gps tracking options

[starbuck]

Hi

We have been tasked with producing a mapping & tracking application.
The mapping side is all but done and looking pretty cool.
However we are still undecided on how to go with the tracking.
How we envisage things is like this -
The base PC runs our application (which uses the mappoint engine) and is connection to a GPS reciever. This unit obtains location fixes from the fleet vehicles and places this info in text format in a folder which the mapping app will pole every 30 seconds and trasnslate locations into pins on the map.

The questions we have is what recievers are there out there that will do this and what is conisdered the best option for the vehicles (PDA's etc).

Thanks in advance for any feedback

[lbendlin]

You don't necessarily have a problem with the receiver - they all give you the position via their NMEA stream (you may need a port splitter like GPSGate to allow your users to ru a navigation program at the same time - unless that's what you refer to as "mapping program".

But you then need to have a piece of software on the PDA that sends the positions via a cellular channel back to your server. Nowadays you should assume that the PDA has an internet connection of some kind - GPRS, UMTS, etc.

You can then also use that cellular connection for two way communication. Have a look at how CoPilot works - not the ideal solution but gives you the idea.
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Lutz

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[starbuck]

Thanks for your thoughts.
Anyone else?

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