Inteli-Tracker is 'Showcase' software. A few years back I started working on a application framework package, then called Dilbert but since renamed to Alliance. For a number of reasons development has been on and off since I started the project, but a few months back everything started going again and Inteli-Tracker (ITracker) was born from the wish to demanstrate the power Alliance had.

If a GPS receiver is connected it does three things; first it stores the current position using GPS, second it stores the GSM cell tower the phone is connected with and lastly it stores a custom label for the user: e.g. 'Home','Shopping','Work',etc....

This information sent from your phone to your server using a UDP connection, I use UDP as a possed to TCP or HTTP because the bandwidth usage is sustansially less which keeps costs down. The software was designed with Aspicore GSM Tracker in mind but it can work with anything that sends standard complient NMEA sentences.

If no valid GPS signal is received it checks the GSM Cell Tower for a previously known location. If it finds a valid GSM location, it reports that as a position, meaning that GPS is not necessary anymore for positioning. However, if it fails to find a valid location using GSM it then looks for a Point of Interest saved with the same name as the users Location Label; e.g. Location Label is "Home" it will look for a Point called home that is ether asosiated with the users IEMI or is publicly shared. It the uses the POI as the users current location.

The next challenge was privacy. As you can imagine there are some location I do not wish to share online with all the wold. Using my home example agian the Home POI is stored with my IEMI and is set to private. This means it will not be displayed on the Google Map like all the other points. The clever bit comes in with distance. If a user goes within 75 meters of on of thier private locations thier location is automatically set to private and does not display on Google Map. Visiters can still get some information as 'Nearest Location' will display the name of the private POI your mobile is closest too, but it want tell anyone where that is.

So far ITracker is in a stable and fully functional state. But it isnt ready for public consumption yet. Installation and setup is still very hands on and a little complex.

Whats possibly more important is my tracking software has only ever been a proff of concept idea with no intended purpose other than to display where I am on my own websites. I am looking into changing this sooner rather than latter and do have some ideas about what would make for some good practical applications, but for now these are only ideas and I've not managed to put anything down on paper just yet.