digg

Join DiggAbout

Discover the best of the web!
Learn more about Digg by taking the tour.

See the original image at opengpstracker.org

HOWTO: Build A Spy GPS Tracking System

opengpstracker.org — "The Open GPS Tracker is a small device which plugs into a $20 prepaid mobile phone to make a GPS tracker. The Tracker responds to text message commands, detects motion, and sends you its exact position, ready for Google Maps or your mapping software."

Bury
show profanity settings
expand all
  • trujillonorte, on 04/25/2008, -7/+7Cool!
    • KiraDnote, on 04/25/2008, -3/+1Thanks to the author and submitter for making this info available.
  • MalamuteTX, on 04/25/2008, -1/+37One step closer to sending a robot to take the place of my physical presence at work!
  • maxiscool, on 04/25/2008, -18/+2what terrorists could do with this...
    • madeingermany, on 04/25/2008, -3/+8What could they do with this?

      Aren't they more interested in blowing things up then knowing where things go?
    • lordspidey, on 04/25/2008, -1/+3terrorists?
    • TheRealToma, on 04/25/2008, -2/+3They could spread fear and doubt around like CRAZY FOLKS. Then they might make you scared. At that point, they win.
    • mastersmite, on 04/25/2008, -1/+1there have already been plenty of bombs that are designed to be triggered by a cell phone receiving a call which is wired to the detonator. anyone with the slightest background in electronics could wire something like that up.
      • iunno666, on 04/30/2008, -0/+1IEDs? Yeah, everybody has heard of those.
  • robbob, on 04/25/2008, -0/+4Ohhhh, my parents would have loved this. Good thing they're Luddites!
  • madeingermany, on 04/25/2008, -0/+6a bit bulky for most spy applications... maybe you can mount it under a car
    • crapmatic, on 04/25/2008, -0/+2Nah, just wrap it up with some stuffing in a sofa pillowcase or a stuffed animal and put it in the back windshield... unless it's a super-clean car where it would stand out like a sore thumb.
  • bigbigspoon, on 04/25/2008, -5/+16Come'n Kevin.....Just do another episode of the broken and put this on their!!!!
    • Claw787, on 04/25/2008, -1/+11Kevin is not the dark tipper anymore. oh wait..... "submitted by kevinrose"

      Seriously,
      diggnation + theBroken > All other Rev3 shows
    • steve186, on 04/25/2008, -1/+4I agree, this is exactly the kind of kickass project that makes thebroken my personal favourite rev3 show.
    • SteveMax, on 04/25/2008, -1/+7On their what?
  • diggkris, on 04/25/2008, -2/+5I think i'd be a bit suspicious if someone plugged that into my phone...
  • johndajap56, on 04/25/2008, -2/+19Im gonna catch that cheating whore
  • smacksaw, on 04/25/2008, -1/+33I caught a Mexican planting drugs on my dually in TJ a few years back. He was trying to stuff cocaine into the rear wheel wells. That ***** ruined the clips that hold the cover on. He ran off, but it scared the ***** out of me because it could have been done before. You can get my address from my licence plate # from a PI easily.

    When phones came out with GPS I was thinking this would be the next best thing. Find old people in their RV, tape a bunch of blow up underneath with a GPS phone like this and follow a few cars behind. If they clear customs, track them and go retrieve the goods later.

