Are there any Spot Satellite GPS Messenger users out there?

[Sanderling_]

Younger son is setting off on his cycle trip next weekend -Aberdeen to Busan, South Korea. To try to stop Mum from worrying tooooo much, we have bought him a Spot Messenger.

He is trying to link it to his website but Spot only retains data in their Live Maps package for a maximum of 7 days, presumably to save on server space. He wishes to display the whole years route on google maps as he progresses.

Whilst I could load the data manually from time to time, does anyone know how to automatically add daily waypoints from Spot to a third party application like Google Maps without user intervention? Your help would be much appreciated, thanks.

Regards
Tony

 

[daveyw]

Think these guys are using spot
http://sailingaroundtheglobe.blogspot.com/
http://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=1f504c88ea2126bad&hoursPast=0&fillFactor=20

 

[markdj]

What about google latitude on your phone? it can record and display all on google maps.

I also have a little i-gotU gps tracker which records my position and I can add geo-location data to photos e.g. http://www.i-gotu.com/
@trip, the best trip sharing web service for i-gotU.
@trip enables you to share, edit and manage your personal Travel Blog on-line. With a few clicks, you can share your travel experience with entire world.

 

[testmonkey]

how to automatically add daily waypoints from Spot to a third party application like Google Maps without user intervention?

Add FireEagle to Facebook account and Google Latitude. Then add FireEagle to Spot account. After this OK messages from Spot messenger are displayed on Facebook and stored in Google forever.

 

[bbg]

I don't know how to do what you are asking, but Spot keeps data for up to 30 days. The default period that is displayed is 7 days, but it will retrieve from last 30 days.

Also be aware that if you are trying to export data to an "adventure", it will only accept 500 data points at a time. That might sound like plenty, but in fact it isn't much if you keep the unit on "tracking" rather than just send an "update / OK" message once or twice a day.

I used mine for a 10-day trip, and was able to export the data to an adventure about a week after I finished, so the data was definitely there. I used the tracking feature because I was interested in seeing (and if necessary proving) my exact route. For cycling I expect that pushing the OK button from time to time will be enough.

Remind him to take lots of batteries, or use the unit sparingly (or both). It doesn't exactly eat batteries, but it only accepts AA Lithium batteries, which might be hard to find in some places.

 

[nimbusgb]

I have a spot tracker ( or two )

Spot does an API to scrape data and send it on to a third party app.

start here http://faq.findmespot.com/index.php?action=showEntry&data=69



Oh and add to the above advice - The unit has to be put into track mode every 24hours OR he can just ping off an 'OK' message one in a while. ( as if a young man out on the road is likely to remember! )

 

[Sanderling_]

Thanks for that guys, really useful stuff.

Not being highly technical, we are looking at the easy route and embedding spotwalla into his website as it looks to have everything he needs on it.

Once again, thanks for your help.

Tony

 

[vyv_cox]

When I read threads like this one the value of the forum strikes me hard. I think I know a bit about some subjects but I don't even speak the language of this one! What a fantastic resource it is.