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iPhone GPS Tracking Apps |
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Don Maxwell - Feb 09,2010
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Feb 11 UPDATE: You might as well just scroll right down to Randy Palma's reply--because the app he uses, MotionX GPS, is by far the best I've seen so far. I'll leave the rest of my original posting here in case anyone is curious, but I'm using MotionX GPS now. Thanks again, Randy!<br /><br /><br />Feb 9: The weather has sucked here lately, so I've been amusing myself by looking for GPS tracking iPhone apps. There are several free ones, and two have turned out to be actually useful alternatives to the SPOT device.<br /><br />I've tried these four so far:<br /><br />Geolives<br />Zulu Time<br />TrackLog<br />GPSies<br /><br />I'll be using the first two a lot, Geolives for tracking flights and Zulu Time for announcing my location. The other two apps are interesting, but disappointing. Here are some specifics:<br /><br /><br /><br />GEOLIVES <br />=======<br />Geolives is very sophisticated. It displays your track on a map. It saves tracks according to mode of travel (which you select from a list of 12 modes, including hiking, biking, snowshoes, and motor--which includes SeaRey). You can recall any saved track and display it on the map.<br /><br />It lets you email tracks to yourself as attachments, and you can then forward them just like any other email messages. The recipient saves the attached track on his or her computer and double-clicks on the filename to open the track in Google Earth. It works flawlessly, and it's simple. It displays every fix and also paints a track line, and Google Earth lets you select how you want it to display.<br /><br />The file attached to this posting is the track of a test drive in the car, from where I happened to be to the Apple store in a shopping mall. The last part of the track is on foot, into the open-air mall. When the log opens in Google Earth, look in Places in the Sidebar for Temporary Places and in it, for GPS device. Open the submenus to turn specific things on and off.<br /><br />If you press the Sleep/Wakeup button on the top of the iPhone, Geolives blanks the display, but continues to log the track. This saves some power--but it's probably smart to plug the phone into the aircraft's 12 V power for a long trip. <br /><br /><br />ZULU TIME<br />=======<br />Zulu Time displays your current position on a map and can lay down a track of your progress on the iPhone map. It also lets you manually save a waypoint or save a waypoint with an odometer reading or a text note. But unlike Geolives, it apparently isn't able to send an entire track to anyone. <br /><br />On the other hand, It has two nifty email options: (1) Email anyone your current location and (2) email anyone your location with a photo. For the latter it automatically opens the iPhone camera, waits for you to take a picture, and then emails it along with the location. The location opens a browser to GoogleMaps, and the photo opens in a browser from Zulu Time's parent website.<br /><br />Here's an example of Zulu Time's email with photo:<br /><br /><br />Here's where I'm at:<br />Time: 2010-02-08 16:25:28 -0500<br />Photo: <a href="http://alistsoft.com/photos/201002082125082d03.jpg">http://alistsoft.com/photos/201002082125082d03.jpg</a><br />ISO6709: +37.611235-77.564341/<br />Google: <a href="http://maps.google.com/?q=37.611237">http://maps.google.com/?q=37.611237</a>,-77.564339<br />Message created by aList Zulu Time<br />Keep the features coming! Donate towards Zulu Time costs:<br />From your iPhone: <a href="http://alistsoft.com/ssl/donate_zi.html">http://alistsoft.com/ssl/donate_zi.html</a><br />From your desktop: <a href="http://alistsoft.com/ssl/donate_zd.html">http://alistsoft.com/ssl/donate_zd.html</a><br /><br /><br />(Be sure to click on the 'Photo' link. For the 'Google' link, copy the entire link and paste it into the browser. The link is not just the part that MyFamily has underlined, but this next entire line: <br /><br />COPY AND PASTE THE ENTIRE LINE BELOW--IT ENDS WITH '339':<br /><br /><a href="http://maps.google.com/?q=37.611237">http://maps.google.com/?q=37.611237</a>,-77.564339<br /><br /> <br /><br />It also lets you save the location of your car, and then later you can find it on the map. You can email the trip log, but it's in Lat-Long form, which isn't very useful in showing someone where you went.<br /><br />And it can plot a graph of your elevation (altitude), although there seems to be no scale on the graph.<br /><br /><br /><br />TRACKLOG<br />=======<br />TrackLog looked very promising because it's designed for glider pilots. I drove around with it logging my progress, and it really did save my track and upload it to the TrackLog website. And I was able to view the track there. Unfortunately, though, it's so complicated that I've given up on it for now. Maybe someone else can figure it out easily, but it's organized differently than I am.<br /><br /><br /><br />GPSIES<br />=======<br />GPSies makes a nice track on its map, logs your progress, and saves it on the iPhone. It also has a feature that is supposed to upload tracks to the GPSies website. Unfortunately, I've never been able to get it to complete the upload. It always says, 'Upload Error Unable to upload track to GPSies.' So I've given up on this one for now, too.
