FollowMe 1.2 - Free Java ME GPS Tracking Software

FollowMe 1.2 Free Open Source GPS tracking software for MIDP 2.0+ phones

FollowMe is the new name for Silent Software's LocateMe, this small (45K) application requires a mobile phone with an integrated GPS or a separate Bluetooth GPS and will show you the direction to given locations ("targets") without maps, using a pulsing direction arrow. You can request the location of other FollowMe users by text message, send your own position, or just simply save locations ("targets") for directions back to them later. Targets can even later be imported into Google Earth or Maps.

The Features

• "Target" other FollowMe users' positions via a text message
• Save multiple locations (targets "waypoints") with names (NEW for 1.2)
• Stores your targets as Google Earth/Maps KML (NEW for 1.2)
• Send your current position to other FollowMe users via text message
• Connects to any mobile phone integrated GPS or Bluetooth GPS
• View all the satellites around you on a "radar" style view
• Display RAW GPS data (suitable for testing)
• Complete integrated GPS support (some features may not be available depending on phone GPS capability).

For developers the fully commented source code provides

• Design patterns, i.e. lazy initialization, command, strategy patterns
• An example of a 2 tier system
• How to use PushRegistry and File Connector (JSR 118)
• How to use the Record Store (JSR 118)
• How to use Bluetooth (JSR 82)
• How to use Text Messaging (JSR 120)
• How to use the PIM (and hack to minimise the security notices - JSR 75)
• How to use the Location Based API (JSR 179 - Nokia lapi.jar included for use on non GPS integrated phones)
• How to use simple graphics (not using a Game Canvas however)
• How to multi thread effectively
• How to process raw NMEA GPS data
• Basic usage of the NanoXML parser
• Basic understanding of graphical and GPS trigonometry

Known Issues

• The application is not security signed (this costs money!), so you will be shown numerous security popups when you start it.
• As your phone is not a compass the direction target arrow will only point to the correct direction once you start walking, and the phone can determine which way relative to North you are going, i.e. when you are stood still your phone doesn't know which direction you are facing! :) On startup, until the GPS gets an accurate fix, the direction arrow to the target WILL NOT BE SHOWN.
• On first run there can be some delay discovering the Bluetooth devices in busy areas (i.e. it may display "Waiting for GPS..." on first run for some time). This is down to the Bluetooth device discovery picking up a large number of devices and querying them. Once you have located your GPS, future connections to the GPS do not require this discovery period and will be relatively quick.

Compatibility
This software has been tested on Nokia Series 40 3rd edition phones at a minimum resolution of 128x128 pixels and Sun WTK emulator at 240x320. It has also been successfully tested on a Nokia N95 and Nokia 6650 with integrated GPS', and the INQ1 phone with separate Bluetooth GPS.

Downloads
Download for mobile phones with an integrated GPS
Download for mobile phones using a separate Bluetooth GPS
Download FollowMe source code (and full javadoc)

FollowMe 1.2 Release Delay :(

As happens with other software I write in my free time I've not been able to push FollowMe 1.2 out of the door quickly as I'd like since I've been on holiday and now have a bad head cold (hopefully not the s-flu!) but the software is still on the cards as the next immediate release.

Thanks for your patience.

FollowMe 1.2 (the new name for LocateMe)

Since its release in early 2008 LocateMe 1.1 has been a great program, but is slipping behind the times compared to now many other similar modern hardware tracking solutions.

LocateMe has also unintentionally shared the same name as other similar popular software for iphone and pocket pc (which admittedly has probably helped in its success), so now its name is changing, it's shortly to be called FollowMe.

I'll be releasing a new build with improved phone compatibility within the next few days, and, new to FollowMe 1.2 is the ability to track multiple targets.

The roadmap for FollowMe 2.0 includes a beaconing feature and an innovative (and hush hush) feature that I'll be divulging on the day of release.

Keep an eye on this blog :)

LocateMe 1.1 Released - Free Java ME GPS Tracking Software

UPDATE: LocateMe 1.1 has been updated and renamed to FollowMe 1.2

LocateMe - Free open source GPS tracking software for MIDP 2.0 mobile phones.

