newbie needs help with GPS logger

[jwxie518]

http://www.adafruit.com/products/98

Hey, how are you guys doing? Please bear with me. I do programming mostly, and this is new to me.

I want to be able to track 2 cars moving from a starting point. I want to locate where they are within a 2-3 miles range. With this being a hobby project, very limited budget. I actualyl have more than 2 cars, but just make it simple here.

I want to know the followings:

1. Do I need one of those shields for each car?
2. Do I place the shield in the car?
3. How do I capture the information (the geolocation)?
4. Are these sending through radio, or do I need some kind of expensive mobile data plan or GPS tracking plan?
5. Is the GPS module capble of specifying the location of the car or I need to connect a real GPS device (TomTom, for example) to this module?
6. What exactly is a shield? I understand an audrnio is a controller.

Thanks.

[adafruit_support_bill]

The GPS Logger Shield is a PC board that attaches to an Arduino. The shield has a GPS positioning module and an SD card slot for logging the data.

The GPS module reports it's location (usually to within a couple of meters). You would need one per vehicle. No special plan is needed to capture GPS location data.

Communicating the GPS data between vehicles, or from the vehicles to a central location would require some sort of radio or cellular data connection. Cellular would require a cellular plan of some sort. Some types of radios require a license.

[jwxie518]

The GPS Logger Shield is a PC board that attaches to an Arduino. The shield has a GPS positioning module and an SD card slot for logging the data.

The GPS module reports it's location (usually to within a couple of meters). You would need one per vehicle. No special plan is needed to capture GPS location data.

Communicating the GPS data between vehicles, or from the vehicles to a central location would require some sort of radio or cellular data connection. Cellular would require a cellular plan of some sort. Some types of radios require a license.

Thanks. But high alttidue ballons seem to use cheap module like EM-406a so they are able to track up to 24km? So if it';s just ground, 2-3 miles shouldn't be problem righ?
http://www.hexoc.com/pages/hab/ferret.php


I don't know if they have sim card on the shield. But with just radio, what kind of transmitter would I be required? Do you guys have these items?

Thanks.

[adafruit_support_bill]

The EM-406A is a reciever not a transmitter. The 24KM range comes from the FM radio module they were using:

This consisted of an Arduino board with an EM-406a GPS and Radiometrix NTX2 narrowband FM module.

The XBee modules we have in the store here don't have that kind of range. There are more powerful XBees available elsewhere. Or you might investigate the Radiometrix unit used in that balloon project.