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Make your own GPS system with Google Maps!

My last posts have in general presented a positioning system which is not dedicated a specific purpose. My intention is to make a generic concept that can fit different needs, that you do minimum configurations to adapt the positioning system to your business model. Take the blog account on wordpress.com for instance – the user make own adjustments of what kind of information that should appear on the blog, without calling the owner or extra resources. You make your own adjustments via the dashboard.

The possibilities and limitations regard to the mobile device (the tracking device)

As mentioned earlier I advice you to make the use of minimum resources of the mobile unit, especially if the tracking device is depended on limited battery power. But if you like to make the most of the mobile unit from Roundsolutions, you may have many possibilities. I especially like the possibility to establish alternative communication links if the GPRS module fails to send position reports. In case of such problems it may send the reports per SMS, or eventually make a call to signal an error.

When it comes to coverage, you’ll need to differ between the GSM and GPS coverage. Clearly there are limitations regard to the problems to calculate the position if you move the mobile unit into buildings, parking houses, shopping centers, etc. Even in your car you may have problems if the antenna isn’t near the windows. These problems may be met by installing roof mounted antenna that gains more sensitivity to the GPS receiver. The downside is the extra cost, but many of the alternative antennas include both GPS and GSM. If the mobile unit manages to state the geographic position by using multiple methods, not only GPS, you’ll soon have an attractive device on the market.

The possibilities and limitations regard to The Access module (web access to the position reports)

During the development phase of the prototype I had suddenly a lot more ideas when I made the web access module. I think this configuration may differ quite a lot between different product concepts. If you already have a web server and a database running, why not add this positioning system to it? You may keep the cost at a minimum, and prevent another sub-system that you have to deal with.

The prototype allows you to log in to the web application and read the position reports from a Google Map. Another possibility is to distribute the position reports directly to the end-user per e-mail, RSS feed, SMS, etc. But take care of security matters!

Why Google Maps? If you represent an agency that makes and studies road traffic data, you may like to catch data parameters to generate specific reports. Another example is from Holland where the government has made the decision to remove the toll bars to collect road taxes. They want to install a GPS tracking device in each vehicle to monitor the user and bill him or her after each travel. This is a brilliant example to make the effect to improve road traffic.