I’m happy to report that version 3 of GpsTracker has shipped. This is a major change and the application now supports tracking of android, ios, windows phone and java me/j2me cell phones using google maps. What the application does is track cell phones periodically using gps, wifi and/or cell towers. It allows you to track a phone every minute or every 5 minutes or whatever you want and display it on a google map. You can view the tracking in real time or view previously saved routes.
The software is open source and MIT licensed. It took me a couple of months to write the new phone clients and this is now my full time job. Please donate with the button on the right if this software is useful to you and I hope you enjoy it.
I have put the software in 2 places, on github of course:
https://github.com/nickfox/GpsTracker
and on sourceforge:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/gpsmapper
I’m keeping the sourceforge account up to date because it still gets a lot of traffic, around 7,000 downloads a week. If you want the very latest then go to my github account, I am making commits daily.
Feel free to follow this blog by clicking on the orange button up to the right, tutorial and training videos on youtube will be coming soon.
good day Mr.! just wanna ask how can i enter the given url to my cellphone source code to see my location into your server??thanks ahead
Hey Menard
Thank you for pointing out that problem. I have fixed the project so that all phone clients have thier defaultUploadWebsite variable pointing to:
http://www.websmithing.com/gpstracker/updatelocation.php
All phone clients should now have that as their default.
Nick
Can i change the name of the display device instead of androidUser?
I really love your project Mr. Nick, but how can i change the name of the device display in the map server instead of androidUser. Thanks ahead for you response.
How to actually use this thing over computer. I am using it as a Android App using Bluestack agent. Please explain fully.
Thank You
Hello
if you want a translation into french, I have a can of time.
cordially
Arnaud
Hello
I already dnl GitHub and GitShell but it’s impossible to understend how to use that to have GpsTracker. Please give some explanation step by step. I will donate, after I can use. Thanks in advance.
When i am trying to build/debugg the android app, i am getting gradle errors…Can u help with that?
9:08:02 μμ Gradle ‘android’ project refresh failed:
Build script error, unsupported Gradle DSL method found: ‘classpath()’!
Possible causes could be:
– you are using Gradle version where the method is absent
– you didn’t apply Gradle plugin which provides the method
– or there is a mistake in a build script
Build file ‘C:\Users\Dhm\Desktop\GpsTracker\phoneClients\android\build.gradle’ line: 3
: Gradle settings
9:08:43 μμ Error running GpsTracker: Gradle project sync failed. Please fix your project and try again.
Hey everyone, thanks for responding. I am working on a quickstart guide that will help developers get up and running with this software. That should be ready shortly.
Dhm, do you have the very latest version of Android Studio? And also can you please explain how you are opening the android gpstracker project. I just downloaded the project from sourceforge and its working fine.
Arnaud, thank you for your kind offer!
Hi, so I lost my phone and can’t find it anywhere. I downloaded the gps tracker on my laptop but cant open the files. I have a windows 7 dell. I was hoping you could help me out and tell me what to do, I’m technologically challenged. Extremely.Thanks!
Hi Cassandra, I’m sorry to hear about your phone being lost. You can only find it if you put tracking software on your phone BEFORE the phone is lost. The only thing that can be done now is to try to call the phone and see if someone answers.
If its a real emergency, you could try contacting the police and seeing if they can help, but I’ve never tried that…
Is the ios client available via the Apple store (I cannot find it there) or is there some other way it needs to be installed on the phone?
Hey everyone, I have created a quick start guide for GpsTracker:
http://www.websmithing.com/2014/01/20/quick-start-guide-for-gpstracker-3/
@RealistTheorist, no, the app is not in the app store yet, I just finished it a week ago. If you read the quick start guide, it will explain what you need to install it. If you need to install it and have others test it, then you will most likely need to get a developer’s license from Apple.
@Joao, @Saynatan, please read the guide
Most of the questions that people are asking here are now answered in the guide. Please ask if your question has still not been answered.
Hi Nick,
I’d like to use your software but I don’t know how. I read your guide but at this time I don’t know how does it really works, sorry.
On sourceforge I’ve downloaded gpstracker but at this time I don’t if it’s for Windows XP computer or for mobile phone.
