MTS: GSM + GPS real time tracking

[Guest ClintEastman]

Soon I will release a helper application to see if I can get it to work on some PPCs and MPX220s. Please standby.

Thanks! I look forward to it. :)

[Guest nickcornaglia]

Works on my SP5 under Cingular in the US. I added a cell ID and everything. :) (Using Network...not GPS)

- Is there a way to view a location on a map online?

- Is there a way to post either that map of a text representation of my location on a personal webpage or in a signature?

-

[Guest nickcornaglia]

SuggestionsWishlist items:

- Ability to upload the photo from the application.

- Ability to have custom photos of a location (Like a photo of my office building when I am at work...but someone else in this location could use their own pic.

- Ability to pull an XML file of my last 'X' locataions so that I could format it the way I want.

- AutoMode/Manual Mode indicator on the main screen

- Ability to view map of current area on phone

Question:

What is supposed to go into the description field of a location? My personal reference or will everyone use this field....could I write WORK in that field? Or it it for things like a section name/area of a city?

[Guest stargate]

- at the moment there is no way to view a GSM antenna location on the map because there is no data. I am already working on a way to do this with the help of the GPS MTS users. When a GPS enabled MTS user is in a cell area, the GPS coordinates will be remembered on the server for that cell. In time, the database will grow and eventually most of the cells will be visible on the map.

- signatures are standard options and can be requested simply by sending a mail to support . a t . fightersoft.ro

- the ability to upload photos directly from the application is under development. However this is not an easy task due to the framework limitations

- first I want to automate the normal photo feature and then I will concentrate on add ons such as custom photos

- at the moment you will have to parse the text tracking report - currently there are no plans of outputing it in a xml file

- what do you mean by auto mode / manual mode indicator on the main screen?

- the ability to view the map on the phone is one of the highest priorities

Thank you very much for your suggestions. It is very important to know what the MTS users want from the application. Keep'em coming.

[Guest stargate]

Hi! I've updated the MTS Manual. Please read it carefuly - http://www.fightersoft.ro/mts/manual.htm

[Guest pavankp]

Hi! I've updated the MTS Manual. Please read it carefuly - http://www.fightersoft.ro/mts/manual.htm

Thanks stargate! This is a great application. I have it working now on my i-mate SP5 on Cingular in the US. I see that not many US Cingular users are using the product. I hope more people use this so the cell information database for Cingular grows!

I have a question about the homescreen plugin. I tried using your plugin with CLSID {4824B576-EFFE-45cf-BAE9-649B930CD244} in my homescreen. It worked once, but after I changed the height and font-size, it shows nothing. Are the height and font-size customizable? If not, is it possible to make them customizable? I would really like the ability to display location information on the home screen.

Thanks again!

Pavan

[Guest pavankp]

I added a cell ID and everything. :)

I just started added cell IDs for Cingular, and I realized there is no convention just yet. I see that you've put the actual county name in the County field ("Burlington"), and the city and state names in the Town field ("Mount Laurel, NJ"). I was thinking the county name is not much use, so it's better to put the state code in the County field ("CA") and the city name alone in the Town field ("Berkeley"). If things are done this (latter) way, it would be easier in future to do a search for, say, all cells in California.

It seems like the description field is for everyone... so I am just trying to put the name of the locality in the description.

Pavan

[Guest pavankp]

I have a question about the homescreen plugin. I tried using your plugin with CLSID {4824B576-EFFE-45cf-BAE9-649B930CD244} in my homescreen. It worked once, but after I changed the height and font-size, it shows nothing. Are the height and font-size customizable? If not, is it possible to make them customizable? I would really like the ability to display location information on the home screen.

After trying some more, I realized that the problem is not with customization. So if I understand this right, you have to enable Auto Mode in options for the home screen plugin to work. The plugin also does not seem to work if MTS is not running. Is this something that can be fixed? That is, can you make it such that even when MTS is not running, the home screen plugin shows the current cell's description?

Thanks,

Pavan

[Guest stargate]

Yes... in the US is better to input the state code than the county. I thought of this classification having my country (Romania) as a model... and here we don't have states. :) In future versions, I will modify the label as county/state code.

Yes, the homescreen feature works only when in auto mode and only when MTS is running. I can't develop the whole MTS application simply as a homescreen plugin, it is impossible, it is too complex. Just start MTS, go to auto mode and press the home key and use your phone as you always do. MTS will do it's job in the background.

[Guest nickcornaglia]

i'm just following the rules of the app. your conventions dont work unless everyone does it that way. i'd confer with the developer to make uniform changes to bed more fields.

