dale lane

I talked about this yesterday, but it’s ready for sharing now.

What is this?
It’s a OpenCellID client for Windows Mobile

What does that mean?
It uses the GPS device connected to a Windows Mobile device (either internal or connected over Bluetooth) to identify exact latitude / longitude coordinates.

It combines this with the cell id of the GSM tower that your phone is currently communicating with.

These two measurements are uploaded to the database at OpenCellId.org

Why?
Because if enough people do this, then we will be able to build up a picture of where each GSM cell is.

Then people without GPS (either because their mobile devices don’t have GPS, or because their indoors) can work out where they are by looking up their current GSM cell in the OpenCellId database.

Will it work on my phone?
If you don’t have a Windows Mobile phone, then no.

If you have a Windows Mobile phone that isn’t WM5 or WM6, then no.

If your phone doesn’t have a touchscreen, then no. (Although let me know, because I could make a non-touchscreen, ’smartphone’ version.)

If you don’t have .NET Compact Framework (v2 or newer) installed, then no. (Although it is free, so you could go get it)

Otherwise… erm… maybe.

Maybe?
Getting the CellID is a little tricky. There is some discussion on this from when I first came across it which goes into more detail, but in short, your phone might not have the RIL.dll file needed to access the GSM cell data.

Mobile data is expensive! I don’t want to pay for this!
I thought you might say that. The GSM/GPS data is stored until you press the “Upload All” button. There is no data usage before this. So you can wait until you get to a fixed Internet connection before you upload the data to OpenCellID.

Actually, I pay a flat rate for data access so don’t mind it sending every update when it’s ready
Ah. Well, then you’re in a minority that I didn’t cater for. Sorry.

Let me know if it’s a big issue, and I’ll add a setting to allow for sending updates immediately.

Won’t this all be a massive drain on my phone’s battery?
Yeah, probably.

Put it this way, I wont be using this unless I’ve got a power supply or I know I’m gonna have power soon. But that still leaves when I’m in my car with the phone connected to the car charger, so that’s good enough for me.

Does it work backwards? Can I look up the location of GSM cells with this?
No. I’ll probably write something to do that soon though. Let me know if you’d be interested in it.
As well as the client pictured above, the CAB installer also installs “Where am I?”. Run this, and a Google Map will be opened displaying your current location. You can run this even if you don’t have a GPS device for collecting location updates.

Can I see my GSM updates anywhere?
The data can be accessed from OpenCellId.org, which includes a map of the last 200 cells to be located. (Although there are currently nearly 30,000 cells located, so your last updates might not be on the map for long.)

I have a question / request / complaint!
getsatisfaction.com/dalelane is a good place to start.

Tags: gps, mobile, opencellid, windowsmobile

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 8:30 am and is filed under code. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.