Re: Announcing new app: RT2
Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 1:36 pm
I see what you mean. In fact you are suggesting some features that I'm thinking of a long time:
1.) I also thought about adding a new configurable interval, defining how often the tracker pushes the recorded trackpoints to the server. I think this is exactly what you suggested in your last posting. Actually it was not scheduled for now but maybe I could have a look at this topic this week. It's definitely a useful feature.
2.) I also thought several times about an algorithm to make the track more accurate. I did not think at things like speed but solely the direction. For example: If direction changes more than 10 degrees I will record a new track point. But I am not sure if it would be that easy. I don't rule out that this feature will be added too in the future.
This tracker uses HTTP(S). A typical HTTP request needs more than 400 bytes because of its headers. If the tracker adds some content like location, speed, etc., the request will grow to about 600 bytes (= 0.6 kB). The server response will be equally sized, actually even a little bigger. So all in all, with the current architecture the minimum data size of a location update will be 1.2 - 1.5 kB. For 4800 server updates it would need about 7.2 MB. This is the optimistic approach because there are also some control messages. If you have added friends the tracker will need much more data because thousands of friends location updates will be send to your tracker. If you are chatting if will also cause data traffic. Can't say how much because I have to optimize it first. The tracker uses a push service. This is why messaging works so fast. But of course this also causes some data traffic. The tracker also receives some messages if the viewer count changes. If your viewers change frequently you will also have higher data consumption.
If your HTTPS connection is unstable and has to be reestablished many times it will be another negative factor.
All in all, I'm optimistic that the tracker will stay below 30 MB/day if you don't display any map and no ads are displayed (i.e. using the ad-free version). In your case it's easy. If you wish I can activate both ad-free and "Track Loading" one year for free (a small symbolic gesture because you have supported Greenalp by translating the whole translation file). Just let me know if you want me to activate it for your account.
That said, I must admit that a user in this forum reported a few weeks ago that his tracker consumed more than 200 MB in 3 days. I don't know if this measurement was correct, and I could not find any explantion for that. This never happened on my phone but you should be aware that I cannot completely rule out such incidents (bugs, etc.). Moreover, I have not 100 percent control about the external services (ads, push service). If roaming is expensive I strongly recommend to monitor data consumption.
1.) I also thought about adding a new configurable interval, defining how often the tracker pushes the recorded trackpoints to the server. I think this is exactly what you suggested in your last posting. Actually it was not scheduled for now but maybe I could have a look at this topic this week. It's definitely a useful feature.
2.) I also thought several times about an algorithm to make the track more accurate. I did not think at things like speed but solely the direction. For example: If direction changes more than 10 degrees I will record a new track point. But I am not sure if it would be that easy. I don't rule out that this feature will be added too in the future.
This tracker uses HTTP(S). A typical HTTP request needs more than 400 bytes because of its headers. If the tracker adds some content like location, speed, etc., the request will grow to about 600 bytes (= 0.6 kB). The server response will be equally sized, actually even a little bigger. So all in all, with the current architecture the minimum data size of a location update will be 1.2 - 1.5 kB. For 4800 server updates it would need about 7.2 MB. This is the optimistic approach because there are also some control messages. If you have added friends the tracker will need much more data because thousands of friends location updates will be send to your tracker. If you are chatting if will also cause data traffic. Can't say how much because I have to optimize it first. The tracker uses a push service. This is why messaging works so fast. But of course this also causes some data traffic. The tracker also receives some messages if the viewer count changes. If your viewers change frequently you will also have higher data consumption.
If your HTTPS connection is unstable and has to be reestablished many times it will be another negative factor.
All in all, I'm optimistic that the tracker will stay below 30 MB/day if you don't display any map and no ads are displayed (i.e. using the ad-free version). In your case it's easy. If you wish I can activate both ad-free and "Track Loading" one year for free (a small symbolic gesture because you have supported Greenalp by translating the whole translation file). Just let me know if you want me to activate it for your account.
That said, I must admit that a user in this forum reported a few weeks ago that his tracker consumed more than 200 MB in 3 days. I don't know if this measurement was correct, and I could not find any explantion for that. This never happened on my phone but you should be aware that I cannot completely rule out such incidents (bugs, etc.). Moreover, I have not 100 percent control about the external services (ads, push service). If roaming is expensive I strongly recommend to monitor data consumption.