C#: GPS Tracking system

Question

How do I go about building a GPS tracking system with mobile (with GPS) in C#.net ? The scenario is

1. Track a user (service engineer, nothing illegal here) via a GPS enabled mobile Phone. What software and hardware will I require? Is there any open source implementation?

2. For a vehicle tracking system, how do I go about with GPS? I would like to know the various steps/procedure. I am looking for some right direction.

Solution 1

I built a Window Forms version to display information from a GPS. Haven't really touched it much since, but if you are interested the code is on CodePlex.

http://gps.codeplex.com/SourceControl/changeset/view/24953#146657

All that you need to do to get this tracking somebody is

1. Convert to Windows Mobile
2. Build a Web Service for recording location
3. Modify code to post location to Web Service every so often

Really I already did the hard work, or parsing the GPS commands from the serial connection for you. :)

Solution 2

Its actually not that hard (done it myself!).

Best place to start looking is here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb158708.aspx

You will need to download the windows mobile 6.0 SDK from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=06111A3A-A651-4745-88EF-3D48091A390B&displaylang=en

The sdk actually contains a sample GPS application that you can use to customize to your own needs.

Solution 3

I've been looking into this myself and I came across this

http://www.codeplex.com/SharpGPS

It's a GPS library based on .NET 2 full or CF, I haven't tried it yet but it looks pretty promising

Solution 4

you can find more info at: http://www.miisoft.it/portale/index.php/programmazione/37-c/51-gps-parte-i Here you can find notice about gps, parsing NMEA string and example code.

Solution 5

Since you mention C#, you will need a phone that runs Windows Mobile. And has GPS of course.

After you download and install the WinMob 6.1 SDK, you can simply start a Smart Device project in V. Studio.

You can read the GPS either through a SerialPort or use the GPS API. There is a managed wrapper for the API in the SDK samples folder. (The WM 5 version had some problems, Google for that).

When you can read the position, you will have to send it to a Server somewhere. WinMob has support for calling WebServices in a intermittently connected situations.

View more solutions

Comments

[Jerph]

Hi Calanus, wasn't that sample GPS application done in Visual C++ and not C#? I haven't looked at the SDK in a while so I am generally curious if they finally released a C# version.

[Calanus]

Nope the sample app was in c#. Have a peek at the following folder (once the SDK is installed). C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Mobile 6 SDK\Samples\PocketPC\CS\GPS

[Guido]

"WinMob has support for calling WebServices in a intermittently connected situations" Could you please elaborate or provide a link to the documentation? Thank you.

[Henk Holterman]

Guido, I have no idea what the current status is but it is called the "Patterns & Practices Disconnected Service Agent".

[kenny]

Simply not true, at least any longer. Mono allows you to target iPhone/iPad, OSX, Android, Linux, ...

[Louis Waweru]

Link rot. Article is now here: miisoft.it/wp/gps-parte-i