Open a connection to a GPS Receiver.

The used connection method depends on the value of the settings item Use Location API.

Bluetooth device selection dialog opens. Choose the Bluetooth name of your GPS device from the list.

Before you execute this command, make sure, that the Bluetooth radio is turned on in your handset and that your BT GPS device has been paired with your handset. (Pairing in beforehand is not necessary, if the setting Use Location API has been turned on.)

Pairing can be usually done from the second tab of the Connectivity / Bluetooth applet within your S60 device. (Many BT GPS devices work also without pairing, but why not pair them to be sure. Pairing is especially required with some BT GPS devices requiring a PIN code.)

When the Connect GPS command succeeds, the leftmost icon turns enabled. If the GPS receiver has good satellite visibility, the UTC time and GPS coordinates appear into the display. If the satellite signal is too weak, there is a question mark on top of the leftmost icon.

Open packet data connection.

Option to specify IP address and port of the server in the Internet, which is listening to the UDP (or TCP) packets sent by GSM Tracker.

When prompted, select an Internet access point. Do not use MMS or WAP access points!

When the packet data connection succeeded, the middle icon of the main view turns enabled. (If not, a timeout may have occurred. Try again.)

Turn on the System attribute in the settings, if you want to make sure that the memory management does not close down the background application.

Side effect: If you set the system attribute ON, the application cannot be closed down by pressing the C key in the task list. You have to use the exit option in the application itself.

If you have several applications open and want to switch from one application to another: Press and hold (Menu key). The application switching window opens showing a list of applications that are currently open. Scroll to an application and press to go to it.

Go to http://www.toimii.com/gps/ to see your location data collected by Aspicore's logging database server.

Enter your phone's IMEI and click Send.

Soon you should see a table of stored location coordinates and links to various online maps.

The MapPoint link shows 20 most recent locations simultaneously on a single map. This is useful, if you want to fine-tune the trigger settings in GSM Tracker.

If you have Google Earth installed into your PC, try the Network Link with title "Snailtrail of 20 most recent valid positions". It shows your route on top of satellite or aerial image.

You can give your friends the URL of Google Earth Network Link to your latest position and then they can add a self-refreshing Network Link to their Google Earth to see your position moving!

Main screen

Settings view

Figure 1. Settings view, GPS

This chapter explains the meaning of each configuration settings item.

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.

NB. This settings item has no effect, if the item Use Location API has been turned on.

2 On startup GPS

• On: Causes automatic execution of connect GPS command when the application is started and whenever the GPS connection is lost.
  (Dependency: Requires, that Store GPS BT name is On and the GPS has been connected manually through the Options menu at least once. Or the item Use Location API has been turned on.)
• Off: User must manually choose the connect GPS command from the Options menu to get connected with the GPS module.

Figure 2. Settings view, GPS

3 GPS init string

This settings item is blank by default. If there is some text, the text suffixed with CR+LF is sent to the Bluetooth GPS, when a Bluetooth serial port connection is initiated. This settings item has no effect, if the item Use Location API has been turned on.

4 Use Location API

• On: Use operating system's location acquisition services to get GPS data. This option is required to use an internal GPS chip within your phone, but it can also be used with an external Bluetooth GPS device. This option may enable you to run several location aware applications on your device at the same time.
• Off: Use a direct Bluetooth serial port connection to an external Bluetooth GPS device.

NB. If your device has not got an internal GPS chip, the positioning method should be set to Bluetooth GPS. (Don't worry, it probably is by default.) If there are no Bluetooth GPS devices on your phone's paired devices list, the system asks you select the device, when you first time issue the Connect GPS command. The selected device is automatically added into the paired devices list. If you later want to use a different Bluetooth GPS device, clear the old device from the paired devices list first. (This description concerns the Location acquisition API only.)

5 Retry after, min

If the value of this setting is greater than zero, use adaptive Bluetooth GPS reconnection interval to save battery power: first 10 minutes continuous retry (consumes Bluetooth transmission power constantly), after that try reconnecting every X minutes, where X is set by this settings item (consumes transmission power only once in X minutes).

If the value is zero, the Bluetooth GPS connection is continuously tried to keep on (provided that On startup GPS is on and the GPS has not been intentionally disconnected).

Figure 3. Settings view, Net

1 Store Access Point

• On: Do not show the Select access point dialog, when issuing the Connect Internet 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 Internet command is executed.

2 On startup conn.

• On: Causes automatic execution of Connect Internet command when the application starts and whenever the packet data connection is lost. Use the stored UDP Server IP and UDP 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 Internet command from the Options / Packet data menu to open a socket to the logging database server IP and port. The packet data connection must be open before any data can be sent to the server.