This small (30-35K) application requires a mobile phone with an integrated GPS or a separate Bluetooth GPS and will show you the direction to a given location (a "target") without maps, using a pulsing direction arrow. You can request the location of other LocateMe users by text message, send your own location, or just simply save a location for directions back to it later.

The Features:

* "Target" other LocateMe users' locations via a request text message
* Send your location to other LocateMe users via text message (can use your contacts list)
* Record your last location as a target
* View all the satellites around you on a "radar" style view
* Display RAW GPS data (suitable for testing)
* Connects to any mobile phone integrated GPS or Bluetooth GPS
* Saves your GPS and target settings between runs.

New Features for 1.1:

* Complete integrated GPS support (some features may not be available depending on phone GPS capability).
* Last known target direction shown when stationary (arrow stops pulsing when stationary and an accurate direction cannot be calculated due to GPS fix precision errors)
* Added a new option to invert display colours (you can choose depending on light)
* Fixed the speed error for bluetooth GPS knots to km/h - the value was off by 0.001 km/h per knot
* Fixed the speed bug for integrated GPS (would you believe - integrated GPS use metres/second, normal GPS use knots!)
* Added a warning before setting a new target
* Added support for viewing satellites positions using an integrated GPS (Bluetooth always could) but only if the phone can support this feature
* Moved "Target here" to "Target" which on most devices will now be at the top of the menu or centred
* Sats button is now "Satellites"
* Marquee time is 45 seconds before next reading shown
* Moved "Dist. to target" to start of marquee text
* Distance shown is in km when metres > 1000
* Removed the About menu item (it now shows (C) Silent Software in the marquee on first run)

For developers the fully commented source code is a good example of:

* Design patterns, i.e. lazy initialization, command, strategy patterns
* 2 Tier system
* How to use PushRegistry (JSR 118)
* How to use the Record Store (JSR 118)
* How to use Bluetooth (JSR 82)
* How to use Text Messaging (JSR 120)
* How to use the PIM (and hack to minimise the security notices - JSR 75)
* How to use the Location Based API (JSR 179 - Nokia lapi.jar included)
* How to use simple graphics (not using a Game Canvas however)
* How to multi thread effectively
* How to process raw NMEA GPS data
* Provide a basic understanding into Graphical and GPS trigonometry

Known Issues:

* The application is not security signed (this costs money!), so you will be shown numerous security popups when you start it.
* As your phone is not a compass the direction target arrow will only point to the correct direction once you start walking, and the phone can determine which way relative to North you are going, i.e. when you are stood still your phone doesn't know which direction you are facing! :) On startup, until the GPS gets an accurate fix, the direction arrow to the target will not be shown.
* On first run there can be some delay discovering the Bluetooth devices in busy areas (i.e. it may display "Waiting for GPS..." on first run for some time). This is down to the Bluetooth device discovery picking up a large number of devices and querying them. Once you have located your GPS, future connections to the GPS do not require this discovery period and will be relatively quick

This software has been tested on Nokia Series 40 3rd edition phones at a minimum resolution of 128x128 pixels and Sun WTK emulator at 240x320. It has also been successfully tested on a Nokia N95 and Nokia 6650 with integrated GPS'.

The software is licenced under the modified for UK Law CPL 1.0 licence which is included with the distributions.

Download for mobile phones with an integrated GPS
Download for mobile phones using a separate Bluetooth GPS
Download LocateMe source code (and full javadoc)

LocateMe Update! Hooray!

Thanks to a very helpful user I've been able to improve integrated GPS support in LocateMe 1.0.1 Beta. Subject to extra testing I'll be releasing this as full 1.0.1 with source shortly. This isn't the rewrite I wanted for V2 (with all the extra bluetooth/logging/radar etc. features) but improved support/feature completion for the V1 lineage.

