6 ms·

So.... if you were to connect this free board to something, such that it provided GPS coords in each message (whats max msg length? It would seem that you can d

So.... if you were to connect this free board to something, such that it provided GPS coords in each message (whats max msg length? It would seem that you can do ~6 messages per hour, every hour, for the month - for free? Is this correct? So I can make a GPS child tracker for my kids backpacks - and it would just cost the $50 -- EDIT, ah for 10 years. This is wonderful. We attempted to negotiate this in 2007 after leaving Lockheeds RFID division, and nobody would touch it :-( for our sensors.

rlonn 5y ago
I've also thought about building a GPS child tracker, as I haven't found any reasonable/good existing options out there. Tell me if you need any assistance. I am a semi-incompetent full stack developer with IoT experience, reachable at hello at pushdata. io
- jsilence 5y ago
  Would also be interested.
- spoonjim 5y ago
  I used a Samsung SmartThings tracker to track my baby’s stroller.
- toomuchtodo 5y ago
  https://relaygo.com/families/relay https://relaygo.com/families/relay ?
- jurgemaister 5y ago
  I know I'm a bit late to the party, but Xplora[1] makes smart watches for children that can be used to call and also has a GPS tracker. They've become very popular here in Norway. [1] https://shop.myxplora.com/ https://shop.myxplora.com/
chris1993 5y ago
Why is it desirable to track the kids backpacks? Are they so very untidy that they often get lost?
- samstave 5y ago
  Backpacks are a mechanism for transporting your belongings in a convenient bag fashioned with straps such that you may wear it, carry your belongings AND have your hands free. They would typically be worn by the child, and thus a good indicator of where your snowflake is. But I want to use this to put on BIKES!
  - dreamcompiler 5y ago
    > But I want to use this to put on BIKES! Are you thinking about theft tracking or some other use case?
    - bb88 5y ago
      Sure. It's a valid case. The problem is that it's probably also easily removable, unless you can hide the gps receiver, the cpu, and the long life battery in the bike itself and the necessary antennas (maybe under a sticker say). Though I have to say I saw a youtube video recently (sorry to lazy to google it) where someone put an apple tracking device in a bike and was able to locate it after it was stolen.
      - petre 5y ago
        The best place to put a tracker on a bike is in the fork's steering column, since it's empty and open at one end for antennas. Still, it would take a dedicated device, because it needs to fit in an 1" hole.
- dreamcompiler 5y ago
  Where the backpack goes, the kid goes. And the associated battery, case, etc would be easier to put on a backpack than on the kid's clothing.
rozzie 5y ago
Yep, your scenario works and it's completely possible and plausible. Messages are extremely small and efficient OTA (highly optimized and compressed). The API is JSON and messages are your own unconstrained JSON object, but they're transmitted as compressed binary. (You can also have a binary payload 'attachment' to a JSON message if you so choose.) Although everything works fine if the messages are individually in the KB's, that's not the design center because of how we manage memory on our (STM32L4R5) MCU. Things work most efficiently when the app uses lots of small messages. We buffer them in flash, and power-on the modem at user-settable intervals (or conditions) for upload.
- rlonn 5y ago
  I'm having a hard time finding out the physical dimensions of the cards. Can't see anything in the data sheet about that? I'd like to know how small a configuration with a Notecard + carrier can be? For sewing into a kids backpack I think it looks like it will be small enough, but in my mind, putting a tracker inside a shoe would be much better. A backpack is easily forgotten or lost somewhere, but shoes tend to stay with the person. However, to put it in a shoe it'd have to be pretty small.
  - 29ebJCyy 5y ago
    I think this has what you are looking for, there are a few different cards to choose from but I think they are all in the 35mm square range (https://github.com/blues/note-hardware/tree/master/Notecard https://github.com/blues/note-hardware/tree/master/Notecard)
- davidzweig 5y ago
  A heads-up: I have been told flash wear can be a problem for such a use case if you always start writing records from the same address after transmitting the buffer. :)
- jsjohnst 5y ago
  Long time no chat! Haven’t talked to you since a couple years after Microsoft acquired Groove. This is really cool, but I don’t see any information on costs if you go over the 500mb of cellular data. Probably missed it, but I did click around a lot trying.
gspr 5y ago
Your raising of your own children is none of my business, but I'm curious: how do you think that being raised while constantly tracked affects the child later on in life? My personal armchair worry is that it makes them likely to accept a dystopian surveillance society without even considering that it might be problematic.
- cinquemb 5y ago
  Sounds like a market: backpack faraday cages and gps spoofing marketed to kids thru animated cartoons on the internet where they find a way to spend their parents money on it.

