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DIY GPS tracking

Screen-2 DIY GPS tracking with "disposable" phones - Mod a GPS enabled Nextel and fauxjack yourself...or your car, or your kid, or a big dog, or an elephant. We really, really want to track an elephant. Mologogo is a free service that will track a "friends" GPS enabled cell phone from another phone(gps not required) or on the web. It currently works on pretty much any Nextel phone with Java and GPS - even a $60 no-contract Boost Mobile phone. Link. My dog might be getting another GPS.

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Oct 10, 2005 10:28 AM
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Posted by: dgjiv on October 10, 2005 at 12:36 PM

This sounds like just the app I've been looking for, but how do I install it to my phone? I have an i830 that is gps capable.


Posted by: NessieVL on October 10, 2005 at 1:03 PM

I don't think this is really GPS. GPS requires a satellite. I think this is just triangulation from the cell towers. Cell carriers have been required for a few years now to have such a service available for law enforcement, and now it looks like it's here for the public too.


Posted by: philliptorrone on October 10, 2005 at 1:08 PM

pretty sure it's both - gps and cell tower.


Posted by: spy1325 on October 10, 2005 at 2:56 PM

do you have to pay and have a current service plan. or can you just buy a phone. and use it as a GPS device? And the software enables you to view where you are on the phone?


Posted by: spy1325 on October 10, 2005 at 3:03 PM

also - Does anyone have a link to the 60 dollar boost mobile phone. i cant find it for the life of me on their site!


Posted by: adam12hey on October 10, 2005 at 6:04 PM

To install on an 830 you need a data cable and a program to do the 'loading' of the software on your phone. MyJal is one version of a program which can be found by searching the web. Once you have those two components, you will be able to run the program as a Java application on the phone.


Posted by: digitalFX on October 10, 2005 at 7:55 PM

No, most nextel phones have gps enabled. The phone receives gps from the satalites and then transmits it's location via another method. It IS gps.


Posted by: thecapitalizt on October 10, 2005 at 9:55 PM

No, it really does have a GPS chip in it. Plug a serial cable in and you can suck out NEMA coordinates. Awesome for what it is.


Posted by: Myself248 on October 11, 2005 at 3:14 AM


NEMA is the National Electronics Manufacturers' Association, the group that defines (among other things) levels of waterproofness for conduit fittings and wiring boxes.

NMEA is the National Marine Electronics Association, who many years ago defined a set of signals and messages for marine instrumentation, including anemometers, automatic chartplotters, and satellite navigation receivers. NMEA 0183 is that standard.


Concievably, you could have a device which adheres to both NEMA 6 and NMEA 0183. Actually, I think that describes my eTrex.

As for the phones: The reason you get GPS lock so quickly (which might make you think it's fake) is that the tower gives the phone a breath-of-life packet, containing the current satellite almanac and possibly even the position of the PRN sequences, so the GPS chip can achieve lock almost instantly.

You can test this by taking the phone to an area with no Nextel towers (Montana and Mississippi work well) and telling it to acquire a GPS fix. It'll take much longer (30-50 seconds typically), just like your Garmin, because it's not getting help from a tower. But even in the complete absence of towers and service, the phone's GPS chip does work just fine, and will happily feed NMEA 0183 data over the serial cable for your laptop's mapping software.


Posted by: n3ldan on October 11, 2005 at 1:28 PM

what is the $60 no contract boost mobile phone? the cheapest I see is the i415, and its $80


Posted by: mranderso on October 11, 2005 at 2:16 PM

i see $60 phones at n1prepaid.com.

never dealt with them, so can't say anything +/- about them.


Posted by: NextLevel on October 11, 2005 at 11:09 PM

Philly Mobile Has Myjal, Webjal, and instructions on how to install and use them! Along with Free Ringtones, Games, Unlocking, and Wallpapers.

$60 Boost phones can be picked up at almost any cell store that carrier boost. You will get a sim card and around $10 in minutes.


