Probably necessary to have a customised browser or other solution - i
haven't seen any that explicitly interface to a gps device for lat/long
co-ords.
You cannot triangulate position using wap - the phone company does it by
triangulating the position of the cellphone
(Very simplified explanation here)
GSM cellphones transmit a 'i am here' signal every few seconds, minutes etc
(dependant on phone settings)
It waits for a response from a cell tower, the strongest one to respond is
used.
On some nokia phones (and motorolas) you can turn on the engineering menu to
have a look yourself.
The phone company can look at the celltower stats and work out from response
times what cell you are in. By using triangulation they can pinpoint you
down. This is not available for the general public though.
I haven't worked with GPS devices so I can't really point you at any people
- garmin is a big name though.
I do know some gps devices have serial inputs for reporting position, you
could write code interface to that and use some method to transmit that info
back. WML is not the only solution. CDPD is also available in most
countries.
I use that here in China for internet on the go. For low bandwidth
solutions, its not too bad.
You could possibly end up with a iPaq or similar, a GPS module for that, and
a wireless modem for your solution. Would be expensive though, and does
incur monthly costs.
Not sure what your application is, or volume though.
Cheers,
Lawrence.
-----Original Message-----
From: John Monfort [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: July 26, 2001 11:51 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: [PHP] OT--PHP, MySQL, WML and GPS Tracking
Thanks for the reply, Lawrence. The embedded C option sounds tempting.
Question:
Is it necessary to have a customized browser? I know that most WAP
browsers (like the UP.SDK browser) pass certain parameters to the
server. Like, phone numbers, software version, and other values.
Any chance that one these parameters could be the Lat/Long
coordinates? (I don't think I've ever noticed that).
How does the phone company triangular a cell pone user?
Is anyone aware of a customizable GPS system?
Or, any suggestions on GPS developers? I've noticed quite a few
companies, but most of them focus on automobiles, and other large
devices. The GPS device is too large for our purposes.
I am familiar with Embedded C...with the right direction, I can
probably put the browser together. But, I'll research the option of a
third party browser, or outsourcing a customized browser.
Thanks for the info.
-john
__________John Monfort_________________
_+-----------------------------------+_
P E P I E D E S I G N S
www.pepiedesigns.com
"The world is waiting, are you ready?"
-+___________________________________+-
On Wed, 25 Jul 2001 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> I'm of the opinion you cannot do this totally in PHP.
>
> You are going to need some client side, and some server side software -
> server side can be php of course.
>
> Client side ie (gps/wap device)- One possibility - write a wap browser
that
> interfaces with your gps device and returns co-ords in header variables or
> cookies. (or post variables possible).
> you are either going to have to licence a web browser (or write on
yourself,
> add in some extra headers in the software), for your gps/pda. This is
most
> probably going to be an embedded system written in C or similar.
>
> 1.Its not as hard as it seems, there are open sourced browsers you can
base
> it on.
> 2.It is possible inhouse, but from what you describe, but probable you
want
> to outsource it.
>
> let me know if you need some more answers - i used to do embedded systems
> design in another life back in the good old days<grin>.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Monfort [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: July 26, 2001 7:22 AM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: [PHP] OT--PHP, MySQL, WML and GPS Tracking
>
>
>
>
> Hello everyone,
>
> This is slightly off topic, but I'm sure you guys are the best group to
> answer this.
>
> I have a client who needs a wireless website, that interacts with PHP and
> MySQL. In addition to that, the client wants to be able to track the
> geographical location, of the user--who will access the site with a cell
> phone and/or PDA device. Basically, if someone from, say Los Angeles,
> access the website, we want to be able to (automatically) capture his/her
> location. This is for internal uses, so the PDA device will be uniformed.
>
>
> That means, I will need to integrate a GPS system/function in the
> wireless pages. Once the connection is made, I can use php and mysql to
> handle the rest.
>
>
> My problem is with the GPS functions. I've never worked with any GPS
> system, so I'm looking for advices, references, and general directions.
>
> 1) How do I track a user's PDA device (geographical location)?
> **- I know some of the WAP enabled phones (like the i1000 by Nextel)
> doesn't let you do that**
> **- I think there some legality issues around that, but am not sure.
>
> 2) Where can I read up on that?
>
> 3) Has anyone work with something on that level? If so, then please help.
>
> At this point, the PDA device has not been chosen. We are still in the
> research stage.
>
> As far as I know, Trucking Companies, uses this type of system to track
> their trucks and drivers. And, off course, any car with a Navigation
> System is using the same concept.
>
> Where can I get some information on this? Has anyone programmed anything
> related to Global Positioning Systems? If so, then I would appreciate any
> information that you can share.
>
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
>
> __________John Monfort_________________
> _+-----------------------------------+_
> P E P I E D E S I G N S
> www.pepiedesigns.com
> "The world is waiting, are you ready?"
> -+___________________________________+-
>
>
>
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