send frequency and track density

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admin
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Re: send frequency and track density

Post by admin »

Hi,
Yes, you can for example use the wizard to change the interval. But you can also open the app settings, you will find many options more there.

The app doesn't access your photos, but it requests permissions to read and write to your sd-card, so the downloaded map can be stored there. This way it doesn't need to redownload them again and saves data bandwidth. Unfortunately, if sd-card permission is requested Android shows a message that the app could read your photos because they are also stored on the sd-card. But the app doesn't access your photo folder.

About the timeline. The app stores your last 1000 GPS updates, so you should see a track and you can click the track to see the timestamps and more data. For powerusers who want to store larger tracks or complete trips I recommend the non-free option "Track Loading". With this option you can store up to 1.000.000 track points.
javrfrm
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2017 10:10 am

Re: send frequency and track density

Post by javrfrm »

The app stores your last 1000 GPS updates, so you should see a track and you can click the track to see the timestamps and more data.
thanks, found it.

My setup is one track-update every 5 minutes, so, in theory, that would mean I can see my track for (1000 x 5 min) 83 hours in the past ?

I noticed someone somewhere complained about zig-zagging on the map, and your answer to setup track-update only if he movement is more than "x" meters.
I set that up to 10 meters, and zig-zagging is still confusing. I'll try with 20 meters, and here's a suggestion: a list (Excel...) of locations with columns:
- date;
- hour;
- GPS location.

That won't solve zig-zagging on the map, but it would clearly show time and location of a tracked person.

By the way: there are "thousands" of such apps on Google Play, but this is the first one that actually works, and actually cares what customers think. I blame it on Google, because it provides almost no filters when looking for a certain app. With more filters, your app would always be on the top. I didn't even find it on Google Play, but on the internet. Tnx.
javrfrm
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2017 10:10 am

Re: send frequency and track density

Post by javrfrm »

P.S.: this is my timeline for 2 hours; that's why I think a table with "date-time-location"-columns would be a great option; for now, I corrected update interval from 300 to 600, and min.distance from 10 to 20 meters:

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admin
Site Admin
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Joined: Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:36 pm

Re: send frequency and track density

Post by admin »

With more filters, your app would always be on the top. I didn't even find it on Google Play, but on the internet.
Thanks for your feedback. Do you remember the search term which you used in Google Play. I'm curious which apps are listed above :-).

About the zigzags: Well, personally I have a simple solution for that. I switch off the tracker when I'm inside a buiding for a longer time because it is only waste of battery. As a side effect I have never zig zags :-). The download of data as CSV or KML is actually available (in the web portal). But it is a non-free feature and does not belong to the free basic service. But every user can test 24 hours for free. Just let me know if I should unlock your account.

Short explanation about Track Loading: https://www.greenalp.com/realtimetracke ... ackloading
javrfrm
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2017 10:10 am

Re: send frequency and track density

Post by javrfrm »

I used so many keyword-combinations that I don't remember them exactly any more. But lack of filters at play.google.com is a general problem, which users complain about for years, but noone at Google cares.

I found how to move step-by-step on the map by clicking "next" and "previous", so the zigzagg problem is no longer a problem.
I subscribed to 1-month maps-downloading; first impression about CSV: the "time" column is 2 hours ahead (actuall start: at 7:56; recorded in CSV as 5:56).

Haven't found an explanation for these things yet:

- when tapping "target" on the map, it should show my current position, but it doesn't; it just stays at whatever is showing at that moment; "+" and "-" work just fine;

Image

- I thought that when the GPS-signal is off, the app switches-over to Wifi-location, and if Wifi-location is off, it switches to cell-tower-location; it obviously isn't like that; it just reports that the GPS-signal is off, and it waits until it is on again;

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Even 10-minute interval is too much for the battery; started at 8:00 at almost 100%; it's 22:00 now, and the battery is at 26% . Testing today at "update intervals: 1200", "min.distance: 20 meters".