3 Disable bill prompt

• On: Don't show Billable Events dialog, when connecting to the Internet or sending a text message.
• Off: Show Billable Events dialog according to the Symbian Signed rules. (The dialog warns the user that making an Internet connection or sending a text message may cause charges to the phone bill).

NB. The settings items 4, 5 and 6 can be ignored, when using HTTP instead of UDP.

4 UDP Server IP

The IP address of the logging database server. The GSM Tracker application sends the GPS data and / or GSM cell data to this IP address as UDP datagram. You must have a GPRS/3G data service enabled in your carrier contract 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 "5 Optional Hostname" is empty, if you want that this IP address has an effect.

If you are using a public internet packet data access point, you can use Aspicore's test server for testing purposes. Test server's IP address is 217.152.56.226. 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. 

Figure 4. Settings view, Net

Figure 5. Settings view, Net

5 Optional Hostname

By default this field is empty. If you enter a DNS name here, it overrides the "UDP 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 5). 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 conn." is switched on. (Manual Internet connects via the menu ask always an IP address and does not allow entering a DNS name.)

If you enter anything to this Optional Hostname field, please check that the packet data connection status icon changes to connected state. This shows, that your DNS name works.

If the DNS name is invalid and the "On startup conn." is switched on, the packet data 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 UDP Server IP instead.

6 UDP Server Port

The UDP port, the logging database server is listening. Aspicore's test server is currently listening on port 1002.

7 Connection reset, min

Possibility to force Internet connection disconnect/reconnect every X minutes, where X is set by this settings item.

0 = disabled.

8 Use TCP, not UDP

• On: Use a TCP connection instead of connectionless UDP datagrams. The format of the message payload is the same as with UDP. The server address also for TCP is set byt the items UDP Server IP, Optional Hostname and UDP Server Port.
• Off: Default value. UDP protocol is used with the GPRS/3G connection to send location data to a server in the Internet. (Or if the setting HTTP Protocol is on, then HTTP is used instead of plain UDP/TCP.)

Figure 6. Http settings view

Figure 7. Http settings view

1 HTTP Protocol

• On: Use Hypertext Transfer 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. (Or TCP, if Use TCP, not UDP is turned on.) UDP is usually faster, more reliable and cheaper to use than HTTP, but UDP is not possible with all carriers 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 for one way communication only. It does not wait for any receipt acknowledgement from the server. Successfully sending a UDP datagram does not guarantee that it actually reaches 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.

Figure 8. Http settings view

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.

Figure 9. Http settings view

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.

8 URL param: altitude

• On: Append parameter called 'alt' to the data upload URL. The value is Altitude in meters according to WGS-84 ellipsoid from the GPS NMEA message $GPGGA.
• Off: Do not send altitude value to the web server.

9 URL param: HDOP

• On: Append parameter called 'hdop' to the data upload URL. The value is Horizontal dilution of precision from the GPS NMEA message $GPGGA.
• Off: Do not send time value to the web server.

10 Send cell every time

• On: The current cell info are sent in every http transaction, when some GPS data is sent. The current cell info are sent also, when the time trigger fires even if there is no GPS data available. Used parameter names in the http get request for the current network cell are: 'cell', 'lac', 'nwname', 'mcc', 'mnc', 'ssi'
• Off: Do not send current cell info in every http transaction.

Regardless of the status of the above item, the rest of the cell info http transmission logic is as follows: If the setting Cell trigger has been turned on and the cell tracking function started (rightmost status icon), the cell info is sent, when the current cell changes. Used parameter names in the http get request for the old and the new network cell are: 'outcell', 'outlac', 'outnwname', 'outmcc', 'outmnc', 'incell', 'inlac', 'innwname', 'inmcc', 'inmnc'

1 Time trigger

• On: Send GPS coordinate data periodically to the logging database server (or a capture file) every <Time period, min> minutes plus <Time period, sec> seconds. Requirements: GPS and Internet must be connected, before this settings item has any effect. Exceptions: GPS is not needed, if Send cell every time is on. Internet connection is not needed, if a capture file is active.
• Off: Do not use a timer based send data action.

2 Time period, min

The time interval in minutes for timer based GPS data send action. An integer value. Either of the time period fields must be greater than zero for the trigger to work. In addition, Time trigger must be switched On.

3 Time period, sec

The time interval in seconds for timer based GPS data send action. An integer value. Either of the time period fields must be greater than zero for the trigger to work. In addition, Time trigger must be switched On.

