Lightweight GPS tracker for busses/cars

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A small school project: a GPS based tracker to allow people to see where a shuttle bus is located.

Hardware:
USB GPS reciever supporting NNEMA
RPi Second generation
Not shown: cellular receiver for mobile connectivity[/list]

All software for the server is hosted on github under BSD 3 clause.
The server side of the project (the only part currently completed) is a python server using the built in socket, gps and threading libraries. It accepts a connection, spawns a new process to handle it, and in that new process sends the client the current data by referencing a global variable that is continually updated by a child thread talking to the GPS. This is my first time using python so I'm certain this was written without any best practices (testing has consisted of using the client.py file to print a single query's worth of data). Have a look!

 

[beeba]

prior art: http://www.doublemap.com/
http://transloc.com
http://nextbus.com

http://www.modolabs.com/blog-post/in-tr ... eed-to-go/

disclaimer: i work for Modo Labs, but am completely speaking for myself.

So, I don't want to discourage the OP, it sounds like a cool project for someone to hack away on.

 

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Thanks for the prior art, but that's far too powerful and fully featured for our use; those seem to be advertising to transit agencies with dozens of routes and multiple busses per route, while this project is for smaller operators (us specifically, but anyone else is obviously welcome).

 

[Ostracus]

Check Meritline. They have GPS units meant to be mounted to vehicles, and some come with cellular connections.

 

[beeba]

oh hey, is this middlesex county mass? that's where i live (and work).

 

[Ostracus]

beeba[/url]":2zd4debe]oh hey, is this middlesex county mass? that's where i live (and work).

No,Meritline.com.

 

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beeba[/url]"xg86pty]oh hey, is this middlesex county mass? that's where i live (and work).

Indeed it is