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Cedar Rapids, Iowa | Show and Tell...
Started on a project last week. The basic idea was that vehicles would report their current location to a centralized server. That server could collect data from several machines, and then do a variety of things with the data.
As an example, I have a computer that is running simulated GPS data that is driving around at 5 MPH, doing a U turn every 5 minutes. It acts like a tractor that is doing something in a field. That computer reports its location to another computer (the tracking server) every second. Some processing is done on the data as it comes in, and the location gets put into a table (looks like a spreadsheet). Every 10 seconds, the location data is exported to a .KML file that is accessible via a website. So if you open that URL in Google Earth, you can see where the machine is, and watch it move. The simulated location data is in a town, so you'll see the point moving across houses. In the real world, the tractor would turn at the ends of the field. In my experience, Google Earth images are geo-referenced within about 20 feet, so the overlay would line up relatively well.
Edit: Link removed.
For those of you without Google Earth, here is a screenshot:
http://lefebure.com/images/tracking.gif
I only have one machine running in the demo, but the server software should be able to scale up to at least 100 clients. Connection will work over any IP network, so any Internet connection or local wireless network will do this.
What I had in mind was a COOP that has a fleet of sprayers or something, and wants the ability to do fleet tracking. Somebody could open Google Earth and see where all the machines are at. If a customer calls in and wants his field sprayed, it would be easy to see which machine is in the area. There are some other uses too, but they get pretty specific to the application. I'm hopefully making steps towards getting the technology in vehicles to work together instead of being isolated in their own little world.
Have you guys got any other ideas on where this kind of GPS collaboration between machines might be of value?
-Lance
Edited by mx270a 4/28/2009 13:30
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Vehicle Tracking in Google Earth