4 Distance trigger

• On: Send GPS coordinate data to the logging database server (or a capture file), when the current position fix differs at least by <Distance, meters> from the previously sent position fix. Requirements: GPS and Internet must be connected, before this settings item has any effect. Exception: Internet connection is not needed, if a capture file is active.
• Off: Do not use a distance based send data action.

5 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.

6 Cell trigger

• On: Send GPS coordinate data together with the network cell information to the logging database server (or a capture file) each time the network cell changes. Requirements: Internet must be connected and cell tracking must be activated, before this settings item has any effect. Exception: Internet connection is not needed, if a capture file is active.
• Off: Do not use a GSM network cell based send data action.

1 Trig on start

• On: Send GPS coordinate when vehicle starts moving. (Assumed moving, when speed is greather than 3 knots.)
• Off: Ignore the "start moving" event.

2 Move time, second

If Trig on start is on, send position only, when moving has continued Move time seconds.

3 Trig on stop

• On: Send GPS coordinate when vehicle stops. (Assumed stopped, when speed is zero.)
• Off: Ignore the "stop moving" event.

4 Stop time, second

If Trig on stop is on, send position only, when the vehicle has been stationary Stop time seconds.

5 Turn trigger

• On: Send GPS coordinate when the movement direction (course) changes.
• Off: Ignore the course value.

6 Angle, degrees

If Turn trigger is on, the minimum change in direction, which causes a new data send action. The reference value is the course during the previous data send action.

7 Tx hold, second

The minimum time between subsequent data send actions. With this parameter you can limit too frequent data transmissions.

This parameter is used as a second phase in the trigger logic. First all the other triggers are evaluated. If some trigger fires, a flag is set. Next the software checks that the previous data send action is older than the Tx hold value. If yes, a new position is sent and the flag is reset. If no, then the flag is kept set until Tx hold seconds have elapsed since the previous send action and then a new position is unconditionally sent without any further trigger examinations that time and the flag is reset.

NB. The Cell trigger is independent of this Tx hold parameter. If you have turned Cell trigger on and the cell tracking has been started, location data is always sent immediately when the cell changes.

8 Max HDOP, 0=ignore

Maximum Horizontal dilution of precision value, when the fix is still considered reliable.

You can use this field to try to filter out incorrect position fixes ("noise") from your captured location data.

Distance trigger, Trig on start, Trig on stop and Turn trigger are effective only when the fix is considered reliable, i.e. the GPS device says the fix is valid and in addition this settings item is zero or the current HDOP value got from the GPS is less than or equal to the value of this settings item.

1 On startup tracking

• On: Causes automatic execution of Start Cell Tracking command when the application is started.
• Off: User must manually execute the Start Cell Tracking command from the Options / Cell phone menu to enable some action based on mobile network cell change. Possible actions are: 1) show a note dialog with a beep tone each time the network cell changes, 2) send cell data possibly together with GPS coordinates to the database logging server each time the network cell changes.

2 Cell change beep

• On: Show a note dialog with a beep tone each time the network cell changes. Add cell change information to the list in the log view. Cell tracking must be activated  or otherwise this settings item has no effect.
• Off: Be silent about the cell changes. However, send data action may still be fired based on cell change even if this settings item is Off.

Figure 16. Settings view, File

1 Capture file

• On: Store location data in a text file on the flash disk. The data to be stored is selected with the same trigger rules as the data to be sent. The file is finalized and closed, when you exit the GSM Tracker application or when the day has been changed. Only then you can send the file to a PC e.g. with your phone's File Manager and its Send via Bluetooth command.
• Off: File capture function is disabled. (Still the capture file may stay open until you exit GSM Tracker.)

NB. The file is saved, when you exit the GSM Tracker application or when the day has been changed. If the battery is removed while the application is still running or the power suddenly disappears, you may lose the data in the open file.

2 Capture file path

Directory, where the capture file will be created.

The directory must already exist. GSM Tracker will not create the directory. Use phone's File Manager to create a new directory, if desired.

The phone's internal Flash is called disk drive C: and the memory card is called disk drive E:

All the files and folders on C-drive, which are visible with phone's File Manager, seem to be under the folder C:\Data. (At least this is the case with our N73 and 5500d devices with English settings.)

The capture file itself is always named like trackYYYYMMDD.txt, where YYYY is the year, MM is the month and DD is the day.