The improvements include:

- If you have an integrated GPS phone your bearing (course) and speed data will be read (if possible).
- Satellite View MAY work if the GPS supports providing raw NMEA data (not many phones support this feature, but it is attempted anyway).
- Uses white on black for main view (with arrow) to help conserve battery power (although I've no idea if this works it looks funky).
- Improved error handling in places.
- Updated (C) and text in places.
- Ticker (the scrolling marquee) now refreshes after 40 seconds not 30 to give more time to read it. Please remember that this data updates from the GPS every few seconds (~5 secs), so by the time it has been read it it may be old!
- You will be classed as "at the target" if within 10 metres of it (not 30 like 1.0)

So far this has been tested on the following handsets Nokia N95, Nokia 6650, Nokia 6300/3110 classic + BlueNEXT Bluetooth GPS, Nokia 6300/3110 classic + Bluetooth Holux GPS, Sun's WTK 2.5.2

Vampire Castle Progress

I spent a a whole day trying to move from the PALib library to libnds to make Vampire Castle future proof, unfortunately this proved to be more time consuming than I hoped and backed out the changes (two key problems arose - I can't use anim gifs, and I couldn't alter screen brightness without a lot of faff*). I also didn't fancy rescripting lots of PAGfx ini files to Grit scripts (i.e. the graphics resources). Perhaps further down the line I can do this conversion, but for the moment I don't want to kill programming momentum by getting stuck in the minutae.

After the roll back I added rumble pack support and some new sound effects, this has added to the realism greatly, especially when the fruit reels stop and you feel physical "ker-chunks" and "dunk" sound effects.
Hitting the bonus 4 points now also starts the feature stopper mode that will get you to the top board, although the stopper doesn't yet stop :)

I'm expecting to release either a demo or the full version within the next month or so, source code and revised releases will follow (at the very least a new youtube video will be available soon). One thing I am toying with is displaying cut scenes for collecting your winnings and so on - this is dependent on me having time.

Oh and I briefly looked at LocateMe 1.0.1 beta to help a (potential) user adding in some minor bug fixes - this code hasn't been released and probably won't be as I intend to do some refactoring to better support phone integrated GPS.

* Wintermute on #dsdev mentioned the next version of libnds will have a brightness function I can use - thanks :)

Aerofoil 1.4.5 and LocateMe 1.0.1 Beta

Aerofoil 1.4.5

- Fixes a small issue with hibernate closing explorer on resume

Download Aerofoil 1.4.5 installer
Download Aerofoil 1.4.5 source

LocateMe 1.0.1 Beta (source only release)

- Basic integrated GPS support (no need for a bluetooth GPS - Satellite View not yet working)
- Refactor of view handling

Download LocateMe 1.0.1 Beta source

Many thanks to Stefan Lembach for providing N95 testing, and Calum for providing an integrated GPS reader class

Software Update: Gesture Magic 1.1, Aerofoil 1.4.4, LocateMe 1.0.1

I know from comments on this blog a lot of readers are watching for a new release of Gesture Magic, this is still at the front of my mind and is part of this schedule

Since I've been quite busy recently and job hunting I haven't had as much time to spare for work on the schedule as I would have liked. There have been a few updates, a few given feedback from readers of the blog:

Aerofoil 1.4.4 and a native version will be published sometime within the next week, this is small improvement to hibernate without a new process call, and a native version to improve memory usage (i.e. make it smaller when running, not the executable file size).

LocateMe 1.0.1 had a small amount of source code changes by me to make it a little bit more structured, and should support Java phones with a built in GPS (unfortunately the chap who emailed me the changes never kept in contact to say if they worked). Nonetheless I'll update this and post it as an unsupported alpha version when I get time or if you drop me an email at: uk co silentsoftware at ben (reverse add punctuation)

Vampire Castle has had all of it's main game graphics finished (but no menu system yet) I'm still hoping to get this completed within the next couple of weeks, and still roughly on schedule.

Gesture Magic is currently under investigation for an issue slowing graphics drawing down on some single core machines - a threading issue down to the fact it was built on a prototype/proof of concept version.

LocateMe update for Nokia N95 and phone integrated GPS

Calum at http://calum.org has provided a patch for phone integrated GPS units with a modified version of LocateMe 1.0 which he uses with his Nokia N95. The modification was limited to just showing the location (and setting a target) but I've updated the patch further so it can also send and receive location "target" texts (viewing satellites unfortunately isn't possible yet) but as I don't have a phone with an integrated GPS I don't know if the code works (yep I'm a cheapskate). I'm just waiting for Calum to do a small spot of testing for me (I hoping he'll oblige) and then I'll release the changes, otherwise I'll do it in a couple of weeks.

If anybody else wants to test this for me please drop me a comment - thanks.