On your guide you talk about server and client : what does it means exactly ? Does your freeware permits to track only a phone since a computer ? Or it permits too to track a phone since another phone too ?
Thanks in advance for your answer.
Have a nice day.
Regards, Gizmo.
Hi Gizmo
The clients means cell phones (or tablets), so in my article when I say ios client, that means iphone or ipad. Servers are just computers and you have to install my server software onto a web server that also has a database server. So you install my software onto phones and computers and the phones get the gps location and sends it to the web server and that location is stored in the database. When you go to view the website, you can see the location. Check it out here, select a route from the dropdown box below the route:
http://www.websmithing.com/gpstracker/displaymap.php
that is the server software. My software only tracks from phone to computer, not phone to phone. But if you are on another phone you can easily go to the website and see the other phone so it works out both ways.
take care
Nick
Ok thanks.
It’s a great idea this freeware for sure. Congrats.
As I have some others questions. Can we please communicate our emails ?
I let you begin cause I don’t know yours but you know mine(s).
If you’ve read this message could you please delete it and send to me an email just for me to answer to you ?
I don’t project to disturb you for a longtime just the time to ask you some questions that’s all. (I’m not a fan don’t worry).
Thanks a lot in advance.
Regards, Mr X.
Hey Mr. X
If it’s questions about working with GpsTracker, I prefer to keep it on this thread so others can read it and learn from it. I holpe that works for you.
thanks
Nick
I would like to implement this on my non profit project PHP web page to display stationary locations (with their own color push pins from a separate database) as well as GPS with its own icon on a map. Is this possible? Is there anyone available to assist with this – we can offer compensation if needed.
Hey Mario
I will email you.
Nick
Gradle ‘android’ project refresh failed:
Could not find com.google.android.gms:play-services:4.0.30.
Required by:
android:GpsTracker:unspecified
HI I CANT RUN THE ANDROID PROJECT THIS ERROR IS POPPING UP
HOW CAN I FIX IT?
THANK YOU
Hey Angelo
I just saw this comment. Were you able to get it working? Sorry for the delay.
Nick
hey nick
101.222.226.252
thanks for the wonderful code you have posted on net.
couple of questions on my end.
1. if i install this app on android/windows phone, will that show as independent app or will it run on background kind of hidden mode
2. after installation is this required 3g service on phone or using gps itself it will push the updates (sorry if this question is silly)
thanks
matrix
Hey matrix
1) The android is a full app and it also runs in the background. But you will always be able to come back to the app at any time and turn off tracking. It’s not a hidden app in any way. The only thing that it doesn’t do is keep on running if someone restarts the phone. I have a version that handles that but I haven’t posted it yet.
2) yes, a data plan is required to send the gps location to your website.
hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Nick
ps. I needed to move your comment, I didn’t mean to enable comments on that page.
For all,
just an alternative
http://opengts.sourceforge.net/
Hey nik
Thanks for mentioning the OpenGTS project. That is an excellent project. He contacted me several years ago and hired me to write an iPhone client for his project. Maybe I’ll get back in contact with him and see if he wants to do any collaborating.
Nick
Hi,
i’ve same problem like angelo which is:
Gradle ‘android’ project refresh failed:
how could i solve this? How can i generate an apk file and install to my phone?
Thank you
Hi gates
Can you please tell me where you downloaded it from? Was it from sourceforge or from github? If it was from sourceforge, could you please try the version from github (it’s more recent).
https://github.com/nickfox/GpsTracker
and also, do you have the latest version of android studio?
thanks
Nick
Hi gates
I tried to email you about this but my email got bounced back saying “recipient failed permanently”. That’s to bad, I would really like to get to the bottom of this. Leave me a comment with your correct email and I’ll be happy to sort this out with you.
Nick
I need a tracking software that can be used to track my uncle who has Alzheimer’s. He always has his cell phone, but his tendency to get lost is increasing. I am very limited in my computer savvy and want something that is easy to install and set up. From what I read it keeps referring to website. All I want is to be able to track with my home computer.
Could you please advise? Time is of the essence, as he is getting progressively worse.