I just started added cell IDs for Cingular, and I realized there is no convention just yet. I see that you've put the actual county name in the County field ("Burlington"), and the city and state names in the Town field ("Mount Laurel, NJ"). I was thinking the county name is not much use, so it's better to put the state code in the County field ("CA") and the city name alone in the Town field ("Berkeley"). If things are done this (latter) way, it would be easier in future to do a search for, say, all cells in California.

It seems like the description field is for everyone... so I am just trying to put the name of the locality in the description.

Pavan

[Guest stargate]

Again... the system has been designed so the current location should look like this (let me see if I can give a proper example for US):

US Cingular: NY, New York, Brooklyn Bridge (or something)

RO Vodafone: B, Bucuresti, Pajura

First there should be a 1-3 letter code. Most countries don't have states therefore a smaller administrative delimitation exist, and thus counties are used instead of states. The ideea is to calssify the cells under something... not to have them all over the country. The town is yet another classification method... it can be a city, town, village or even a highway or an interstate.

Another general mistake is to add the country in the county field. The country is obvious due to the network operator selected.

Conclusion: the location should read something like this: area code (state, county, whatever - in letters - don't use phone area codes), city/town/village/settlement/road/highway/interstate, cell description (here write what better describes this particular cell... in some small settlements there is only one cell and you can add the description the same as the town.

[Guest pavankp]

Just start MTS, go to auto mode and press the home key and use your phone as you always do. MTS will do it's job in the background.

Is it currently possible to start MTS in Auto Mode by default? If it is, I will add it to my startup, so that MTS always comes up in auto-mode, and the home screen plugin works without my having to do anything on startup. If it is not currently supported, is it possible to add something like this?

Thanks,

Pavan

[Guest stargate]

This is already on the todo list and will be implemented shortly.

[Guest stargate]

Mobile Tracking System 1.11 released:

- MTS can now auto run when Windows Mobile starts

- when in auto mode, MTS will look for a new cell every 30 seconds, however it will communicate with the server every number of minutes specified by you

- you can now see who added the current cell and who last modified it

- you can now download the operators list directly from the MTS Server information page ( http://www.fightersoft.ro/mts/services.html )

- you can now download the entire database of a particular network operator directly from the MTS Server information page ( http://www.fightersoft.ro/mts/services.html )

- both the server and the client were optimized for better response time and lower power consumption

To grab the latest version, please visit http://www.fightersoft.ro/mts/download.htm

Another piece of good news is that the best cell hunters will be rewarded!

- every user that adds 100 cells to a network operator will receive a free copy (licence) of Star Media Center Mobile when it will become available. At the moment SMC Mobile is in the last stages of development. SMC Mobile is a desktop application that willl broadcast (stream) audio/video content from a number of sources such as: tv-cards, webcams, local files, computer desktop, audio files and so on. You can use any Windows Media Player powered device to view the broadcasted content: desktop computer, laptop computer, pocket pc, smartphone etc.

Please note that the number of added cells is counted only per network operator (if you add 10 cells to US Cingular and 40 to US T-Mobile, you will not qualify). Also, the number of added cells means the number of cells discovered by you, not edited/modified.

Every user that passed 50 or 100 added cells should send an e-mail message to [email protected] to get more information on how to receive the prise.

Also, as promised here is a helper application - http://www.fightersoft.ro/mobile/mts_debug.zip . If your ppc/phone doesn't work with MTS try these steps to help me add support for your device:

- setup you ppc or phone in windows to work as modem

- go to control panel - phone and modems and do a query on the modem to make sure it works and remember the port number

- run the MTS Debug application from Windows desktop (you need .NET installed on your machine - you can get it if you don't have it from the MS site)

- select the port number and press refresh. Please send a screenshot of what the application shows in the textboxes to support . at . fightersoft.ro

Edited June 1, 2006 by stargate

[Guest pavankp]

I tried the new version and the changes look great. Thanks in particular for the automatic start in auto mode.

I have a strange problem with the new version though. Off and on, MTS cannot connect to the server even when I have EDGE working. This seems to happen more often with new cells - it does display the info for known cells. Note that the problem is intermittent - I did manage to add a few cells with v1.1.

I am not sure if this is related, but when I tried to browse the Cingular database page I got a page saying access violation and read error, both with error code 00000000.

Thanks for giving me a version with the change I wanted less than 24 hours after I asked :-).

[Guest stargate]

Ups... there was a server related problem. Sometimes due to the low hardware configuration, the MTS server gets hung up and needs a restart. This problem occures rather rarely and usually is fixed right away because I've written a special program that I can instruct with my phone to automatically restart the MTS server. We hope that in the near future we will upgrade the hardware machine that runs the MTS server.

