GPS Tracking System

Abstract: The bachelor thesis was to create a GPS tracking system for Svep Design Center AB. The system would consist of two major parts which were linked together through a common database. One part consisted of a cell phone application were the user can transmit their current position and the other part was a web application where the position data is presented on a map outlining the route of the user. Since such a system is rather big the goal was to implement a base that later could be marketed and grow into a full scale commercial product. Difficulties with the project including designing a database being able to handle great amount of data while being optimized with speed and performance. Also the application for the cell phone needed to be very user friendly, use minimal resources and have a low data traffic to keep the costs down. An iterative project model was used when implementing. First a database was created, then the main structure of the cell phone and web applications were coded and finally extra functionality was developed and added. When the main functionality had been implemented the system was tested. A route of approximately 49 kilometres with a duration of 50 minutes was tracked while driving. GPS data was sent periodically with an interval of 30 seconds. The tracking had consumed 8% of the cell phone battery. 77 coordinates where sent to the database corresponding to 29kb of data. The total cost was 0.77 Swedish kronor. To sum it up the goal was achieved and a stable base of a GPS system with social networking features was developed which can be marketed and built on commercially.