Tracking wanderingken with Telus, an iDen, Mologogo, and Geonames
So, as one might expect given my propensity to hack around with google maps, I’m fascinated by the idea of GPS receivers inside cellular phones. Cell phones have a significant advantage over traditional GPS devices in that not only can they pinpoint your location, they can immediately send that information. Immediately upon receiving your location, a 3rd party (say, your cell provider, google maps, etc…) can return relevant location-based information. Very cool.
Nearly all cell phones now have forms of GPS capability built-in, as GPS is now required by the U.S. FCC for enhanced 911 services, although in many cases GPS capabilities area actually assisted GPS, estimated by proximity to cell towers and not retrieved via satellite. However, as discussed recently on NPR recently, and I’m sure many cell owners have discovered, cell users can’t necessarily get at the information. Privacy concerns are play a significant role in this, of course, though one also has to believe cell providers are protecting location information until they can figure out how to make money from it..
I discovered all this a year or so ago, with my Sanyo SCP-2300 — GPS enabled, and I could turn the GPS function on and off, but good luck getting the phone to spit out a latitude and longitude. 911 could find out where I was, though, as I discovered when I called to report dangerous roadkill on Alberta’s highway #2.
Anyway, it turns out Sprint / Nextel in the U.S. is bucking the trend, allowing access to GPS on Motorola iDen phones, which has prompted the fellows at Mologogo to write a little J2ME live tracking app which plots you (and your phone) on a google map, on your phone. As an added feature, you can specify a server URL to which to post this location when obtained (via HTTP GET), and even ask your phone to show you where your fellow mologogo-friends are. It’s also free.
In Canada, iDen phones are sold by Telus Mobility for their Mike network, and, it turns out, Telus also allows GPS access on these phones. So, when my recent move from Toronto to Edmonton provided an excuse to buy a new phone, I figured I’d try see if I could create a little live blog tracker here in Canada and hooked myself up with one of these fellows (an i850, as in the photo). It works! Wanderingken.com tracks my wanderings in real-time (provided I’ve got mologogo running and it’s sunny outside). If you’re watching at the right time, you’ll even see the marker move before your very eyes. My own little Where’s Tim.
Here’s how: You’ll need both a USB data cable (I haggled a free one from the cell store guys) and a Motorloa Java application loader. Good luck, though, on the application loader. Motorola has an application form here, but it’s rather restrictive. Or, you can try wade through this site (as I did, and ended up installing a 7-step something or other that did, actually, work). Complex as hell, and only necessary because both Sprint / Nextel and Telus see fit to disallow downloading J2ME application types via the mobile browser, something Bell Mobility, interestingly, does not restrict.
After that, you’ll need to create a little end-point url which saves latitudes and longitudes arriving as GET parameters into a server-side file, and specify this url in the mologogo preferences (on your phone). Then, map the latitude and longitude to a place name via geonames, sprinkle in a a little google maps code and an Ajax-based periodic updater, and ta-da, live tracker.
Tim Hibbard said,
October 6, 2006 @ 8:13 pm
Cool stuff! If you send me an email with information on how to access your lat / lon, I can add you to Where’s Tim.
Tim
ken said,
October 6, 2006 @ 10:27 pm
Sure thing, not a problem.
jason said,
October 7, 2006 @ 7:48 am
whoa — Bell Mobility doesn’t restrict OTA for java midlets? we can definately make mologogo available for download via OTA if that’s the case…
ken said,
October 8, 2006 @ 12:34 am
Hey Jason,
No, not in my experience. I can download midlets OTA from mobile gmaps (http://wap.mgmaps.com/) as well as from google themselves (http://google.com/gmm), using a Bell Solo phone.
This is a different network than the iDen network — you’ll know better whether or not mologogo will run on bell’s phones.
jason said,
October 12, 2006 @ 8:07 am
Gotcha — yeah, I’ve heard rumours about the iDEN up there being a little less restrictive, but no real experience with it. Thanks!
ken said,
October 16, 2006 @ 12:16 pm
Jason,
I think we’ve miscommunicated a bit — I don’t believe the iDEN is any less restrictive in Canada than in the United States.
Telus Mobility is Canada’s only service provider for iDEN phones, via their Mike network. Telus does not allow OTA for java midlets on either their MIKE / iDEN network or on their PCS network.