Figure 17. Settings view, File

3 NMEA only

• On: Capture file contains mainly NMEA messages received from the GPS.
• Off: In addition to NMEA messages, the capture file may contain other messages, that GSM Tracker normally sends with the UDP protocol. Such other messages are e.g. cell ID information.

4 Add timestamp

• On: Each message in the capture file is annotated with a line containing the current time (local time).
• Off: Do not add timestamp lines into the capture file. (NMEA messages contain accurate time info anyway.)

5 Offline capture only

• On: Write data to the capture file only, when the application is disconnected from the Internet. This way you can use the capture file as a backup to the real-time on-line tracking in case there is no cellular coverage in all areas.
• Off: Write data to the capture file regardless of the online state of the Internet connection.

Figure 18. Settings view, SMS

1 Recipient number

Mobile number, where text messages are sent. Used when selecting Options -> Current position -> Send SMS from the menu or when Packet data warning or GPS warning has been turned on.

2 SMS template

Template for the text message, which is sent with the menu command Options -> Current position -> Send SMS. The template is sent otherwise as such, but the placeholders <lat> and <lon> are replaced with the current GPS coordinates.

3 Packet data warning

• On: Send message "Internet connection lost" as SMS, when the application notices that the GPS connection has been broken and when it cannot be restored within a period of one minute. Later on, when the reconnection succeeds, another SMS is sent: "Internet connection resumed"
• Off: Do not send automatic text messages based on the Internet connection status.

4 GPS warning

• On: Send message "GPS connection lost" as SMS, when the application notices that it has not received any data from the GPS within 5 minutes or there has been an unexpected break in the Bluetooth connection. Later on, when the reconnection succeeds, another SMS is sent: "GPS connection resumed"
• Off: Do not send automatic text messages based on the GPS connection status.

1 Calc speed in km/h

...

2 Calc speed in mph

...

3 Speed text emphasis

...

4 Diagnostics mode

Show additional debugging and diagnostics messages in the log view.

Figure 20. Settings view, Misc

5 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.

6 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.

Figure 21. Settings view, Misc

7 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.

NB. Side effect: If you set the system attribute ON, the application cannot be closed down by pressing the C key in the task list. You have to use the exit option in the application itself.

8 Autostart

• On: Start GSM Tracker automatically, when you switch the power on. This feature requires, that you have left the check box "Autostart possible" selected, when installing the application.
• Off: Do not leave GSM Tracker automatically running after switching the power on. Due to technical reasons, the application starts anyway in the background after the device boot, if you left the check box "Autostart possible" selected, when installing the application. But if this setting item is OFF, the application exists by itself during the initialization period and GSM Tracker does not leave running. You have to restart the application manually.

9 Send also $GPGGA

• On: Send the $GPGGA lines from the GPS to the Internet server (UDP protocol) and to the possible capture file. $GPRMC lines are always sent. $GPGGA lines contain the number of satellites being used, horizontal dilution of precision and altitude values, among other fields. Even if you turn this setting on, GSM Tracker does not send $GPGGA sentences, if your GPS device does not output those sentences.
• Off: Do not send the $GPGGA lines from the GPS to the Internet server (UDP protocol) and to the possible capture file. Send only the standard $GPRMC lines containing the core GPS fix data like time, latitude, longitude, speed and course.

Figure 22. Settings view, Misc

10 Map page URL

Template for the URL, which is sent to the browser, when the user chooses the menu option Current position -> Show in browser.

The placeholders <lat> and <lon> are replaced with the current latitude and longitude values before this URL is given to the browser.

Figure 23. Settings view, Label

1 Quick label 1

Text to be shown in the grid view position 1.

You can use these quick label fields to preset labels that are shown in the label tab. Then when the user presses the corresponding key (1-9), GSM Tracker sends that label (or its ordinal number) to the server. This is quicker way to send labels than by using the Options menu.

Preset label can be like "Job started", "Job finished", "Busy", "Ready", "Private" etc.

Figure 24. Settings view, Label

10 Send number only

• On: Send only the number in the label field, when pressing a quick label key within the Label tab.
• Off: Send the whole text in the label field, when pressing a quick label key within the Label tab.

Figure 25. Settings password

You can set password for the settings menu through by choosing Password... from the Options menu within the Settings view. When the settings password has been set, you cannot enter the Settings view again without entering the correct password.

Step by step instructions to set the password: When GSM Tracking is running and activated, first select menu Options->Settings. Then WITHOUT pressing "Back" select again Options and there should be "Password..." as the second menu item. Select "Password..." from the menu and the dialog of Fig. 18 appears.

If you have set the password and want to remove it, you can do it by changing password to an empty string (blank).