Mobile Trail Explorer
Mobile Trail Explorer – Explore your trails using the mobile phone and GPS unit (internal/external)
Mobile Trail Explorer is an application where user can view and record tracks using the mobile phone and GPS device (either external or internal). Recorded tracks can be exported in KML or GPX formats so that they can be viewed in Google Earth application. Mobile Trail Explorer is mainly targeted for recording biking, hiking etc. trails.
You can also create trails or placemarks in Google Earth and import those to Mobile Trail Explorer in KML format. You can then display the imported track as “ghost” trail and follow the trail or waypoints.
Mobile Trail Explorer can also post your current location to web in specified URL address. You can send your current location, speed, altitude and heading information in query parameters and do whatever you like with them on your server application.
Mobile Trail Explorer software runs on Java platform (J2ME/Java ME) so it is supported by many mobile phones. It is required that mobile phone supports either Bluetooth connections (JSR 82) or Location API (JSR 179) for GPS and File connection (JSR 75) for exporting trails to kml files.
Platform: Java MIDP-2.0 CLDC-1.1
Price: Free
License: GPL
Screenshots (Nokia N80):
Nokia E71:
Mobile Trail Explorer displaying map from OpenStreetMap
Trail exported to Google Earth:
Download example: track_2006-09-07_08-47.kml
Download:
- MobileTrailExplorer.jad
- MobileTrailExplorer.jar
- Source and Binaries (including NetBeans IDE project files)
Latest Beta Version:
Discussion Group:
http://groups.google.com/group/mobile-trail-explorer
Subscribe to mobile-trail-explorer Visit this group
Version History:
Version 1.14 (March 18th 2009)
- New logo and icon
- Improved MapCache initialization time
- Fixed information screen scrolling
- Splash screen hang fix (Issue 106)
- WGS84 coordinates in degrees and minutes (Issue 162, Thanks Marco can Eck)
- Fixed NullPointerException with S40 devices (Issue 145, 164)
- NoSuchFieldError fixed (Issue 166)
- Added decimal check to calculate time form (Issue 167)
Version 1.13 (November 15th 2008)
- Option to prevent Map tiles from being downloaded over the network (Cached tiles will still be displayed)
- Bug fix: When the locale is changed manually, it will be saved (From Kaspar)
- Bug fix: LocaleManager does now respect the user-selected locale (From Kaspar)
- Simplified the addition for additional locales (From Kaspar)
- Find place by using Google service (From Kaspar)
- German support tweaks (From Peter)
- OpenStreetMap surveyor feature (From Vikas)
Version 1.12 (August 13th 2008)
- New languages: French and Dutch
- NoSuchFieldError fixed (Issue 123)
Version 1.11 (August 5th 2008)
- Renamed “Waypoints” to “Places” (Issue 92)
- Filename uses datestamp with seconds
- User can add audio-markers
- Configurable action keys (* and # keys)
- New speedometer screen (Issue 112)
- Support different grid formats (Contributed by Kaspar Mösinger)
- Encoding problems with KML import (Issue 120, Contribution from Bastian)
Version 1.10 (May 6th 2008)
- Support varying screen sizes like rotating screen on N95 (Issue 90)
- Improved startup time
- Support for uploading position to web server (Issue 78)
- Scrolling (up/down) works on the information screen (Issue 73)
- Fixed the saving/loading of trails using RMS (Issue 89)
- Import trails from KML files
- Import waypoints from KML files
- Fixed waypoint editing when handling quickly added or imported waypoints
Version 1.9 (April 1st 2008)
- Trail is now projected using the mercator projection
- Both trail and map are now zoomed with same keys (1 and 3)
- File browser for importing trails and selecting export path
- Logger can now write to the filesystem
- Signal strength SNR key to Sky View and updated help screen
- Change screen on space key as well as 0 key
- Export and import waypoints
- Initial JSR-179 support
Version 1.8 (December 3rd 2007)
- Trail duration is displayed and exported to KML
- Trail maximum speed is displayed and exported to KML
- Trail average speed is displayed
- Initial map texture support (Issue 49)
- User can select filename for exported trail
Version 1.7 (August 17th 2007)
- Changed Logging Levels to more “understandable” ones.
- Logger now states what level it’s currently logging at.
- Changed How Trails & GpsPositions are serialized
- Implemented a Version system, to allow for updates etc.