Could you please send response to my e-mail, since I don’t know if I will ever find my way back to this blog.
Hey Ralph
I will email you but I’m going to post the answer here for future reference. I don’t think that my project is best suited for your needs. It can most certainly do the job but would require programming to do what you want. It’s more aimed towards software developers.
I went to the Alzheimer’s organization website and found this tracker that they recommend:
http://www.alz.org/comfortzone/about_comfort_zone.asp
I think this product (especially with the wrist bracelet) will get you up and running quickly. Let me know if I can be of any other help.
Nick
Hi Nick;
I like your app but I can’t get it to list my route on the viewer. Do I have to register with your test site somehow?
Thanks,
Kathleen
Hey Kathleen
There is no registration, the app should just work as is. What user name were you using and did you download the app from Google Play?
Nick
User name was aatest and the app was downloaded from websmithing.com. A colleague has just successfully tested using the same install so it’s been sorted.
Thanks for your speedy reply!
K.
Hi Nick,
I have reviewed the Android code and it seems to be sending the data properly out of the phone, but I cannot view the output on your website. Is there any lag in updating the data that we should know about. I tested the app on both the Galaxy S3 and S4, under the username Sefcom, Astsecureteacking, and getmrnow.
I realized there was a lag between the time the data was sent to the server and the time it was being rendered on your website. I implemented your server using PHP and mySQL, but I am not able to load the maps at all.
I have read your information and looked at your demonstration and like what I see. I have a couple of questions. The display of information for sample points includes two fields that I do not understand. One is “Distance” and the other is “Extra Information”. What are these fields used for? i.e. distance from where and what does the extra information mean? The second question is can the data displayed be modified to provide the actual GPS coordinates? Thanks in advance.
Hey David
Sorry for the delay. The distance field should be the total distance traveled from the time you start tracking until you finish tracking. The “extra info” field varies by phone. It really is of no importance and can be used by the developer for anything they want. I had to stick the answer to the second question in a gist, the comment would not display properly here. Here is the answer:
https://gist.github.com/nickfox/0d0e281bb960eaa687fa
Thank you so much for the information. I am not technically oriented any more (once was but am now just a user) but I am going to try to set up my Samsung phone and run a few tests using your web site before I have it set up on my own web site. I have a somewhat different use for this that may be extremely useful to me and others. Your work seems to me to be exceedingly valuable by being as simple a concept as it is. I particularly like the fact that all you provide is gps tracking and nothing else: no backing up content, tapping of the phone, collecting data, copying pictures, etc. I can assure you that if this works out for me I will be making a contribution to its continued development.
I just ran a test and got an interesting result. The tracking mostly worked just fine but it appears that data points are missing. Is it possible this is happening because I was being picked up by more than one cell tower. Also the speed recorded in the data displayed appears to be about one half of what it actually was. I was going about 110 miles per hour but it was showing about 52 miles per hour. If you wish to further discuss this with me please email me.
Would like to know if you are planning to add Blackberries to your system. I have a number of people that I have talked to who have them and while they like your system they are not about to add a new cell phone just to use it. Also, I think that the reason that there were some missing data points is that there is a lack of cell towers in those areas. I am still curious about the discrepancy regarding the speed calculation however. The displayed speed seems to be one half of what I was actually doing. I was not following any roads as I was in an aircraft at the time and wondered if that had anything to do with it.
Hey David
Yeah, there are tons of ways to lose data points. Clouds, lots of trees, inside a city with tall buildings etc. All sorts of ways. I have experienced spurious speed readings when I had gps tracker working on a plane. And to be honest, I’m not sure why. But it seems to work pretty well at driving speeds.
I have considered creating a blackberry app in the past but since blackberry took a major nose dive, it just seemed like most people were leaving it for either iphone or android. And I think it’s obvious that that did happen. It wouldn’t be hard at all for me to create the blackberry app, I estimate it would take me one week of work but it’s something that I would have to be payed for. Because it’s a less popular platform now, there is not a lot of upside for me to write it.
If you and your friends are interested in paying me to write it, then please visit my “Hire Me” me page:
https://www.websmithing.com/hire-me/
thanks
Nick