Cheap programmable GPS devices

Question

I'd like to start a side project that involves programming with GPS devices. All that I need is a GPS device that can record its location every X seconds or minutes, save those locations locally, and then send the list to a central server.

I know that iPhones have GPS support, but I don't want to spend $300+ on an iPhone and another $1000 on a mac computer. Any ideas on some reasonably cheap (ideally under $100) devices that can do this?

Two features that would be nice to have, although not important while I do some basic playing around: 1) Able to transmit data over Internet, especially long distances 2) Durable enough that they can be dropped/left in the rain and will still function.

Answer 1

There is a whole bunch of gps trackers out there - most (all?) of them are not programmable themselves though, they just give you a long list of coordinates + timestamps as far as I know. See for example http://www.amazon.com/s/qid=1244810529/ref=sr_gnr_aps?ie=UTF8&search-alias=aps&field-keywords=gps%20tracker

Answer 2

I have a chepaest GPS which I bought in UK (around 100$) ;-) I can use it for navigation. thats all nothing more than that.

If you want your GPS to transmit data to a server then I am sure you should be looking for some highened models. The device will require a mobile network to send data or a satellitle link to send data if its a remote area.

You can use a cheap second hand mobile phones which has GPS. You have the GPS and the you can easily develop a windows mobile, Symbian or a java program to transmit the corodinates to the server.

Regarding rain.. You can build a waterproof box easily ;-)

Edit : GPS is used by many of them in UK. But I live in India and most people here dont know what is GPS ;-) and maps dont work properly here so its easy to get a good secondh hand nokia or windows mobile phone here.

Answer 3

Look at:
http://www.enfora.com
http://www.falcom.de

Answer 4

If you don't want to buy an iPhone and all it's other components or worry about a phone at all, you could build your own GPS unit.

You will need a GPS unit itself, which you can get at SparkFun for around $50. In fact, they have a good guide on which to buy as well. Find it here.

After you have a GPS receiver and can receive data, you will just have to start routing the data as you wish. Initially, you could set up communication up over a serial port very easily. Or if you wanted to give it internet support, there are various boards that will take serial data, convert it, and send it over an ethernet connection (aka Internet).

As for protecting against drops and such, you should be able to fashion a case or housing for $10-$20.

This approach will take a little more effort on your part, but you should be able to get exactly what you want, save a little money, AND learn all about hardware and electronics!

Good luck!

Edit: After looking at SparkFun some more, I found out they actually sell GPS breakout boards that automatically wire a serial port and USB port for you to use for under $40! Take a look here.

Answer 5

Look at OEM models from say Garmin, GPS 10 for just over $200. You will find cheaper options once you start looking. Don't get a cell phone for GPS, that is, unless you alread have an old one with GPS handy (in which case you wouldn't be asking here).

Answer 6

There's an opensource modular hardware platform called the Bug that has gps available. The Bug base module is US $250 and the GPS module is $99. Some of their parts are on back order, but it seems like the platform has some potential.

Answer 7

Try looking for devices like Trimble Trimtrac Locator or enter "gps gsm" request into Google.

Answer 8

Time ago I have created a primitive embedded system which transmitted the coordinates via radio link.

I've got two transmitter/receiver radio modules and gps module (don't remember the exact price but it came under $100 alltogether).

I connected a receiver to the PC COM port and wrote a C# application which was reading data from the port.

On the other end I created an embedded module which was sending the data.

The solution was very simple and working but I wouldn't suggest it to anyone for serious applications.

First you must define what will you use your solution for (range, connection speed, security...) and after that you can look for appropriate modules. There are thousands of available modules which you can use for your solution and aren't expensive (in case you want to make something simple).

When you choose the parts you want to put together be sure you get the technical specifications because building hardware without it is almost impossible.

Answer 9

Look at the Garmin GPS18x OEM. Can be found for $85 and less.

The GPS 18x is an OEM GPS sensor for use in automotive, fleet vehicle, and electronics applications that require a small, highly accurate GPS receiver.

This device can connect to a serial or USB port on most computers. Programs running on the computer receive a stream of data packets from the device.

An example of such a program is gpsd, which includes the device mentioned above in the Compatible Hardware list. gpsd is open source, so it can be used as an example of using a GPS device in a program. It is also quite useful in itself for transmitting GPS information over the internet.

gpsd is a service daemon that monitors one or more GPSes attached to a host computer through serial or USB ports, making all data on the location/course/velocity of the sensors available to be queried on TCP port 2947 of the host computer. With gpsd, multiple GPS client applications (such as navigational and wardriving software) can share access to GPSes without contention or loss of data.

Answer 10

For our own side-project (http://woophoo.com) we have tested the cheapest chinese GPS tracking devices avialable around 100$.

Basically the same units can be obtained from different little firms (eg. "Bofan") with different names. They are integrated GPS-GSM devices, capable for GPRS and SMS communication, sending the measured locations to a central server online, all speaking the same protocol. We found that they are quite usable, however have some strange behavior. But, comparing to other gprs-gps devices, their price is very low. I'm not sure, but if online tracking is what you are looking for, with reliability not the first requirement, then these devices can be considered.