    I could have been in serious trouble. After that, I checked my car thoroughly before I drove away. But you could go to the slam for a long time for something you didn't even do. I almost think that with technology like this, the chance for innocent people to be ruined far outweighs the interest in interdiction.
    • scallon, on 04/25/2008, -2/+8I'm suddenly struck with an urge to go take a short trip to Mexico....... All the loans I could pay off with a single kilo.....
      • smacksaw, on 04/25/2008, -1/+5LOL...I don't think anyone was going to compensate me...unless they were going to carjack me and relieve me of my lease obligation on the truck ^^
  • Lane, on 04/25/2008, -0/+6I'll never lose my phone again!!!!!!!!!!
  • Claw787, on 04/25/2008, -1/+2Now, if I can only shrink that PCB to fit inside the phone.
    • thcobbs, on 04/25/2008, -0/+3lol... why not just get a cell modem and mount it on the pcb they have?
  • annjay, on 04/25/2008, -0/+1Great!
  • CatsAreGods, on 04/25/2008, -0/+6Dugg for being a cool mashup of technologies and because I didn't know you send SMS with the Hayes AT command set!!!
  • zadadka, on 04/25/2008, -3/+1Why not just get a GPS module with built-in SIM slot?
  • Tripper44, on 04/25/2008, -1/+2Errmm am i the only one missing somethign here?
    thats about $60 why don;t you just spend an extra $40 and by a cheap ***** satnav? = less ***** around?
  • alohatiger, on 04/25/2008, -0/+1Couldn't you just wait for an Android phone to come out and write an app to do all this?
  • itsgotyou, on 04/25/2008, -0/+1Why would anybody want to track a spy GPS anyways?
  • allholy1, on 04/25/2008, -0/+2how can i get this in my laptop?
  • nirav72, on 04/25/2008, -1/+16less time consuming alternative and maybe even cheaper - Buy a prepaid phone from Boost Mobile. Even their lowest model comes with gps built in for $40. Also comes with $10 credit that will last you about 3-4 months if you just use their data portion and not make voice calls. Download the J2ME app from here http://mologogo.com/ and sign up with an account. Total cost maybe about $50. But you won't have to worry about that PCB board or batteries.
  • MrFurious2k, on 04/25/2008, -1/+2If we could tag all the cop cars... OMFG, can you imagine the network we could establish to avoid speed traps?
  • Orrent, on 04/25/2008, -1/+2The school I went to has been making these for years, it's 1 of the possible final exams.
    The team who got it from my class made a black box for car renters that does that exact thing, and allows the company to always track down their cars and see where they went.

    My team build a board that controls your house over the internet, electronic locks, lights, coffeemaker (our personal favorite) and whatever else you wanted to plug in, it even monitored the smoke detectors and if 1 went off it would notify the people on the notification list.
    That was a fun project.
  • dshortey, on 04/25/2008, -0/+5ohhh....my ex-girlfriend is going to love this!
  • raytube720, on 04/25/2008, -0/+1Second that mologogo comment. You can get a GPS tracker up and running in under an hour, with great ease.
    I've got a live tracker on my personal homepage.

    also, only the phone is $20., not the rest of the kit in this project.
  • Evi1d33d, on 04/25/2008, -0/+4To make sure no one is tracking you, get your own GPS jammer right here http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.8758
  • Action54, on 04/25/2008, -0/+0Nice!! Perfect to put on my girls car!!! lol no for real though that thing is cool.... inexpensive too. I love the internet
  • smaskat, on 04/25/2008, -2/+0Am i mistaking or under the BuildIt page, the pricelist of parts total upto around $100... are there already GPS trackers available that are less than $60? So why spend a $100 and build one when you can get one for $60?
  • ASSHO, on 04/25/2008, -0/+130 second intervals? 9 meter resolution? I guess that's okay if you're walking around.

    Does anyone have any suggestions for a better receiver? I have a pet project that I'm thinking about using GPS tracking for, but I need good resolution on it. Must be accurate to less than a foot. It has to be cheap too.
    • atarijedi, on 04/26/2008, -0/+0You wont get that kind of accuracy without using DGPS(land/maritime), or WAAS(aviation), or some sort of differential system based on a fixed location. I have seen some new GPS modules that have 3.3m accuracy, down to 2m accuracy with DGPS for cheap units (under $200), and down to less than 1 meter for expensive units.

      You might also want to look into Dead Reckoning for when you lose signal.
  • bubbazanetti, on 04/26/2008, -1/+4or...

    http://www.accutracking.com/

    buy a pre programmed phone (with built in gps) a low yearly fee to them, and about $0.30 a month to Boost mobile for data use.
  • cxzsaq, on 04/29/2008, -2/+2Kevin could submit a video wiping his ass and it'll become popular, nonetheless I still dugg this
  • imrtt, on 05/04/2008, -1/+1There is also instamapper.com. Service is free, 5 second updates, uses Google Maps. Works with the $40 Boost Mobile phone and 35 cent / day data plan. There is a demo here

    http://www.instamapper.com/fe?page=demo
  • ejderha, on 05/11/2008, -0/+0Creative mind at work baby
  • bryan107, on 05/15/2008, -0/+0Coool... Gadget World : http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=REucDXcF53Y
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.