Newbie Question - Vehicle Tracking.

p3dro · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 05, 2005 Posts: 2

Hello everyone,
I am new to GPS so forgive me if this doesnt make complete sense...
I'm trying to find a bit of kit that a) I can use to track my car and b) can send me SMS on the vehicle's location...(I'm not concerned with directions and navigation, just tracking!)
I've found company's on the Web that offer a service in Fleet and Freight tracking so I know it's possible but I've been unable to find something suitable so I thought I'd ask the experts...so to speak!
All the solutions seem to be rather big, bulky and robust - catered obviously for businesses investing large sums of money as opposed to the average Joe Public wanting to keep tabs on a vehicle etc without having to subscribe to a service or wire in some hardware to their battery...
What I had envisaged was something similar to a mobile phone, with it's own long lasting power source that will be accurate to a matter of meter's / feet...
If anyone is aware of any such a product or can even make me a bespoke tracker please let me know! I'm sure the technology is available...or is it?
Thanks
P3dro

lbendlin · Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2005 4:49 am Post subject:

San Jose Navigation have shown such a device on CeBIT, but we're still waiting for any sign of real product availability.

http://www.sanav.com/gps_tracking/WebTrac-4.htm

Doesn't help the US folks, it's 900/1800 only at the moment.
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p3dro · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 05, 2005 Posts: 2

Thanks Ibendlin, that's very helpful!
...shame about the 20hour battery life though...I'm guessing it's all the other features on it that run the battery down so much?
Anyway, I'll get in touch with Sanav about that...
If only they made a more simple product - no frills tracking, location and nothing else...

andyjenkins · Regular Visitor Joined: Apr 02, 2005 Posts: 74

Thinking of a PDA based GPS setup ....

I'm not pretending I exactly how to do it, but surely it would'nt be too difficult to, via an API, aquire the long and lat of the current location, and via a GPRS connection, via Bluetooth through a mobile phone, SMS or email the current readings.

Not entirely beyond the realms of possibility I would have thought.

lbendlin · Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2005 11:34 pm Post subject:

p3dro is concerned about battery run time and you propose a PDA based solution ? Har har har...

Sure, technically it's not too difficult to transmit the position via SMS, but you'd need a Pocket PC Phone Edition (or a Pocket PC and a phone as you state) plus a GPS receiver, and need to feed all of them somehow. And hide the GPS antenna from plain view... We start to talk power plant here... or hard wiring into the car.
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