User feedback is always welcome and appreciated. Your opinions are very important to us.

[Guest pavankp]

Thanks, it is working now. I have one more suggestion/question. Right now when the application is trying to talk to the server, the phone freezes up. Is there a way around this?

Pavan

PS: I think I have passed the 100 cell mark today :).

[Guest pavankp]

User feedback is always welcome and appreciated. Your opinions are very important to us.

More feedback and questions for you. First a question: does the application store the information about known cells locally? That is, if I "discover" a cell and enter its detail, do I need to be online for me to have the cell information the next time I "enter" that cell? From what I saw today when the server had problems, it does look like you cache this information.

I also have an issue that may be harder to address. In urban areas, you get connected to multiple cells in the same area, and you may get connected to the same cell from multiple areas. So let's say I got connected to cell A in area 1 and I entered that information. Then in some other area 2, I again get connected to cell A. Since we don't really know where the cell is actually located, it may be useful to capture both these pieces of information. In time, if the database tells us that cell A can be reached from areas 1, 2, 3 and 4, and look at those four areas in a map, we could deduce where cell A might actually be located. Of course this probably means changes to both the database and application, but it's an interesting idea to consider.

Keep up your great work on this application!

Pavan

[Guest stargate]

1. The freezing while communicating issue is on already on the Official MTS todo list. There is currently no workaround for this issue. Note that a warning sign appears on the homescreen "<->" when MTS is communicating with the server so that you may be informed that the application is currently unresponsive.

2. Yes. There is a local stored database on the MTS Client. Actually this is a very important aspect. The auto mode works in this fashion: every 5 or x minutes (user specified), MTS actually communicats with the MTS server to get and report current location, get new messages etc. However, during this time, every 30 seconds MTS gets the current cell. It looks for the current cell in the local database. If it is not found then MTS will automatically connect with the MTS server. Therefore, in unknown areas, MTS will communicate more often then just once every 5 minutes. If the current cell is not present in the online database also then you will get a warning. Another important aspect is that the local database is automatically updated when a new location is downloaded from the server. The whole thing is a little bit hard to explain because the process is somehow complex. Bottom line is that MTS displays on the homescreen the updated current location much more often (30 seconds) than communicates with the server (user defined number of minutes).

3. Regarding the cells on top of each other. That's why the edit feature exists. During the first passes through a cell simply add the description of that particular place. In time you will pass through another area where this cell is active and you can edit the location and add to the existing description new info. There are many areas where more cells are present in the same place for example the ones ment to take the low traffic (cars, people) and the ones ment to take the high traffic (buildings etc). In this case you should add the same description so that in the MTS tracking report you will not appear jumping from location to another every n minutes when it is not the case. Anyway, in these cases the project will not work perfectly at the beggining, but in time the database will shape itself in the right way. Since March 2006, Bucharest is almost covered and it is quite a big city (over 2 mil inhabitants) with very accurate cell description due to the fact that many people contributed to the database and most importantly because of the edit feature.

Regarding the 100 marker, please contact me on e-mail.

[Guest looeee]

Just installed it on my qtek8310

the files are all in \Storage Card\Program Files\MTS

I get Error

An unexpected error has occured

InvalidCastException

Application::Run+0xf

Form5::Main+0xa

[Guest stargate]

Please read the first question (answer) from Chapter XII: Troubleshooting - http://www.fightersoft.ro/mts/manual.htm

[Guest looeee]

Please read the first question (answer) from Chapter XII: Troubleshooting - http://www.fightersoft.ro/mts/manual.htm

Oops

sorry

did actually read that before posting but looked for HKCU\Software\MTU

[Guest stargate]

Oops

sorry

did actually read that before posting but looked for HKCU\Software\MTU

You mean that you overlooked it? The deletion of the registry key will solve your problem.

[Guest stargate]

Fightersoft Multimedia presents: Star Remote Mail 1.15 now with Mobile Tracking System support.

Star Remote Mail 1.15 is basically an e-mail notification application with some features that puts it in the e-mail clients category of applications. Starting with version 1.15, Star Remote Mail has some specially designed features for MTS users:

- every incoming e-mail message can be automatically "forwarded" to your MTS Client

- you can send quick messages to MTS users directly from this application

- you can track a MTS user and display his or hers location as a tooltip hint in the Star Remote Mail system tray icon

Get it now from http://www.fightersoft.ro/starmail/index.htm

[Guest discosrule]

Hi, just wondering if this would work in Australia ? and if it works with the imate SP5 ?

Thanks.