rlonn 5y ago

I've also thought about building a GPS child tracker, as I haven't found any reasonable/good existing options out there. Tell me if you need any assistance. I am a semi-incompetent full stack developer with IoT experience, reachable at hello at pushdata. io

jsilence 5y ago
Would also be interested.
spoonjim 5y ago
I used a Samsung SmartThings tracker to track my baby’s stroller.
toomuchtodo 5y ago
https://relaygo.com/families/relay https://relaygo.com/families/relay ?
jurgemaister 5y ago
I know I'm a bit late to the party, but Xplora[1] makes smart watches for children that can be used to call and also has a GPS tracker. They've become very popular here in Norway. [1] https://shop.myxplora.com/ https://shop.myxplora.com/

chris1993 5y ago

Why is it desirable to track the kids backpacks? Are they so very untidy that they often get lost?

samstave 5y ago
Backpacks are a mechanism for transporting your belongings in a convenient bag fashioned with straps such that you may wear it, carry your belongings AND have your hands free. They would typically be worn by the child, and thus a good indicator of where your snowflake is. But I want to use this to put on BIKES!
- dreamcompiler 5y ago
  > But I want to use this to put on BIKES! Are you thinking about theft tracking or some other use case?
  - bb88 5y ago
    Sure. It's a valid case. The problem is that it's probably also easily removable, unless you can hide the gps receiver, the cpu, and the long life battery in the bike itself and the necessary antennas (maybe under a sticker say). Though I have to say I saw a youtube video recently (sorry to lazy to google it) where someone put an apple tracking device in a bike and was able to locate it after it was stolen.
    - petre 5y ago
      The best place to put a tracker on a bike is in the fork's steering column, since it's empty and open at one end for antennas. Still, it would take a dedicated device, because it needs to fit in an 1" hole.
dreamcompiler 5y ago
Where the backpack goes, the kid goes. And the associated battery, case, etc would be easier to put on a backpack than on the kid's clothing.

rozzie 5y ago

Yep, your scenario works and it's completely possible and plausible. Messages are extremely small and efficient OTA (highly optimized and compressed). The API is JSON and messages are your own unconstrained JSON object, but they're transmitted as compressed binary. (You can also have a binary payload 'attachment' to a JSON message if you so choose.) Although everything works fine if the messages are individually in the KB's, that's not the design center because of how we manage memory on our (STM32L4R5) MCU. Things work most efficiently when the app uses lots of small messages. We buffer them in flash, and power-on the modem at user-settable intervals (or conditions) for upload.

rlonn 5y ago
I'm having a hard time finding out the physical dimensions of the cards. Can't see anything in the data sheet about that? I'd like to know how small a configuration with a Notecard + carrier can be? For sewing into a kids backpack I think it looks like it will be small enough, but in my mind, putting a tracker inside a shoe would be much better. A backpack is easily forgotten or lost somewhere, but shoes tend to stay with the person. However, to put it in a shoe it'd have to be pretty small.
- 29ebJCyy 5y ago
  I think this has what you are looking for, there are a few different cards to choose from but I think they are all in the 35mm square range (https://github.com/blues/note-hardware/tree/master/Notecard https://github.com/blues/note-hardware/tree/master/Notecard)
davidzweig 5y ago
A heads-up: I have been told flash wear can be a problem for such a use case if you always start writing records from the same address after transmitting the buffer. :)
jsjohnst 5y ago
Long time no chat! Haven’t talked to you since a couple years after Microsoft acquired Groove. This is really cool, but I don’t see any information on costs if you go over the 500mb of cellular data. Probably missed it, but I did click around a lot trying.

gspr 5y ago

Your raising of your own children is none of my business, but I'm curious: how do you think that being raised while constantly tracked affects the child later on in life? My personal armchair worry is that it makes them likely to accept a dystopian surveillance society without even considering that it might be problematic.

cinquemb 5y ago
Sounds like a market: backpack faraday cages and gps spoofing marketed to kids thru animated cartoons on the internet where they find a way to spend their parents money on it.