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admin
Site Admin
Posts: 3130
Joined: Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:36 pm

Re: send frequency and track density

Post by admin »

Hi,
GPS timestamps are in UTC timeformat, this is the reason why the time might not correspond with your time. You just need to convert the time to your time zone.

I have no explanation for the "My Location" button. If you can see your own icon on the map (which means the tracker knows your location) it should work. Does it work never? If you click the map should jump to your location.

If you have no GPS signal, the tracker will switch to the network location (WIFI and cell tower). But it will show only if there has been no GPS location recorded within the last 5 minutes. Otherwise it will prefer to show the GPS location because it is usually more accurate. The warning you see, doesn't mean that it cannot determine your location. It means it cannot record your track. Tracks are recorded only if the GPS location is available. Network locations will not be stored for the track history, because they could be incorrect and the track would be crazy.
The other screen also just notifies that GPS signal is weak at the moment and it will retry later (and save battery in the mean-time). But at the same time it will still use network location. If you scroll the statistics panel above the map to the right you can see the last GPS timestamp and the last network location timestamp.

GPS indeed needs much battery. Therefore I recommend to run the tracker only if you need it (while you are outside and moving). Alternatively, if you don't need the track but only the current location, you could configure the app to skip GPS and use network location only.
javrfrm
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2017 10:10 am

Re: send frequency and track density

Post by javrfrm »

I have no explanation for the "My Location" button. If you can see your own icon on the map (which means the tracker knows your location) it should work. Does it work never? If you click the map should jump to your location.
I tried it many many times - no response from the "my location" (or a "target", as I called it) icon. Today I'm testing "Google Maps - Location Sharing" for 14 hours to compare the battery drain. "My Location" - icon works there as it should. Then I breifly started your app - and it works now in your app, too. With location started or stopped, doesn't matter. The phone is LG-H735.
Tracks are recorded only if the GPS location is available. Network locations will not be stored for the track history, because they could be incorrect and the track would be crazy.
I'd like to have this option in expert settings: "Track history: GPS (check box), Wifi (check box), Cell tower (check box)".
GPS indeed needs much battery. Therefore I recommend to run the tracker only if you need it (while you are outside and moving). Alternatively, if you don't need the track but only the current location, you could configure the app to skip GPS and use network location only.
even with setting "update every 20 minutes" and "only if moved more than 20 meters", the battery drain was not much less than with "10 minutes - 10 meters" - setting; it went from 100% to about 36% in 14 hours (to 26% with "10 minutes - 10 meters" - setting).
Today I'm testing "Google Maps - Location Sharing", and after 11 hours I can already say that it doesn't drain the battery so much - it's currently at 62%. (Yes, there's a big minus: timeline can not be shared, only the current location is visible. So why do I bother testing "Google Maps Location Sharing" anyway ? Because it's already built-in every Android phone, and therefore (probably) easier to use for inexperienced users: open the app -> tap Location Sharing -> tap for how long you wanna be visible -> pick people from the contact list -> go.)
I don't quite understand the big drain of the battery with your app. I think it's not just GPS, I think it must be something else, too, because when your app is running in the background, the phone works slightly slower - there's a certain lag in response. The CPU must be loaded with some heavy calculations. I'll go through all settings again, trying to find what's wrong. Is there a way to download all settings of the app (as TXT, for example), and upload them to this forum so that you or other users could advise me what to change ? Thanks.
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 3130
Joined: Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:36 pm

Re: send frequency and track density

Post by admin »

OK, very strange. Does it mean now suddenly it works? I really don't know why it did not work at beginning...
For track history I don't plan to change the implementation for now. It would be too much effort because changes would be necessary in the Android app and in the server application.

The battery consumption depends on the phone. For example I used a Sony Z3 Compact for a long time and I could let the run the tracker in background for hours and battery was still over 90%. Anyway, the tracker uses hardly any resources if you configure appropriate intervals in the interval section. In the end it is important how long GPS is used and how often the phone has to wake up. The app doesn't need much CPU. You can test it easily. Just let it run in the background for a few hours and afterwards go to the battery section. It can show you cpu consumption from every app.
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