Use a smartphone like a SPOT Tracker?

[Yossarian™]

Originally Posted by 65bmwr50

On the instamapper website they say that Verizon shuts off the GPS access on their phones. Does anybody use this on their Verizon Android?

I have an HTC Incredible running Android 2.1 on Verizon; the GPS is very much enabled.

[CodeMonkee]

There are apps for that, but naturally they don't work (at least not in realtime) in areas where there is no coverage. Most of my rides are in areas where there is no cell coverage - hence the SPOT.

[gogogordy]

Originally Posted by lhendrik

Wow, this is really cool. I just read it here 10 minutes ago and already have it up running on my iPhone!

Here's my location being shared:
http://www.instamapper.com/ext?key=11455971271242987611

Thanks to intothenew

+1 on thanks to intothenew, and +1 to this thread, and of course this forum....always some great info to be had, and this Instamapper is now installed, up and running and the shizz for what I need it for!

[BobbyC]

I've been using Google Latitude for over a year now and it works great for BB's.

I signed up for InstaMapper and it's cool but turning on gps kills my battery so I never use it. Google Lat can use cell sites for location.

[Rottweiler]

Originally Posted by BobbyC

I've been using Google Latitude for over a year now and it works great for BB's.

I signed up for InstaMapper and it's cool but turning on gps kills my battery so I never use it. Google Lat can use cell sites for location.

This is good to know, thanks.

Appears Gog Lat is also available for Android phones. Not sure about iPhone.

[Yossarian™]

Originally Posted by Rottweiler

Appears Gog Lat is also available for Android phones. Not sure about iPhone.

Google Latitude is a feature of Google Maps for mobile on these phones:

• Android-powered devices, such as the T-Mobile G1
• iPhone and iPod touch devices
• most color BlackBerry devices
• most Windows Mobile 5.0+ devices
• most Symbian S60 devices (Nokia smartphones)

[DeeCee]

I've been using InstaMapper for a good while now on my BB Storm with Verizon service. It works very well in most respects. I gave my close family the login info for the actual page so they can track in realtime with breadcrumbs, and anyone interested gets the facebook app which shows only the last ping.
my family says it provides peace of mind when I'm out on the lonely Western US highways which is cool.

My one gripe is that it's still 'phone GPS' triangulated from cell towers so the places I want it the most, are the places that are empty and usually don't have cell reception. it is, however, free and extremely accurate.

Edit: Depending on how often you set it to 'ping', you'll want a 12v acc plug and the car adapter. Setting mine for a ping every 5 mins kills my battery in 4 hours.

[JadeRider]

my 4 cents here.

I had been using the Google latitude app, and tried Instamapper yesterday on my Sprint BBerry 8330.

Here are my impressions:

- Google latitude: I used it last year on my 2 week cross country (Long Way) from Houston to Wendover UT and back. My wife was able to track me, most of the time, but the accuracy left quite a bit to be desired, and sometimes put me in places like Pennsylvania. Nowhere near where I was. It also had a very serious impact on battery life. Nice things was, I could incorporate the latitude data into my WordPress blog through the badge code provided by Google.

- Instampper: was impressing at the beginning, pinging the map, while I was at the office, every minute or so. However, I left the office to run errands after work and then made it home. No pings registered while running errands.
This morning, it shows I am still at home. Also, the public map only shows current location, not tracks. The private version shows tracks. I would like to have this option in public for some projects I am working on.

As with many other things, we can try to wedge capabilities into phones, and other devices, but having a dedicated appliance is, in general, a better strategy when reliability and accuracy are necessary.

I will get a spot from REI since their return policy is pretty much iron clad, and report on results with that.

[quota]

Originally Posted by CodeMonkee

There are apps for that, but naturally they don't work (at least not in realtime) in areas where there is no coverage. Most of my rides are in areas where there is no cell coverage - hence the SPOT.

Here in my local area, the best riding happens to be where there is no cell phone coverage. Spent 3 days last week riding out of a town that had no cell phone coverage. I'll stick with SPOT...

[intothenew]

Originally Posted by DeeCee

My one gripe is that it's still 'phone GPS' triangulated from cell towers

Not true if you have a 3GS phone. The accuracy is sat, it needs cell sig to upload the pos.

Errant sigs, I have only had trouble with leaving it on indoors, no sat just cell triang. She thought I was in the hospital a couple of weeks ago.

[NWBoarder]

Originally Posted by intothenew

Not true if you have a GPS phone. The accuracy is sat, it needs cell sig to upload the pos.

Fixed. I think this is slightly more accurate. (Unless you are with Verizon)

It has been reported that Verizon disables some of the features, like GPS. So maybe that is what was happening in DeeCee's case.

[worwig]

Originally Posted by NWBoarder

Fixed. I think this is slightly more accurate. (Unless you are with Verizon)

It has been reported that Verizon disables some of the features, like GPS. So maybe that is what was happening in DeeCee's case.

Verizon USED to disable the GPS hardware in the phones unless you used their GPS software. As of (I believe it was) Q1 of 2008, they stopped doing that. The GPS hardware is enabled on them now.

I have my tracking enabled now as I am traveling this weekend. I have it set to only update about every 20 minutes or so to save batteries. I will occasionally post a Geotagged photo online too. How does the SPOT handle geotagged photos? Since I am with Verizon, I seldom lose signal where I am riding. The poor folks I ride with on ATT though, they don't even bother bringing a phone much of the time.

Though I can see where a SPOT would be nice for some people, for me it would be a waste of money.

I'm here this weekend: (I usually disable tracking on my return home)
http://www.geoterrestrial.com/groups/guzzi/

[Reverse]

Originally Posted by DeeCee

I've been using InstaMapper for a good while now on my BB Storm with Verizon service. It works very well in most respects. I gave my close family the login info for the actual page so they can track in realtime with breadcrumbs, and anyone interested gets the facebook app which shows only the last ping.

There's no need to give them the login info. You can republish the map on a different website without anyone needing login info.

Originally Posted by JadeRider

Also, the public map only shows current location, not tracks. The private version shows tracks. I would like to have this option in public for some projects I am working on.

Tracks or current location is a a feature you can set when republishing the code for the map to be public. You can set up to 50 points to be published. It's at the bottom of the page where you create the code for the map.

[GP1152]

Check out a program called trip journal for iPhone . Not exactly what you're looking for but pretty cool nonetheless.

[1stworks]

cool...