- Implemented an update feature for version 1.6 and lower
- Implemented re-exporting of Tracks that are saved in RMS (Issue 44)
- Satellite sky view (Issue 51)
- Track elevation view (Issue 31)
- Export saved trail (Issue 45/50)
- Added Sms Ability to send a GpsPosition/Waypoint as an SMS! (Issue 52)
- Drawing style options (draw whole the trail or end of the trail)
Version 1.6 (June 10th 2007)
- Display current time (Issue 37)
- Fix for invalid KML (Issue 38)
- Display ghost trail (Issue 33)
- Altitude is exported to both KML and GPX files (Issue 34)
- Waypoints are exported to GPX files (Issue 34)
Version 1.5 (April 28th 2007)
- Autosuggest waypoint name (Issue 12)
- Added ability to ‘Force’ screen’s backlight to stay on (Issue 21)
- Improved speed of KmlConverter and GpxConverter
- MTE now remembers last position on startup (Issue 17)
- About/Help Screen (Issue 23)
- Fixed Bluetooth Device List refresh exception (Issue 22)
- Controls in the setting forms will be re-initialized when pressing “Cancel” (Issue 27)
- Added zoom scale bar (Issue 28)
- Separate information, waypoints and satellites view (Issue 15)
- Fixed “Unable to save waypoints” problem (Issue 26)
- Added “Trail Actions” screen when stopping recording, where user can export the trail to multiple formats and/or save trail to phone memory (Issue 18)
- Fixed bluetooth problem seen on Nokia 6230 (Thanks Patrick)
Version 1.4 (March 26th 2007)
- Compass in main view
- Fixed the GPX format and file extension
- Distance is displayed in main view
- User can pan the view
Version 1.3 (February 25th 2007)
- Display speed, altitude and heading
- Record speed/time markers every Nth position
- Export trails in GPX format
Version 1.2 (January 24th 2007)
- User can change recording interval via settings
- Recording is automatically paused when user is stopped
- Waypoints are stored when application shuts down
Version 0.2 (October 7th 2006)
- First “public” release
- Record and export trails to Google Earth’s KML format
- Draw recorded trail and waypoints
- Show current location as longitude and latitude
I am a family man with two sons to raise. My profession is software development. One of my hobbies is my profession.
October 25th, 2006 at 22:42
Hello,
i try to download TrailExplorer.jar
if i click on it , i download TrailExplorer.zip but i can’t find the file there ?
What do i wrong ,
thank you for looking.
with kind regards
Jimmy
November 8th, 2006 at 18:36
Great tool, installed it on my k750, found the BT GPS instantly and started recording…as easy as it gets! Congrats on the sw.
November 18th, 2006 at 15:33
Thank you for releasing the source of your tool to the public! You have done a great favor for FAR more than the few people that take the time to leave a comment.
November 18th, 2006 at 21:29
Jimmy: You should try to download the JAR file using the right click’s “Save link as…” menu item. This way the winzip or other archiving software doesn’t try to open up the jar package automatically. After you have downloaded the JAR file to your local disc you should follow your phone instructions how to install it on the phone. I hope that this helps.
Daki: Great to hear that it is also working on other phones besides Nokia. Please email me some of your routes, if you can, so that I can see where my software has been used :)
Cary Wiedemann: Thank you for your very kind words! Comments like your’s are the reason for doing this :)
November 19th, 2006 at 14:48
Hi Tommi,
Excellent piece of software! Thank you so much for posting the code – very nicely written!! I was going to write something similar but I stumbled onto your site first.
I had absolutely no trouble getting it to work on my K750i with my Garmin GPS10.
When saving the .jar, Internet Explorer seemed to rename the file to a .zip. I just renamed it back to .jar then copied it up to my phone. Done!
Thanks again!
John.
Brisbane, Australia.
November 19th, 2006 at 21:26
Thanks John! It is nice to know that my code calculates the coordinates correctly within the southern hemisphere. I wasn’t able to test that in real life :)
November 30th, 2006 at 19:09
Would it work with build-in phone GPS sensor? Additional .jar is needed?
December 1st, 2006 at 15:55
cyclopathic: Current version doesn’t work with build-in GPS as the application uses the bluetooth API to connect to GPS device. I have thought about adding this feature as the future phones will likely include feature (like Nokia N95). But I can’t currently develop this as I don’t have such a device to test with. Any volunteers for testing or adding this feature? :)
December 8th, 2006 at 09:52
Do you know if by any chance this could work on Samsung cell phones? I tried your application on a SGH D807, it launchs nicely, but is unable to find my BT GPS unit, which works ok otherwise. I’m not sure if Samsung fully enabled the JSR-82 profile, do you have any information on this?
