Posts Tagged ‘integration’

Posted

Tue Jan 4 2011, 5:17pm

By caseorganic

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Tutorials

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How to Use Geoloqi with an Android Phone

Note: Geoloqi no longer works with Instamapper

Note: This tutorial used InstaMapper, a free GPS tracking and location sharing service. After nearly 5 years of operation, the site shut down on December 13th, 2012. There are now dedicated Geoloqi apps for Android. You can now download Geonotes or Geotracks for Android.

Flickr photo by tomsun

If you have an Android or Blackberry, you can use Geoloqi right now. Currently, the Geoloqi app is in beta testing. The first Geoloqi app release is for iPhones running 4.0 or later, however, Geoloqi has Instamapper integration, which means that you can use Geoloqi, including sending yourself Geonotes, if you have a Blackberry or Android. The only difference is that you’ll have to use the Geoloqi.com website to leave yourself Geonotes – only the iPhone version will allow you to do it from the phone.

1. Log into http://beta.geoloqi.com and enter your phone number in the field provided. Then go to http://beta.geoloqi.com/settings/connections.

Under “Geolocation Services” you’ll see “Instamapper Device Key”. Click the “Create” button. A Device Key will appear shortly afterward.

2. Go to the Android store on your phone and find a free app called GPS Tracker by Instamapper.

Download the app and start running it. Click on “Menu” and click on “Settings”. You’ll see a field to enter your device key that you generated on Geoloqi. Enter that key there.

The rest of the settings concern what interval you’d like the GPS tracker to track at. Setting the tracker to track every 5 seconds will wear down your battery more quickly, but it will give you a very high resolution trail to look at on your map on Geoloqi.com. Set the buffer size at 100, and don’t worry about the Units. Imperial is fine. Setting Minimum accuracy (ft) to 1000 is also recommended. This way, Geoloqi will ignore points that are less accurate than 1000ft.

General Functions:
Press the “Menu” key to bring up settings.
Press the “Home” key to run GPS Tracker in the background.
Press the “Back” key to quit tracking.

A note on battery life:
GPS is powered on continuously for send intervals less than 121 seconds. If you want better battery life, set the send interval to at least 121 seconds. This will cause GPS Tracker to go to sleep in-between updates.

From there on out, you can use all the features of Geoloqi available on the website. Click on your map to see your history, share a link with others, and send yourself a Geonote by drawing a radius on the map, writing a message, and clicking send. If you share your location with someone, they’ll get a mobile version of your trail on their mobile phone, and a web version of your trail on the web.

You can toggle your privacy options at http://beta.geoloqi.com/settings/privacy and see your list of shared links at http://beta.geoloqi.com/settings/share. All of your account settings are at http://beta.geoloqi.com/settings/profile.

Finally,if you want to quickly access your map, you can easily do so by going to http://beta.geoloqi.com/username or where the username is the id of the Twitter account you used to sign in. If you didn’t sign in with Twitter, go to the connections tab in Geoloqi to connect your Twitter account. You’ll then be able to easily access your Geoloqi account by username URL.

Additional Help
If you have more questions, see Geoloqi Help. If you can’t find what you need there, please ask a question! We’ll get to it as quickly as we can.

Flickr photo by tomsun.

How to Use Geoloqi with a Blackberry Phone

Note: Instamapper no longer supports Blackberry. This tutorial is now expired.

Blackberry photo by Mr. T in DC on Flickr

If you have a Blackberry, you can use Geoloqi right now. Currently, the Geoloqi app is in beta testing. The first Geoloqi app release is for iPhones running 4.0 or later, however, Geoloqi has Instamapper integration, which means that you can use Geoloqi, including sending yourself Geonotes, if you have a Blackberry or Android. The only difference is that you’ll have to use the Geoloqi.com website to leave yourself Geonotes – only the iPhone version will allow you to do it from the phone.

1. Log into http://beta.geoloqi.com and enter your phone number in the field provided. Then go to http://beta.geoloqi.com/settings/connections. Under “Geolocation Services” you’ll see “Instamapper Device Key”. Click the “Create” button. A Device Key will appear shortly afterward.

2. Install the “GPS Tracker” application from BlackBerry App World or download it over the air: http://www.instamapper.com/download/GPSTrackerBB.jad
For BlackBerry Storm, you can also try this binary with a higher resolution icon: http://www.instamapper.com/download/GPSTrackerStorm.jad

3. Start the application (look for an icon that looks like a satellite) and enter the 13-digit device key you got from the Geoloqi website.

Usage Notes:

  • Press the red hangup key to run GPS Tracker in the background.
  • Press the “Escape” key to quit tracking.
  • To have GPS Tracker start automatically when the phone boots, check “Auto-start on boot” in settings.

During the first few days of operation, the application will periodically pop into foreground. This is done to minimize the possibility that someone would use our service to track another person covertly (which is against our terms of service). Press the red hangup key to hide the application when it surfaces.

Notes on Support
All recent BlackBerries (OS version 4.2.1 and later) are supported. In particular, almost any BlackBerry bought from AT&T and Sprint should work out of the box. Note, however, that many BlackBerries do not have built-in GPS and need an external GPS receiver. Additionaly, some carriers (most notably Verizon) disable GPS access on their BlackBerries. If you have a Verizon phone, it will most likely not work. Corporate phones may also restrict access to network and/or GPS.

Enjoy using Geoloqi! If you run into any problems, or would like more information on how Geoloqi works, see Geoloqi Help. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, feel free to ask a question! We’ll be there to answer it.

Flickr photo credit: Mr. T in DC.