Author: Chris

GiSTEQ TripBook

GiSTEQ TripBook is a business application focuses on GPS-enabled trip tracking and creating mileage reports.

Screen Shots

Technical Features

  • Communicates with GPS hardware via Serial Port binary commands
  • Google Map API integration for GPS route viewing and printing
  • GPS route analysis and organization
  • Multi-user management
  • Sortable trip reports with column customization and data filters
  • Export reports to Excel and PDF

GiSTEQ Guardian Real-time GPS Tracker – Wrap Up

After a few months of development, the Real-time tracker projects comes to an end.  In the end, not only we have a total solution for real-time GPS location tracking, the platform we built is also flexible that it allows any 3rd party OEM vendor to easily create and host their own tracking solutions using our API without spending a lot of times studying the hardware and server communication details.

GiSTEQ Guardian Real-time GPS Tracker – Part 4

The last part of the Real-time tracker project involves building a website (actually 2 – one mobile phone browser version, one desktop browser version) for user to track their device without installing any client software.

After I coded the native PHP interface for accessing the central database (user login, location history…) and the PHP communication API for the trackers, we hired two additional programmers to code the website from my design.

Screenshots

Technical Features

  • Developed a native PHP interface to communicate with the Webservice API via HTTP sockets
  • Created a PHP interface to communication directly with the GPS tracker hardware via HTTP sockets.  It abstracts the complex native hardware commands and turns it into simple function calls for other programmers
  • Coded a PHP implementation of the Douglas-Peucker recursive line simplification algorithm for location history retrieval,  reduces web server loading and traffic, while maintaining the over-all representation of the GPS route

GiSTEQ Guardian Real-time GPS Tracker – Part 3

Part 3 of the Real-time tracker project is about creating a Windows Mobile tracking client application.

Screenshots

Technical Features

  • Implemented SMS (text message) event interception (SMS-PUSH) to receive alert from tracker and starts tracking client automatically
  • Implemented a smaller footprint version of the tracking API to interact with trackers via GPRS
  • Integrated static Google Map API

GiSTEQ Guardian Real-time GPS Tracker – Part 2

Part 2 of Real-time tracker project is to build a PC tracking client application and a central Web Server application to handle user login credential and location histories.

Due to schedule concerns, after I have designed the Web Service interface and functional requirement, we have outsourced the web server application part to an outside programmer.  Meanwhile, I was designing and coding the PC tracking application.

Screenshots

Technical Features

  • Created a step-by-step setup wizard to help user create their online accounts, setup the tracker, and start using the applications
  • PC clients is capable of communicating with the GPS tracker via either GPRS or USB connection
  • Designed a synchronization mechanism to synchronize tracker location history between the location server and local databases
  • Integrated Google Map API for tracker location display

GiSTEQ Guardian Real-time GPS Tracker – Part 1

GiSTEQ Guardian is a real time location tracking solution.  It contains several components:

  • A GSM-enabled GPS tracker
  • A location storage and communication gateway server
  • A tracking website for desktop browsers
  • A tracking website for mobile phones
  • A set of text message (SMS) commands to control the GPS tracker
  • A Windows Mobile Phone tracking client
  • A desktop tracking client application.

The first part of the project is to build the API for accessing and setup the GPS tracker hardware via USB port

Screen Shots

Application Settings

PC Setup Wizard Features

  • Supports multiple GPS tracking device; auto detects which device is being setup and starts the appropriate process
  • Converts hardware settings commands into easy-navigate user interfaces
  • Flexible construction by using reflection, polymorphism, and inheritance techniques

Abbot Sales Mobile CRM Software

This is project for Abbott Global Health Care’s China division.  The goal of this project is to create a CRM software on Windows Mobile platform for their sales team and region manager throughout the nation.

Screen Shots

Technical Features:

  • Implemented flexible event types handling with reflection and object component techniques
  • Designed compact database structure for maximum efficiency
  • Utilized Microsoft SQL Server Mobile Database Subscription for wireless data synchronization and allow offline data reporting where network connection is not available
  • Optimized for good performance on memory-constrained mobile OS

Phototrackr Pro Upgrade Project

Due to popular demand by professional photographers, the Phototrackr software needs to support RAW image formats.  Because of the additional licensing requirement, the RAW image format support is packaged as an upgrade purchase for Phototrackr customers.

Technical Features

  • Receives notifications via Paypal’s Instant Payment Notification (IPN)
  • If the payment status is verified, an activation code is generated and emailed to the customer
  • Email notification will be sent to company administrator when a new purchase has been made
  • Customer will be able to use the activation code to activate the RAW image support features via the product activation application (coded in C# with ASP.Net WebService backend)

GiSTEQ Phototrackr

This is my very first commercial work project – and it’s being sold worldwide.  The main program was designed and coded from scratch using C++/CLR and C#; there is also a product activation module done using ASP.Net WebService.

Screen Shots:

Technical Features:

  • Geotag JPEG images by examing the image’s Exif properties and compare it against GPS positions collected by a dedicated hardware
  • Embed Google Map with Google Map API in the Windows application host
  • Interact between Google Map javascript and the host Windows application through custom events & delegates
  • Inter-op between native Windows API and .Net framework for communicating with GPS data logger hardware, including retrieve GPS data points collected by the device, and configure various recording settings on the hardware
  • Analyze GPS location points to determine discontinuity between GPS tracks
  • Reduce route drawing complexity and google map javascript loading time by using various line simplification and points reduction algorithm
  • Integrates various web services API for additional functions including reverse-geocode and photo upload with location data
  • Product activation modules coded using ASP.Net WebService
  • Pro version features RAW image format reading

Media & Press Coverage

  • Coverage by engadget Link
  • News Report by ABC7 San Francisco Link
  • Radio coverage by cnet Leo Laporte Link
  • Review by GPS Passion Link
  • Review by Pocket PC World Link