December 8th, 2006 at 11:41
Kilian: Does it work with something like Mobile GMaps (http://www.mgmaps.com)?
It might be that SGH D807’s JSR-82 is not fully enabled as you say. SGH D807 is not even listed on Samsung’s developer site. But there it says that SGH D800 should have JSR-82 support. This wouldn’t be the first time when one phone acts differently as another.
December 9th, 2006 at 05:07
Tommi: yes; it does indeed work with mgmaps. And your application seems to work fine too, the oinly thing is that it can’t detect my Bt GPS unit.
You could find some details on the SGH D807 here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_SGH-D807
Anyway, thanks for your answer.
December 10th, 2006 at 05:27
Tommi: actually I cannot find my BT GPS unit with mgmpas either, so it looks like a JSR-82 problem. Would it be possible to compile a debug version of your program, to identify the issue? Thanks
December 12th, 2006 at 10:59
I could try to make a small debug utility to find out the problem. What brand is your BT GPS? Does the SGH D807 have any security settings that could be blocking this as for example my Nokia N80 asks permission when Java application tries to use the JSR-82 features?
December 13th, 2006 at 05:56
My BT GPS is an i.Trek M5 (http://www.semsons.com/im5blgpsrewa.html)
I didn’t see any security setting preventing BT communications from Java apps, so I don’t know. It just hangs when it tries to lookup a BT device.
December 13th, 2006 at 13:35
Creat stuff, worked right out of the box with K800i and GlobalSat BT-338. I’ll use it in my course on mobile applications at KTH.
Johan
December 15th, 2006 at 21:37
S-E M600i and GlobalSat BT-359 works well.
December 28th, 2006 at 08:28
Does not work with blackberry pearl.
January 17th, 2007 at 18:29
Hi Tommi,
it seems you had some problems with your web server and now comments from beginning of 2007 are deleted. :-(
I asked you for implementing the additional setting for “Update interval”. I saw you already uploaded a correction for this into SVN. Thanks the quick response. Funny is, that I also implemented this feature by my own and took really the same variable names and texts.
My next idea is a tuning issue. I wondered why TrailExplorer records same positions, means if you drive by car and stand at the traffic light for 3 minutes, there are a lot of same positions in the track. You could check current position against the last element of your track vector. And if lat and lon is equal, then ignore the new position.
Here again my configuration which works very well: Sony Ericsson K750i + Falcom NAVI-1/XT
Best Regards,
Mario
January 17th, 2007 at 21:43
Mario: Thanks for re-commenting on the site. My host reported that the server was “hacked” and they had to restore old backups.
I couldn’t resist to implement your “update interval” request :) Good to know that my code is readable by others.
The tuning idea sounds good as the memory is rather valuable in the mobile devices. I’ve had the same idea but haven’t yet implemented it. It would be rather easy to implement as you described it. Probably for the next version.
I added your configuration to the tested devices list in the Google Code Project Wiki page:
http://code.google.com/p/mobile-trail-explorer/wiki/TestedDevices
January 21st, 2007 at 17:54
Tommi,
What excellent software!
Thank you for making this available – It just worked straight off.
I am using a Nokia 6630 phone and a BTGPS74R (GALILEO) GPS receiver.
Dave.
January 22nd, 2007 at 14:54
Hi
Which is the latest version.
You seem to have version 0.2 on your site.
I’ve also seen version 1.1 ??
Br Juha
January 22nd, 2007 at 16:11
Juha: Thanks for pointing that out. My host server was hacked a while ago and old backups were restored overwriting the v1.1 links. You can still download the v1.1 from Google Code’s project site: http://code.google.com/p/mobile-trail-explorer/downloads/list
I’m currently testing the v1.2 and hopefully I’ll be releasing it within a week or so.
January 24th, 2007 at 17:45
Tested on a Nokia E61 and BT GPS. All works fine, but in a big log file (arround 3000 records 90kb) after the file write on memory, i can’t close the trail-esplorer. I will do an other big log and tell you some news.
Thanks for this great app.
January 24th, 2007 at 23:16
Jluis: Wow! That is quite a big trail. Would be nice to see your KML file from your part of the world.
The latest version has an option for changing recording time interval, so you could use larger interval, for example 60 seconds, for longer trips.
January 27th, 2007 at 12:56
Realy like the simplicity of this app, saving the tracks on the phone is far more reliable than sending them over the internet (like the G3 Project).
Is it possible to get speed and distans from the KML-file from within Google Earth or should one use an extra program (any suggestions)?