Main screen
The main screen contains three tabs: State, Log and Info. You can navigate between the tabs with left and right arrow keys.
Figure 1.
State view, no connection
Figure 2.
State view, connected
Figure 3.
State view, satellites out of sight
The State view contains two icons showing the connection state and a few dynamic text fields showing most important GPS data values.
The leftmost icon
shows whether the Bluetooth connection to the GPS
receiver is active or not. Explanation:
- Figure 1: GPS not connected.
- Figure 2: GPS connected, three satellites in sight
- Figure 3: GPS connected, but the satellites are out of sight and thus the position fix is not valid (Note the letter V before the latitude degrees).
The rightmost icon
shows the GPRS connection status. Explanation:
- Figure 1: GSM tracker is not connected to the database server.
- Figure 2 and 3: GSM tracker is connected to the database server. (Actually GSM tracker has requested the system to open an UDP socket to the logging database server IP and port. Because the server does not confirm the connection, this icon does not guarantee that the connection works.)
The UTC time field shows the time from the latest interpreted data read from the Bluetooth GPS. UTC time should go on in real time with a few seconds interval. This is a good indication that the Bluetooth GPS connection is working and is in sync. The number of currently visible satellites is shown at the end of the UTC time row.
The data row with label Msg at the bottom of the state view shows counters for the NMEA messages received from the Bluetooth GPS. The first counter is the total count of all the received NMEA messages since the application start. The second counter shows the number of NMEA messages received since the previous display refresh. The display is periodically redrawn with a few seconds interval.
Figure 4.
Log view
The log view shows a list of latest application status change messages.
Figure 5.
Info view
The info view shows a textual response message from the server, when http protocol is used for coordinate sending.
Settings view
This chapter explains the meaning of each configuration settings item.
Figure 6.
Settings view (Basic tab)
1 Store GPS BT name
- On: Do not show the Bluetooth device selection dialog, when issuing the connect GPS command. Connect to the same Bluetooth device as on the previous time without asking the user to choose the device.
- Off: Ask the user to choose the Bluetooth device, when the connect GPS command is executed.
2 On startup GPS
- On: Causes automatic execution of connect GPS command when the application is started and whenever the GPS connection is lost.
- Off: User must manually choose the connect GPS command from the Options menu to get connected with the Bluetooth GPS.
3 On startup GPRS
- On: Causes automatic execution of connect GPRS command when the application is started and whenever the GPRS connection is lost. Use the stored GPRS Server IP and GPRS Server Port numbers instead of asking them interactively. Opens an UDP socket to the logging database server. The socket must be open before any information can be sent to the server. When Http protocol is used, the IP and port settings are redundant.
- Off: User must manually execute the connect GPRS command from the Options / GPRS data menu to open an UDP socket to the logging database server IP and port.
Figure 7.
Settings view (Basic tab)
6 Time trigger
- On: Send GPS coordinate data periodically to the logging database server every <Time period, min> minutes. Requirements: GPS and GPRS must be connected, before this settings item has any effect.
- Off: Do not use a timer based send data action.
7 Time period, min
The time interval in minutes for timer based GPS data send action. Must be greater than zero for the trigger to work. In addition, Time trigger must be switched On.
9 Distance trigger
- On: Send GPS coordinate data to the logging database server, when the current position fix differs at least by <Distance, meters> from the previously sent position fix. Requirements: GPS and GPRS must be connected, before this settings item has any effect.
- Off: Do not use a distance based send data action.
10 Distance, meters
The threshold distance, which causes GPS data send action, when the distance trigger is set on. In addition, Distance trigger must be switched On.
Figure 8.
Settings view (Basic tab)
11 GPRS Server IP
The IP address of the logging database server. The GSM Tracker application sends the GPS data to this IP address as UDP datagram. You must have a GPRS service subscription from your cellular service provider and a suitable Internet Access point created in you phone's Connection settings.
This setting item can be ignored, when using HTTP instead of UDP.
Make sure, that the field "12 Optional Hostname" is empty, if you want that this IP address has an effect.
If you are using a public internet GPRS access point, you can use Aspicore's test server for testing purposes. Aspicore's IP address is shown in Figure 8. You can see the data stored by Aspicore's test server at URL http://www.toimii.com/gps/. You need to submit your IMEI code to see the data collected from your phone.
12 Optional Hostname
By default this field is empty. If you enter a DNS name here, it overrides the "GPRS Server IP" above.
You can use this field e.g., if you haven't got a fixed public IP address for your server. You can access a server behind a dynamic public IP by e.g. using services from www.dyndns.com.