Bell Mobility, a competing mobile services provider, does allow OTA for java midlets, but doesn’t support iDEN phones.
Hope that makes more sense…
wanderingken.com » A big wanderingken tracking map said,
November 9, 2006 @ 11:09 am
[…] In a previous post I described how to cobbled together a Telus Motorola iDen phone and mologogo in order to make a live tracker, pointing folks to the the map at the top of the right-hand column in this blog. (Haven’t seen it? Look there now.) […]
Simon said,
November 27, 2006 @ 3:00 pm
Does Mologogo work in Australia? (your map shows you in Sydney so I guess so!)
ken said,
November 28, 2006 @ 4:52 pm
Actually, no, Mologogo doesn’t work in Australia, as none of the providers support IDEN. I brought the phone with me, but, sadly, I cannot connect.
I’ve just been updating the map manually.
Jason said,
July 15, 2007 @ 4:12 pm
Hi Ken,
Great article. Living in Calgary, I’m looking at doing something like this with a Telus phone (haven’t picked one up yet). What kind of rate plan do you suggest for the tracking part? Does it use data, etc. when it’s tracking?
Thanks,
Jason
ken said,
July 16, 2007 @ 3:39 pm
Hi Jason,
Unless things have changed, you can’t even buy a data plan from Telus. I tried valiantly last fall. Luckily, though, you don’t actually need a data plan, although tracking uses data both for downloading maps from Google’s servers and for posting updates to Mologogo and your own server.
It’s a little known fact, but Telus doesn’t charge a penny for data usage on J2ME apps. That said, they don’t let you download a J2ME app onto your phone unless you purchase the app from them. And so, because Mologogo isn’t available from Telus, you’ll need to hack around it by purchasing a USB data cable, tracking down a PC-to-phone loader app on the web, and transferring the application onto your phone the hard way.
Once you get this far, you can actually load mobile Opera onto your phone and get full web access completely free…
Jason said,
July 17, 2007 @ 1:16 pm
Thanks Ken. They do list packet data plans on the Telus Mobility web site now, so I’m not sure if things have changed or not. Motorola has opened up their developer site somewhat, so you can download the iDEN Open Java Application Loader from them just by registering. In case anyone is interested, you can find it here:
http://developer.motorola.com/docstools/idenjal/openJAL/
Jason
Louis Drapeau said,
August 10, 2007 @ 4:02 am
Hi,
Any news on this issue? I have browsed around, and the cheapest investment I find is 249.00 for Mike i560. I figure I’m still going to have to sign up to a network to get this to work, quite more expensive than the $10.00/month a have seen on the US side with the boost mobile phones. Ken: Does this appear to be the cheapest route in canada? Any suggestions? Thanks, LD?
ken said,
August 11, 2007 @ 9:21 pm
Hi Louis,
As far as I know, the only route available in Canada is via Telus Mike, which means that the i560 is the cheapest phone, and, yes, you’ll have to sign up to a network for this to work. The cheapest Mike rate plan is ‘Work 25′, which will put you back about $30-$35 / month once network access fees and GST are included…
Kathryn said,
September 14, 2007 @ 5:15 am
does anyone know where to go to upload your own pics to your cell, i have a solo mobile sanyo 2300 and i used to be able to upload pics right to my downloads on my phone from www.pixabove.com but that site isnt working, www.picstophone, and www.photoimage.dont support my phone, some sites text the pic to my phone but when i clicked download it did download the pic and than showed the pic but i couldnt save the pic to my phone, it asked if i wanted to save the pic to my phone but when i clicked yes it didnt tell me where to find it after
Andi Marsh said,
November 26, 2007 @ 3:35 am
I have some Brand new IDEN network handsets for sale:
Moto i90 x280 units and Moto i30 x250 units.
If interested please contact me direct in the UK
SHP SOLUTIONS (MOBILE RECYCLING)
TEL: +44 1524 580913 or email andi.marsh@shpsolutions.com
Bill Best said,
March 19, 2008 @ 9:22 am
Does anyone know if a Boost Mobile Pay-as-you-go phone will work in Canada? I’ve been trying to find out, but no one has replied to any of my postings.
Has anyone come up with a Canadian Mogologo solution that costs less than $40/month?