gps_tracker

This repository is used for the gps_tracker project and keeps standalone Python scripts for various gps tracking and networking tasks:

• Logging gps data and generate google maps in .html files
• Streaming gps data over LAN/Internet from a client with gps to a server
• To check a device's Public (WAN) IP adress
• To check wheter a host may be/not be connected to the Internet
• To send the proper email notifications for the above
• To provide daemon services for the above

In order to learn more about the gps_tracker project, how it works and how to build and set up your own device, please visit the project's page from here: https://kostiskag.wordpress.com/2017/02/27/how-to-build-a-highly-resilient-raspberry-pi-gps-tracker-and-visualize-your-data-real-time-on-google-maps/

Installing

In order to be able to run the scripts you should have a linux distribution with python3 and gpsd installed, most preferably, debian based. In addition you should have the gpsd-py3 package wich may be found here: https://github.com/MartijnBraam/gpsd-py3

In Raspbian/Debian In order to install all the above dependencies:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gpsd python3 python3-pip git
sudo pip3 install gpsd-py3
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/kostiskag/gps_tracker.git
cd gps_tracker

Setting Up

Google maps

If you decide to modify the visual output of the generated map you may study google's guides: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/

In order to generate google map files in .html you should issue one personal API key. Please study the following guides: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/get-api-key

https://console.developers.google.com/project/_/apiui/credential

Gmail account

In order to be able to send proper email notifications from a gmail email, you should create or edit an account to allow less secure apps to use the service. Please conult the following guides: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/6010255

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10147455/how-to-send-an-email-with-gmail-as-provider-using-python

Configuring setup

You should pass on your API key and your gmail credentials to configure.py

nano configure.py

Testing gmail

You may send test your email setup with the following script:

python3 test_gmail.py

How to use

With the scripts you may do the following actions:

Logging and generating gmaps

#starts logging gps data
python3 gps_logger.py
  
#logs gps data as a daemon service and therefore is not afeced by shell hangups
python3 d_gps_logger.py start|stop|restart
  
#generates a visual map from the logged data
python3 generate_gmap.py

Streaming from the tracker (client) to a server and generate gmaps on the fly

#starts a server, to be used from another host
python3 gps_stream_server.py
  
#starts a client from the gps tracker host
python3 gps_stream_client.py
  
#controlls a client from the gps tracker as a daemon
python3 d_gps_stream_client.py [server's ip address] [server's tcp port] start|stop|restart

Sending email notifications

#starts a daemon service to send an email every time the device connects/reconnects to the Internet
python3 d_send_email_on_internet.py start|stop|restart
  
#starts a daemon service to send an email every time the tracker has a gps FIX and every 5min
#the latest known location
python3 d_send_email_on_fix.py start|stop|restart

Internet/Network

#returns to the shell 0 when there is no Internet and 1 when there is
#access the return variable with the $? shell variable
python3 is_there_internet.py
  
#waits while there is no Internet
python3 wait_for_internet.py
  
#checks wheter an expected public ip address is the hosts ip address 
#returns to the shell 1 when you have guessed right and 0 when you have not.
#this feature is mainly used to detect U-turns and do the appropriate actions.
python3 is_my_wan_ip.py [public ip address]

Daemon services

#to make your own services
cp daemon-client.py new-service.py
nano new-service.py

Thanks to Sander Marechal for the daemon code found from: https://web.archive.org/web/20160305151936/http://www.jejik.com/articles/2007/02/a_simple_unix_linux_daemon_in_python/

To create a script bundle in order to start|stop|restart all the daemon services together

cd ~
nano gps_bundle_services

Inside the file:

#!/bin/bash
# comment the lines of the services you do not need to be started on the group
# you may run this file as ./gps_bundle start|stop|restart
# allways use absolute paths
  
echo "starting/stopping logger"
python3 /home/pi/gps_tracker/d_gps_logger.py $1
sleep 1
echo "starting/stopping stream client lan"
python3 /home/pi/gps_tracker/d_gps_stream_client.py 192.168.1.2 2345 $1
sleep 1
python3 /home/pi/gps_tracker/is_my_wan_ip.py 1.2.3.4
if [ $? = "0" ]; then
   #this is not a U-turn!
   echo "starting/stopping stream client internet"
   python3 /home/pi/gps_tracker/d_gps_stream_client.py 1.2.3.4 2345 $1
   sleep 1
fi
echo "start/stop email on internet"
python3 /home/pi/gps_tracker/d_send_email_on_internet.py $1
sleep 1
echo "start/stop fix email notify"
python3 /home/pi/gps_tracker/d_send_email_on_fix.py $1

ps -A | grep python3

Save the file and provide execution permissions for it:

chmod +x gps_bundle_services

Use the script like:

./gps_bundle_services start|stop|restart

If you decide to run it from the system's start in an init script run it like this:

sudo -u pi /home/pi/gps_bundle_services start

On raspberry pi, rasapbian: If you decide to config 3g with wvdial and init scripts for 3g, gpsd and gps_bundle to be executed on the system's start, you may find those on the scripts directory.

License

The source code written by me is licensed under Creative Commons Atribution 4.0 International: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

You may use the source code commercially. You should provide attribution for all the source code authors.