GPS location sender on Android

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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mnichols
Posts: 1465
Joined: 22 Apr 2013, 4:29pm

GPS location sender on Android

Post by mnichols »

Does anyone know of an Android application that will send my gps location to an app or website where people can view it

I would only want the location sent every n hours to save battery and only to authorised users

Google used to do this but they dropped the service
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chris_suffolk
Posts: 738
Joined: 18 Oct 2012, 10:01pm

Re: GPS location sender on Android

Post by chris_suffolk »

Looking for something similar too, so if anybody can help.

Can also be an 'on demand' service, where authorised users can interogate the phone to find its' location

Either is good
Psamathe
Posts: 17650
Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 8:56pm

Re: GPS location sender on Android

Post by Psamathe »

ViewRanger. Feature is called "BuddyBeacon"

It's a mapping/GPS/tracking/routs/etc. app and has this "Buddy Beacon feature which on a configurable basis sends your real-time location to their web site and other ViewRanger's (iPhone/iPad/Android devices running ViewRanger). So if you are riding sort of widely separated (i.e. all making your own way ...) with others you can use it to follow each others location. Mountain rescue teams use it so they can all (and their base) see where they all are. So you can add many buddy beacons to your own map display and see where they are.

It is security protected in that you have to give your PIN to people to enable they to see where you are. Whilst you are out of range of any data connection it will store your "beacons" and send they up to the servers what a data connection is next available (you can disable this feature). You can configure how frequently your position is updated (default every 2 mins) and how often the positions for people you are tracking are updated. Also option to "beacon now"

etc. etc. Quite flexible feature which I assume works well because of Mountain Rescue use. But I've not used it myself. Even on a frequent update it should not take much data as sending a position must be a short message.

It is a free app that uses offline mapping (i.e. you pre-download maps when on a cheap/free data connection (e.g. WiFi). You can download free OpenStreet/OpenCycle Maps or buy Ordnance Survey, IGN, etc. premium maps. (I now thing OpenStreet/OpenCycle Map is better than OS).

Ian
mnichols
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Joined: 22 Apr 2013, 4:29pm

Re: GPS location sender on Android

Post by mnichols »

Viewranger is perfect. Thanks
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chris_suffolk
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Joined: 18 Oct 2012, 10:01pm

Re: GPS location sender on Android

Post by chris_suffolk »

Looks good, but in the hour I had it installed, only sending location every hour, battery drained by 13% - and battery monitor said it was mainly down to ViewRanger. Way too much, so uninstalled
mnichols
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Joined: 22 Apr 2013, 4:29pm

Re: GPS location sender on Android

Post by mnichols »

it seems quite configurable, so I think it might be ok. You can control how it uses the battery, gps, etc

Does anyone know how to get it to work with existing offline (free) osm maps rather than their chargeable ones?
Psamathe
Posts: 17650
Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 8:56pm

Re: GPS location sender on Android

Post by Psamathe »

chris_suffolk wrote:Looks good, but in the hour I had it installed, only sending location every hour, battery drained by 13% - and battery monitor said it was mainly down to ViewRanger. Way too much, so uninstalled

I would think it will only send beacons when your position changes. Things to check are, what coverage you have and what type of data connection, have you downloaded all mapping you may have been using (as it will work with online mapping, downloading mapping as needed). I'd also check your GPS (in ViewRanger - those that tell ViewRanger how to handle the GPS) settings as those can affect the power consumption in a big way. For example, leaving the GPS on continuously when you only want to send a single beacon every hour is bund to consume a lot of battery !!

When you use your phone to e.g. record a track, what sort of battery consumption do you get ?

Reason I'm suspecting some other cause is because ViewRanger is a very mainstream app (used by vast numbers of people) and I can't believe that sending a single beacon is taking 13% of you battery (even for an old of not so powerful phone).

If there are no other explanations of the power consumption, then I'd contact their support - which in my experience (of several issues raised) is pretty responsive and helpful.

When I used to use ViewRanger I used to get a 3hr ride track recording (no BuddyBeacon) taking less than 25% charge - so ViewRanger is actually quite an efficient app in terms of it's power consumption - although that's on an iPhone with a healthy battery. Similarly, as mountain rescue use it (also tracking "Buddies" as well as sending their position) I would suspect it would quickly be discarded if it consumed battery power excessively (as they'd all suddenly be lost from view from everybody else if they didn't find their target quickly).

Ian
robing
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Joined: 7 Sep 2014, 9:11am

Re: GPS location sender on Android

Post by robing »

I use the app real time gps tracker, free on android. Only takes a few seconds to get your location, then updates your unique url at http://www.greenalp.com/RealTimeTracker/

Works well for me.
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