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AppleStore-11067671814b71ba583ffc1
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AppleStore-11067671814b71ba583ffc1
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John w Shirah - Feb 09,2010
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Thanks don. This is very helpful.
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Randolph Palma - Feb 10,2010
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I like GPS LITE by MotionX. The price is right - FREE. I plan on giving it a thorough check later this week on a Polar Flight from New York to Hong Kong that I'll be working.
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Don Maxwell - Feb 10,2010
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MotionX GPS Lite looks very good, Randy--thanks! While searching the App store for it, I first came across Gaia GPS Lite, which looks interesting also. (Although it opened with a warning that it contains stuff that might be upsetting to people younger than 18.) Haven't had a chance to try either of them for real yet, but will as soon as the snow lets up.
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Don Maxwell - Feb 10,2010
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My favorite smartphone app of all is Pilot My-Cast, which was FINALLY released for the iPhone only a few weeks ago. It's what kept me tied to my old dumbphone, longing for an iPhone, for several years. It does aviation weather (including radar, winds aloft, flight conditions--everything you need), displays TFRs, figures routes and flight times, files flight plans, cools the beer, ends world strife, and all sorts of other things. Developed in Minnesota, now owned by Garmin. <a href="http://www.digitalcyclone.com/products/pilot-my-cast/">http://www.digitalcyclone.com/products/pilot-my-cast/</a>
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Don Maxwell - Feb 10,2010
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Woo hoo! I've just been trying out MotionX GPS Lite, and it's even better than the first two at the top of this page. It does what both of them do, and a lot more, besides. Thanks, Randy! Search for it at the App store with 'motionx gps'. If I can just figure out all of the various map options I may buy the heavy version, to support the developers.
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Don Maxwell - Feb 10,2010
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DOUBLE woo hoo! I decided to buy the heavy version of MotionX GPS for $2.99. It's essentially the free version, but saves more than 1 track and 303 waypoints instead of only 3.<br /><br />It gave me the introductory offer to buy the new MotionX for 99¢, so I did. It's a very cool turn-by-turn GPS app, with a very nice sounding 'Live Voice Guidance' lady who tells you when a turn is coming up, reminds you to turn, and so on--and sounds ever so much more pleasant than that dratted 'Jill' synthesized voice in the Nuvis. It has both driving and walking modes. Unfortunately, after 30 days the Live Voice Guidance is going to cost $2.99 a month or $24.99 a year. I probably won't front for that, but at least the rest of the app will continue to work. I'm going to write and complain that the introductory offer didn't mention the Live Voice fee. But otherwise I like it a lot.
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Dave Forster - Feb 10,2010
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Don - thanks for the info. Very interesting stuff.<br />I am curious as to what the numbers and markers are on the Google map - do they correspond to timestamps?<br />I wonder how well this will work in the air - my own cellphone seems to lose 'bars' as it gets above 1,000 feet or so. The GPS receiver in the phone might still be working, but it may not transmit a smooth track until after you get below 1,000 feet again . . . ?
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Don Maxwell - Feb 10,2010
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Dave, the numbers appear to be sequential fixes. I don't know why they have the negative sign.<br /><br />The beauty of these apps is that the iPhone doesn't have to have either a cell or a wi-fi connection en route because the phone contains its own GPS receiver (along with the accelerometers and, in the 3GS, the magnetometer (compass)). So it goes about getting GPS fixes, and then when you get a network connection again the app can get new maps and email fixes and tracks.<br /><br />The disadvantage, of course, is the same thing. If you get into trouble it's not going to bring you help unless you have a phone connection. And even if you do, it won't get you help automatically.<br /><br />On the other hand, if you already have an iPhone, you can send tracks to your personal 'ATC' without having to pay for a subscription to SPOTs satellite service.<br /><br />I find the same altitude problem: above about 1,000 feet I tend to lose--or confuse--the cell system. So I try to stay low if I need to make a call. Uh, that is, I would stay low if I were to need to make a call, but of course I'd never do that.
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