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PlayaInfo supporting GPSD

topic posted Mon, August 8, 2005 - 11:55 AM by  		Share/Save/Bookmark
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I've just gotten some word that playainfo is supporting GPSD for this year, or something really similar. I'm actually making an assumption there because I know they're supporting GPSDrive, which relies on GPSD.

Time for all the cyborgs to suit up!
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  • Zhahai
    Zhahai
    offline 3

    Re: PlayaInfo supporting GPSD

    Mon, August 8, 2005 - 11:26 PM
    A little confirmation/background/clarification:

    We plan to support GPSdrive this year. That includes running a friendsd server (which is perhaps what you meant?). For anybody not already familiar, GPSDrive is a program that displays your GPS location on a calibrated raster map - and it can share your location with others (and receive theirs) via WiFi. The friendsd server is the program that collects position reports via WiFi and broadcasts them again on the same medium.

    Both are Linux programs, tho some folks may have made GPSDrive work under cygwin in Windows. Actually, it would *great* if anybody here has the knowledge to get GPSdrive up under Windows, and could help others.

    There also exists a server (daemon) under Linux called "gpsd" which receives GPS position reports over a serial or USB port and allows other programs on the same computer to access them through an API, rather than each program needing to parse NMEA themselves (this also allows several programs to share the GPS info, unlike opening your own serial port). GPSDrive can get its GPS info through gpsd or direct, if I recall; but that's a local implementation detail within your notebook computer running GPSDrive, not part of the central host we would operate.
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    • Re: PlayaInfo supporting GPSD

      Tue, August 9, 2005 - 11:08 AM
      So are you having people post their locations or are you aggregating them?

      Please publish the API if it is the first. Maybe we can write a simple script to grab data from GPSD and access the API.

      BTW, I'm a big fan of RESTful interfaces.

      I would like to see PlayaInfo have solid APIs for publishing information, and RDF feeds for sucking it down. Maybe you guys can't do all that in the next two and a half weeks, but keep it in mind for your next release.

      Thanks!
      nym
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      • Zhahai
        Zhahai
        offline 3

        Re: PlayaInfo supporting GPSD

        Tue, August 9, 2005 - 3:01 PM
        The friendsd server operates standalone; that is, it gathers and distributes locations of people running GPSDrive over WiFi. You can search for GPSDrive to learn more about how it works. Anybody could run it, it's not inherently involved with BRIDGE.

        However, we plan to run the server so we can extract dynamic position information from the mySQL database it uses, and use that to plot positions of mutant vehicles on our maps. We don't have an API for this - in this case we are the informal clients of the friendsd and GPSDrive system. We would use their API if they had one; instead we'll have to instect their code and the tables they create in mySQL.

        This is one of three envisioned sources for dynamic position information. The other two are APRS and the Garmin Rino.

        Time is getting tight, having to triage features for this year...
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        • Re: PlayaInfo supporting GPSD

          Tue, August 9, 2005 - 4:19 PM
          Since I wasn't aware of this, I figure I'd pass on a bit of info to the list:

          gpsdrive.kraftvoll.at/man-en.html#24

          FRIENDSD server

          There is a server program, called friendsd which acts as server for the position of your friends. If you enable it in the settings menu, then you can see the position of all gpsdrive connected with this server.

          You see the position of your friends as a car symbol on the map, including the name, time, day of week and the speed of his last connection. The blue arrow shows the last reported direction of your friend.

          The time is transmitted as UTC, but shown on the display as your local time, so it is also correct if your friend lives in another time zone.

          The server uses port 50123 (UDP), so be sure that you open the port in your firewall. The server needs no root privileges and should run as normal user or a special user with no privileges. The server was NOT tested for security.

          There is a friends server running on www.gpsdrive.cc, you can try it if you enable it in the settings menu.

          You can also send messages to other mobile targets (Misc. Menu/Messages)
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          • Craig
            Craig
            offline 21

            Re: PlayaInfo supporting GPSD

            Tue, August 9, 2005 - 9:56 PM
            So it's ICQ for your car basicly?
            A variation on commercial fleet managment software so the Artery can go all big brother with thier golf carts? and DMV can monitor the speed and no drive zones for art cars?
            When stealing a greeters golf cart pour beer into the computer. Check. :-)
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            • Zhahai
              Zhahai
              offline 3

              Re: PlayaInfo supporting GPSD

              Fri, August 12, 2005 - 12:08 PM
              What we are talking about is a purely voluntary service. If an art car owner with a GPS receiver and notebook computer WANTS to run GPSdrive on the laptop (and apparently some do), they could do so. At minimum this allows them to see where they are on a map. And if they also choose to broadcast their location via WiFi to our friendsd server, they can do so - in which case they will show up on the map along with others who so choose.

              It would be possible for some staff vehicles to use this too - but it's less likely. Those are mostly utility vehicles, and who wants to lug a notebook onboard whenever they want to drive around? Or leave it there between trips? Especially when you are just lugging an igloo cooler over to the commisary to get fresh water or something. Not much gain there!

              The folks who get kitted up for a big joyride are the art car contingent. And a few of those like the idea of being able to see their location, and that of their friends, on an onboard map. Or even civilians might be interested in catching a look at particular vehicles.

              We consider art cars to be mobile art, very similar to art installations except the location moves around :-)

              Most art car owners won't be interested, but a few have expressed interest. And they can turn it off whenever they wish!

              Running GPSdrive is up to the owner; our providing a friendsd server is just to provide a bridging service, which is what we like to do.

              The initiative for provding the service is coming from Bridge project within PlayaInfo, not DMV; and the energy is about fun and service, not regulation.
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