Note, that you should not add any http:// prefix in this field. Enter just the DNS name. (See figure 6). You can check, that a name is in proper format by giving a command like nslookup <your DNS name> (e.g. nslookup aspicore.dyndns.org) in the command prompt of your computer. If you get a proper IP address as an answer, <your DNS name> is in a valid form.
This setting has effect only when the setting "On startup GPRS" is switched on.
If you enter anything to this Optional Hostname field, please check that the GPRS connection status icon changes to connected state. This shows, that your DNS name works.
If the DNS name is invalid and the "On startup GPRS" is switched on, the GPRS connection status icon does not ever change to connected. Still the application continuously tries to resolve the IP address. You can see this in the Log view. If you see there repetitive "Looking up" messages followed by a time-out message, there is something wrong in your DNS name (or DNS server settings within your Internet access point). Change the Optional Hostname field to a working form or clear it entirely and use a raw IP address from the field GPRS Server IP instead.
13 GPRS Server Port
The UDP port, the logging database server is listening. Aspicore's test server is currently listening on port 1002.
This setting item can be ignored, when using HTTP instead of UDP.
Figure 9.
Settings view (Basic tab)
14 Diagnostics mode
Show additional debugging and diagnostics messages in the log view.
15 Store Access Point
- On: Do not show the Select access point dialog, when issuing the connect GPRS command. Connect to the same Internet access point (IAP) as on the previous time without asking the user to choose the IAP.
- Off: Ask always the user to select access point, when the connect GPRS command is executed.
16 On startup backlite
- On: Causes automatic execution of keep backlight on command when the application is started.
- Off: Backlight is in power save mode when the application is started. The backlight is de-activated after approximately 13 seconds of inactivity. You can still manually execute the keep backlight on command from the Options menu, but the command does not stay in force when you restart the application.
17 Global backlight
- On: This setting makes the keep backlight on command to affect also other applications even when the Aspicore GSM Tracker is not in foreground. This setting does not turn the backlight on. It adjusts the scope of the keep backlight on command.
- Off: This setting makes the keep backlight on command to work only locally, when Aspicore GSM Tracker is running in foreground. Backlight power save mode is always enabled, when the application is put to the background even if the keep backlight on command is active.
18 Local Port
A non-zero value is used as a local UDP port, when connecting to a server using a UDP socket. Normally this setting can be left zero. Then a random number is used as a local port.
19 System attribute
Possibility to set the system attribute in the settings. This prevents the OS memory management of closing this app down, when the other applications need more memory.
Figure 10.
Settings view (Basic tab)
Figure 11.
Settings view (Http tab)
1 HTTP Protocol
- On: Use HTTP protocol to periodically send the GPS coordinates to a web server. The data is sent to the server with a HTTP GET transaction. The GPS data is sent as URL parameters. The possible textual response from the server is shown in the Info tab.
- Off: Use UDP datagrams to periodically send the GPS coordinates to a database server in the Internet. UDP is usually faster, more reliable and cheaper to use than HTTP, but UDP is not possible with all cellular providers and setting up an UDP server with a custom port number may be more problematic than setting up an ordinary web server with TCP port 80. Aspicore GSM Tracker uses UDP to one way communication only. It does not wait for any feedback from the server.
2 Internet page URL
The address of the web page, which is used to issue the HTTP GET transaction to upload the GPS data. The IMEI number of the phone (parameter 'imei') and selected GPS data values are appended to this web page address as URL parameters. Latitude and longitude are always sent (as decimal degrees with names 'lat' and 'lon'), but the rest of the parameter values are optional.
See examples of the web page implementations in our ASP tools page and PHP tools page.
3 URL param: status
- On: Append parameter called 'status' to the data upload URL. The possible values are 'A' and 'V'. These values come directly from the GPS receiver. The letter A shows that the coordinates are valid. The letter V means, that there were too few satellites visible to make an accurate position fix.
- Off: Do not send GPS status field to the web server.
4 URL param: speed
- On: Append parameter called 'speed' to the data upload URL. The value is speed in knots.
- Off: Do not send speed value to the web server.
5 URL param: course
- On: Append parameter called 'course' to the data upload URL. The value is 'true' course from the GPS receiver in degrees. ('True' instead of 'magnetic', but not necessary accurate especially when the target is stationary.)
- Off: Do not send course value to the web server.
6 URL param: time
- On: Append parameter called 'time' to the data upload URL. The value is the GPS time (UTC, format: hhmmss.sss).
- Off: Do not send time value to the web server.
7 URL param: date
- On: Append parameter called 'date' to the data upload URL. The value is the GPS date (UTC, format: DDMMYY).
- Off: Do not send time value to the web server.