Posted by: evejen01 on October 12, 2005 at 3:01 PM

hello everyone. Hope this site has some cool stuff


Posted by: GPSGuru on October 21, 2005 at 10:54 AM

Great free application that is perfect for families and friends. The Sprint data plan is very reasonable at only $10 for unlimited data use. However, the product does offer extremely limited features (tracking only) and will not be ideal for business use. For more GPS products and reviews please check out:
www.tracelogic.net
http://gpswireless.blogspot.com


Posted by: GPSGuru on October 21, 2005 at 11:00 AM

Answer to a question below:

"I don't think this is really GPS."

The Mologogo, like many other Sprint (Nextel) GPS applications definitely use GPS. Most state AGPS which uses cell towers to give a general location in the network and search for the closest satellites in orbit (helps speed up the GPS signal). The location is stored in the phone (JAVA app) and transmited to the GPS service provider through packet data.

http://www.tracelogic.net


Posted by: Marcs on October 23, 2005 at 9:07 PM

Check out Navizon. It looks like they have the exact same feature, only that it works with all carriers and with all phones as long as you have Windows Mobile running on it.


Posted by: Marcs on October 23, 2005 at 9:07 PM

Check out Navizon. It looks like they have the exact same feature, only that it works with all carriers and with all phones as long as you have Windows Mobile running on it.


Posted by: dem0sthenes on January 22, 2006 at 4:25 PM

does anyone know if this gps system will allow for reading/tracking of altitude as well? im building a homemade near-space contraption and i want to know how high it goes, and then be able to find it when it comes back down. id like to know if this would be appropriate for pinpointing exactly where it lands. any other ideas for solutions would be appreciated.


Posted by: pvlman on June 21, 2006 at 12:29 PM

last month I purchased an alltel prepay. The Nokia phone provided does have GPS. According to the manual the GPS unit is activate only when an emergency call is placed. Something to keep in mind when macking hacking attempts. Of course YMMV.


Posted by: penmaster on September 8, 2006 at 9:08 AM

Check out GPS tracking at Global Tracking Communications. They offer real-time GPS vehicle tracking systems with similar features.


Posted by: justsaynotobillgates on October 21, 2006 at 12:03 PM

A true cell tower assited GPS Tracking Device Should be covert and have a long battery lifer like the one made by LightningGPS.com Tracking


Posted by: OilandGas on November 25, 2006 at 8:29 AM

I am headed to China next month into the Tongren Region with many mountains and unexplored terrain. Does anyone have an idea of which GPS device would be best to use for that region?

Thank you


Posted by: omniangel on June 6, 2007 at 2:12 PM

I have installed the mologogo ware on my phone cingular 3125 smartphone. I can get the program to run. I'm just having trouble with my location/tracking. still says I'm at the default location. Does anyone know which com port, baud rate for my phone? help would be MUCH appreciated!!!!!!


Posted by: omniangel on June 6, 2007 at 2:13 PM

I have installed the mologogo ware on my phone cingular 3125 smartphone. I can get the program to run. I'm just having trouble with my location/tracking. still says I'm at the default location. Does anyone know which com port, baud rate for my phone? help would be MUCH appreciated!!!!!!


Posted by: najaspeed on November 5, 2007 at 8:08 AM

www.connect2car.com is also using the nextel phones for tracking as well as hardware control of vehicle. They even have a phone interface for remote control/track of the vehicle


Posted by: agbt782068 on December 30, 2007 at 10:54 AM

how do you keep the phone charged?


Posted by: phoner on January 3, 2008 at 10:28 AM

what are you talking about with sprint and a $10 data plan. It's $59.99 Unlimited.


Posted by: Paulo on February 1, 2008 at 11:13 PM

I´m using mologogo. It´s avery powerfull tool and free. It´s the best GPS Tracking apllication that I use, because you don´t have to buy and expensive hardware in order to work.


Posted by: ameautosales on March 4, 2008 at 6:38 AM

I've been using Mologogo successfully until a couple of weeks ago I started getting 'sattelite datat outdated' messages. What's with that? It quit working and I can't figure it out.
What gives?


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