GPS position reporting app

[Padowan]

I was doing some research into GPS trackers (eg Spot) that can update your position and publish it somewhere for people to track your progress live. I'm going on a solo off-road motorbike trip at the end of the summer and want to be able to show concerned people (eg my wife!) and interested partied (eg. everyone else!) where I have got to, and that I am safe and well. You can do this with a Spot tracker, but being a cheapskate, I started looking for something free/cheap.

I stumbled across an Android app called BubblerGPS that you can have running on your phone that will send your position details both periodically and automatically, and manually to the SpotWalla website, from where you can define trips, and share a URL that allows people to see all your position updates and status messages.

I went for the Pro version of Bubbler, which allows 5min automatic updates (instead of 15min with the free, Lite version) and the pro version also allows you to do things like upload photos attached to a manual position update. The Lite version can also only cache 5 position updates between data signals, whereas the pro version can cache 1,500.

So once you have everything installed on your Android phone, have configured the device in the app and have setup your Spotwalla account basically it works a bit like this:

• You start the app at the beginning of your journey and it'll just start tracking your position every 5 mins, if there's a data signal, this gets updated, if not the positions get cached.
• The app will only consider a GPS snapshot as a new position worth updating if it's more than 100m from the last point, so if you're stopped in one place and leave it running it'll not keep sending updates.
• You can go into the app at any time and select a manual update, there are predefined categories like Food, Fuel, Bed, Sight-seeing etc, or you can send a custom message, and with any manual update you can also attach a pic if you have the pro version.
• This continues ad-infinitum until you stop the app on your phone.
• On the website you can configure Trips - each trip basically has a start data/time and an end date/time and is essentially a collection of the position updates between those 2 dates/times - for each trip you get a URL that you can share, and then anyone can go in ans see what's happened.

Being on the motorbike, obviously I have power so this helps of course, and I'm using my phone for Nav in any case so it'll be running the GPS all day anyway, but if you've got a powerpack or maybe a solar charger you might be able to keep on top of the additional battery drain and use this for a walking trip.

Anyway - for what I want it for, it's going to be great (and now that there's a thread for motorbikes, I'll probably post up the URL of my trip int he summer for anyone interested!) and I thought I'd share the wisdom on here in case anyone else can make use of it.

 

[Enzo]

Is it different to buddybeacon on viewranger? I've used that so my wife knows my whereabouts when on my own in winter etc

 

[Padowan]

Is it different to buddybeacon on viewranger? I've used that so my wife knows my whereabouts when on my own in winter etc

Not sure, I don't use Viewranger (I'm an MMTracker user), so was looking for a standalone solution, but possibly it's similar.

 

[widu13]

A good idea (I have Viewranger) but does anyone know how to stop the GPS being left on by an Android phone. Every one I've had for years always leaves the GPS running with any navigation app be it VR, Co-Pilot, Google Maps etc. It could just be that the sub £200 phones that I have had can't handle smart switching, or perhaps this feature is now included in versions above 6.01 but my battery gets severely rinsed by GPS apps leaving the GPS on if I forget to turn the GPS off manually.

 

[Padowan]

Reading the bumf for this app (Bubbler GPS) there is a setting that you set the maximum time that the device will try and get a GPS fix for. So I assume from this that the GPS is dormant, then it's enabled for the time that you define to attempt to get a fix (for mine that's 30 seconds), and then is made dormant again, its not tracking second by second, which is what a lot of tracking apps are doing. I would suspect that this app is more battery friendly than a multi-function GPS app like Viewranger as VR is trying to track your position all the time.

 

[edh]

Good reminder - I used to use Tasker to turn off my location by setting up a profile; forgot to re-enable it on my current phone.

 

[SafetyThird]

hadn't heard of spotwalla, just downloaded SWconnect for ios to have a play. Doesn't seem to have the granular control that bubbler has but should be good for what I'm thinking.

Yes, I'd be interested in following your trip

 

[EM - paul]

Yes, I'd be interested in following your trip

Just download the hotels.com app and you should be able to track him a lot more accurately

 

[Padstowe]

A good idea (I have Viewranger) but does anyone know how to stop the GPS being left on by an Android phone. Every one I've had for years always leaves the GPS running with any navigation app be it VR, Co-Pilot, Google Maps etc. It could just be that the sub £200 phones that I have had can't handle smart switching, or perhaps this feature is now included in versions above 6.01 but my battery gets severely rinsed by GPS apps leaving the GPS on if I forget to turn the GPS off manually.

Never done the Buddy Beacon on VR but in GPS settings you can choose interval request time & auto disconnect time, am assuming these would be when the buddy beacon would search for location?
Also, what might save battery is setting the locating method of your phone to GPS only. But am not sure how that works really as buddy beacon would need phone signal to send, & if its on already would it drain more battery if location method set to high accuracy using signal & GPS?

 

[edh]

Just download the hotels.com app and you should be able to track him a lot more accurately

Somewhat annoyingly I just booked two hotels in the US for the summer

I don't believe Mr SafetyThird is wishing to follow me.....although all of you will have that golden opportunity as part of my research work

 

[widu13]

Never done the Buddy Beacon on VR but in GPS settings you can choose interval request time & auto disconnect time, am assuming these would be when the buddy beacon would search for location?
Also, what might save battery is setting the locating method of your phone to GPS only. But am not sure how that works really as buddy beacon would need phone signal to send, & if its on already would it drain more battery if location method set to high accuracy using signal & GPS?

It's not an app issue it's an Android issue. All of my GPS using apps don't switch off the GPS. I normally run my phone in Battery Saving mode in the Location settings as GPS does the battery in inside of 3 hours.

 

[Padstowe]

It's not an app issue it's an Android issue. All of my GPS using apps don't switch off the GPS. I normally run my phone in Battery Saving mode in the Location settings as GPS does the battery in inside of 3 hours.

Ok, sorry. I knew when I used to use the GPS test android app I'd have to manual turn off location but always assumed with the settings in VR it would control the location & make it sit idle in between & not continuous track.
I use an android 4.4.2 phone, & to be honest that's about as much as I could tell you about android.

 

[WilliamC]

It's not an app issue it's an Android issue. All of my GPS using apps don't switch off the GPS. I normally run my phone in Battery Saving mode in the Location settings as GPS does the battery in inside of 3 hours.

Locus Pro on Android upto version 7 (the latest I've got) turns off the GPS every time the phome goes idle or you switch to another tab/app (if not recording the track).

 

[Foxster]

You know this is likely not going to work much if you are anywhere even slightly off the beaten track?

I've shared my location with the Google Maps app on my Android phone for ages with wifey and it works fine around town and on main roads. Get beyond that though and there's little mobile coverage. For instance, she can follow my location to the edge of the Lake District and then she picks it up again several days later when I re-emerge.

It's not something I'd rely on as any kind of safety feature. For that you need a satellite-based system.

 

[Jamess]

You know this is likely not going to work much if you are anywhere even slightly off the beaten track.

It's not something I'd rely on as any kind of safety feature. For that you need a satellite-based system.

Sorry but that isn't correct. The GPS in a phone isn't dependent on network coverage. It is based on satellites.

You can switch GPS on and off in your settings at will and mapping apps will make use if it if it is switched on.

If you go somewhere with no signal and switch GPS on and can't get a location fix then the GPS chip in your phone is bust.

 

[Balagan]

Sorry but that isn't correct. The GPS in a phone isn't dependent on network coverage. It is based on satellites.

You can switch GPS on and off in your settings at will and mapping apps will make use if it if it is switched on.

If you go somewhere with no signal and switch GPS on and can't get a location fix then the GPS chip in your phone is bust.

I think the network coverage bit pertained to sharing your position rather than getting a GPS fix.

 

[Foxster]

Sorry but that isn't correct. The GPS in a phone isn't dependent on network coverage. It is based on satellites.

You can switch GPS on and off in your settings at will and mapping apps will make use if it if it is switched on.

If you go somewhere with no signal and switch GPS on and can't get a location fix then the GPS chip in your phone is bust.

Yes, you can determine your location anywhere (except indoors and some very heavily wooded locations) but without a network signal you can't tell anyone else where you are, which is what the OP was, I think, looking for.

 

[dovidola]

That's correct - if you want a reliable way of summoning assistance or reporting your progress when in a wilderness area then you require some kind of satellite communication device, because it's unlikely you will have either phone or internet signal. The device can be a satellite phone (very expensive) or one of the range of Personal Locator Beacons (less expensive but don't allow conventional conversation). No mobile phone app will enable you to communicate anything to the outside world via GPS, because while the mobile phone has a GPS receiver, it hasn't got a GPS transmitter.

 

[Padowan]

Yes, I know all that. I know that I will need a data signal in order to update the position, I know how mobile and satellite communications work. For my needs and where I'll be going and the level of update that I need, that is perfectly fine. I never said it was the panacea of remote area location tracking, I just thought it might be interesting for some other folks, who, like I did, can make an assessment of their needs and choose their own suitable tool, for some of them, this might work.

 

[dovidola]

Yes, I know all that. I know that I will need a data signal in order to update the position, I know how mobile and satellite communications work. For my needs and where I'll be going and the level of update that I need, that is perfectly fine. I never said it was the panacea of remote area location tracking, I just thought it might be interesting for some other folks, who, like I did, can make an assessment of their needs and choose their own suitable tool, for some of them, this might work.

And it might just kid someone into thinking it works as an emergency device...I'd humbly suggest that not necessarily everyone has your grasp of this stuff, which isn't a problem generally, but in the case of potential life or death it is perhaps more responsible to err on the side of clarity. No offence intended.

 

[el manana]

Tried this on the weekend. I think i had a near full charge phone when i turned it on at 3pm. Didn't have a phone signal all day so it couldn't send any coordinates. Battery was dead by 7.30pm. Was using Memory map and taking photos as well.

Nothing scientific but it looks like it might be a bit of a drain, cant recall my battery dying this fast previously.

 

[Diddi]

Tried this on the weekend. I think i had a near full charge phone when i turned it on at 3pm. Didn't have a phone signal all day so it couldn't send any coordinates. Battery was dead by 7.30pm. Was using Memory map and taking photos as well.

Nothing scientific but it looks like it might be a bit of a drain, cant recall my battery dying this fast previously.

if an Android phone and pretty modern you should be able to go into Setting / Device maintenance /Battery (off/Mid/Max) and triple battery life if needed. This may not then allow you to use gps etc but worth a try.

 

[dovidola]

Tried this on the weekend. I think i had a near full charge phone when i turned it on at 3pm. Didn't have a phone signal all day so it couldn't send any coordinates. Battery was dead by 7.30pm. Was using Memory map and taking photos as well.

Nothing scientific but it looks like it might be a bit of a drain, cant recall my battery dying this fast previously.

Were you in Airplane Mode el?

 

[dovidola]

It's a bit counterintuitive, but a cellphone uses far more power when there isn't a phone/internet signal than when there is one. This is because it will constantly launch new searches for a signal, and this chews up your power. It'll drain a full battery in a few hours (as @el manana experienced). The various 'battery saving modes' won't address this issue because they don't disable the phone's seeking a signal - after all, that's the phone's primary purpose! I met a chap on Red Pike last autumn who couldn't understand this, and had a collection of power packs strapped to his belt - on a day walk!

If going into areas without good reception, switch over to Airplane Mode and forget about any apps/functions which need an internet connection. GPS will still be enabled on most modern cellphones if needed for navigation etc., and downloaded stuff (like maps) and camera functions are still fine. Switch off completely at night. With moderate use, the battery will last for several days. Honestly.

 

[edh]

He wasn't; the app does not function in airplane mode.

Good excuse to buy an inReach.