that messing up? Are the other cards you use locked out of regular telephone networks?

That said, NET10 does look like a good deal (20 texts/day for 60 days), if you can't get a special contract with a carrier for your devices. Since the bandwidth usage will be so low, that might seriously be worth looking into, once you get it all up and going. They could be assholes, but they might also cut you a deal, so long as you stick to just texting w/ those devices on those cards--the business equivalent of a family plan, basically.

Since most, if not all, now, pay-as-you-go plans include service days as fairly limited, or limit you in other ways (FI, can you even buy a Tracfone SIM card by itself?), minimizing that cost might be tricky all on its own.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Fun. Time to go bust down a meth lab!

 

[sdifox]

Fun. Time to go bust down a meth lab!

whut?

 

[RossMAN]

http://www.buxtronix.net/2011/10/gps-feline-tracker.html

 

[clamum]

whut?

I think of this when I read half of his posts:

 

[Kaido]

dont you need a monthly cell phone service for it to report the location back to you?
how much monthly/annually?

There are commercial services that do this for consumers:

http://www.zoombak.com/

http://www.securusgps.com/home.aspx

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/digital/on-the-trail/dog-tracking-training/gtu-10/prod67686.html

etc. Depends on where you go. I think Zoombak's monthly charge is like $20/mo if you don't want to pre-pay for the year.

 

[ch33zw1z]

I think of this when I read half of his posts:

have you seen my baseball?

 

[rudeguy]

I realized you must not be from the U.S. from that last sentence . After that, I looked at your location.

Why is that messing up? Are the other cards you use locked out of regular telephone networks?

That said, NET10 does look like a good deal (20 texts/day for 60 days), if you can't get a special contract with a carrier for your devices. Since the bandwidth usage will be so low, that might seriously be worth looking into, once you get it all up and going. They could be assholes, but they might also cut you a deal, so long as you stick to just texting w/ those devices on those cards--the business equivalent of a family plan, basically.

Since most, if not all, now, pay-as-you-go plans include service days as fairly limited, or limit you in other ways (FI, can you even buy a Tracfone SIM card by itself?), minimizing that cost might be tricky all on its own.

Yea...Net10 is the cheapest right now. I actually work for a Boost Mobile distributor, so we have access to unlimited airtime. I just didn't think it through when shopping. If I can find a CDMA solution that isn't expensive, we will probably move to that. Right now this is more of a demo for the brass. I think once they see how simple this can be they will love it.

 

[rudeguy]

Finally got all the stuff in and got this installed. Just waiting for the cell service to activate.

I still feel creepy but this thing is kind of neat.

 

[JoLLyRoGer]

I think of this when I read half of his posts:

I *think* he's making an overly obscure reference to the television show "Breaking Bad". The final season in one of the first episodes had Walter pissed off at Hank after finding one of these planted on his own vehicle. There was also a reference to one of the earlier seasons where one was used to track the movement of Gus (a very high level meth dealer)...

 

[rudeguy]

FFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Since the time I first tested this out and now, Google has disable the Maps API for this application.


FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU