Open Source GPS Tracking Solution

Came across two open source projects that can provide a solution for GPS Tracking.

OpenDMTP (Device Monitoring and Tracking Protocol/Program) provides the framework that allows bi-directional data communications between servers and devices (clients) over any type of network (GPRS, Internet, etc.).

Where OpenDMTP provides the framework for communication between a server and a client device, the project OpenGTS (GPS Tracking Solution) provides the server side web-platform that can be used to display the information obtained via OpenDMTP (The device (client) uses OpenDMTP to send messages to the website implemented with OpenGTS - which then could display the information on any web-based mapping solution).

 

One of the features claimed by the authors of OpenDMTP is that it has been built to keep the amount of network traffic used low. This is extremely important when it comes to communicating over GPRS (cell phone) networks - where bandwidth is expensive and charged by the kiloByte.

OpenDMTP has reference implementations in both C and Java. (The C implementation runs on LINUX and can be run via CygWin in Windows).

OpenGTS has been implemented using Java and uses MySQL as the database. A demo project can be seen at http://track.opengts.org/track/Track (click on Demo to see it in action)

 

Source code: OpenDMTP and OpenGTS

Article on getting OpenDMTP running on a laptop: http://www.opendmtp.org/article/webserv/