International Journal of Research in Computer Engineering and Electronics.

Page # 1 ISSN 2319-376X

VOL :2 ISSUE : 5 (Oct-Nov 2013)

GPS-based Location Tracking System via

Android Device
Md. Palash Uddin[1], Md. Zahidul Islam[2] , Md. Nadim[3], , Masud Ibn Afjal[4]

Abstract— With recent technological advancement of modern science people are now expecting the information about the location of any
object for tracking purposes. Presently, we want more location based services for being advanced and to save time and money also. GPS
is a system which is already implemented and everyone can access it without any restriction. Having the facility of GPS to develop this
system we need a GPS device to calculate the location from the information taken from GPS. Hence, we have chosen Android device to
perform this calculations because Android mobile phone is cost effective and offers multidimensional purposes having some special built-in
features like GPS service. Thus, this system is developed for location tracking of a group of people with a proximity alert system using
various latest demanding tools and technology like Jason, Java, AVD, LAMP etc.

Index Terms— AVD, Android Device, GPS, Jason, LAMP, Location Tracking, Proximity Alert System

——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION
The GPS, elaborated as Global Positioning System, is a satel- but many GPS systems can also give us the exact latitude and
lite-based navigation system made up of a network of 24 satel- longitude of where you are located.
lites placed into orbit by the U.S. Department of Defense in On the other hand, Android mobile platform is becoming
1973. GPS was originally intended for military applications, more popular to the users for its multi-dimensional purposes.
but in the 1980s, the government made the system available Thus, this proposed system namely “GPS-based Location
for civilians. GPS works in any weather conditions, anywhere Tracking System via Android Device” uses GPS and any mo-
in the world, 24 hours a day. There are no subscription fees or bile phones having an Android operating system to track the
setup charges to use GPS [1]. GPS was invented by the U.S. location of a person whenever necessary.
Department of Defense (D.O.D) and Ivan Getting, at the cost
of twelve billion taxpayer dollars. The Global Positioning Sys-
tem is a satellite navigational system, predominantly designed
2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
for navigation. GPS is now gaining prominence as a timing 2.1 Socio-economic Significance
tool [2]. Eighteen satellites, six in each of three orbital planes In this study, the system will inspire the other researchers to
spaced 120º apart, and their ground stations, formed the origi- develop more effective and efficient GPS-based location track-
nal GPS. GPS uses these "man-made stars" or satellites as ref- ing system via Android device.
erence points to calculate geographical positions, accurate to a
matter of meters. In fact, with advanced forms of GPS, you can 2.2 Technological Significance
make measurements to better than a centimeter [3]. GPSs are In real life, we want the people to make more used to this one
very quickly becoming a standard in most new automobiles, of the latest technologies. .
and are even finding their way onto a variety of new cell 2.3 Safety Features
phones. The mapping devices can come in handy under a va- If a person is lost, he/she can easily be tracked and brought
riety of circumstances. If we are thinking about purchasing a back to a safe place by using this system
GPS or a device that has a GPS built-in, here are some of the
benefits of having one [3]. A GPS can help us to determine 3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
exactly where we are at any given moment. Not only can a
GPS give us the name of the street we might be traveling on, 3.1 General Objective
The general objective of the development of this system is to
————————————————
serve the people a more effective location based tracking facili-
 [1]Md. Palash Uddin is a Lecturer in Department of Computer Science and ty.
Information Technology, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology
3.2 Specific Objective
 [2]Md. Zahidul Islam is the CEO of iboxBD, Bangladesh,
University, Dinajpur, Bangladesh.

 [3]Md. Nadim is a Lecturer in Department of Computer Science and Informa-

In real life, when a group of people are in a tour, it will be very
helpful. The management of all participants is little tough be-
tion Technology, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology Universi-
cause it is quite impossible to restrict the movement of all par-
 [4]Masud Ibn Afjal is a Lecturer in Department of Computer Engineering,
ty, Dinajpur, Bangladesh.
ticipants. But this system can help us to track where they are
Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur, now and many more.
Bangladesh.

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VOL :2 ISSUE : 5 (Oct-Nov 2013)

4 FUNCTIONS OF THE SYSTEM footprints. Now it is much easier to track the students. Thus
the application aims at helping you to manage your adminis-
4.1 Smartphone User Function
trative tasks too.
A Smartphone user using this application has two basic ad-
vantages. First one is whenever he/she is on a trip, he/she is 5.4 Reliability
able to record his/her footprints on a website that is moni- The application is based on GPS location provider embedded
tored by the administrator. Well, you might be wondering that on your Android Smartphone. GPS is a technology that is
when you are not on a trip, then why would you install the available 24/7. So you can rely on this application.
application. The answer is that proximity alert system has
been installed with this application. This salient feature allows 5.5 Ease of Access
the user to set alarm for different tasks on different locations. The application was developed to serve mass population. That
is why the user interface of the application is kept simple.
4.2 Administrator Function
The administrator function embedded in the GPS-Based Loca-
tion Tracking System is to provide the functionality for moni- 6 FEASIBILITY CONSIDERATION
toring the recorded footprints of each user individually on a Depending on the results of the initial investigation the survey
computer screen. The application provides the administrator is now expanded to a more detailed feasibility study for “GPS-
with the most recent location update. based location tracking system via Android device.”
6.1 Technical Feasibility
5 GOALS OF THE SYSTEM To develop this application, a high speed internet connection, a
database server, a web server and software are required. The
5.1 Individual Task Management current project is technically feasible as the application was suc-
Often people are guilty of themselves that they move to a cessfully deployed on Android Emulator
place to finish a job but returned from there without finishing
it. To solve this problem, the proximity alert system helps you 6.2 Economical Feasibility
manage your tasks on a location based alarm system. If you The project is economically feasible as it only requires a mobile
have assigned a task in the application to a location, then phone with Android operating system. The application is free to
whenever you are near to your place of interest, regardless of download once released into Android market. The users should
timing the application will issue you an alarm. Thus no task be able to connect to internet through mobile phone and this
that is assigned to the phone once would be forgotten. would be the only cost incurred on the project.
5.2 Safety Tool 6.3 Operational Feasibility
The application is very useful when you are on a trip. On a It will need an internet connection to send the information to
trip, one can easily be lost and become unable to find a way server. GPS is free. We need the server maintenance cost. This
back to the base. This especially happens in forest areas. But if is the basic operational cost which tends to very low.
the GPS based tracking system is installed on your phone, you
are leaving your footprints on a website which is monitored
by someone who would be on the way when you really need
7 TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGY
someone to get you back to the base. So if there a problem oc- The basic tools and technology used for “GPS-based location
curs with the user, he can easily be found by the administrator tracking system via Android device” are illustrated below.
simply by having a look at his last location. Thus the applica- 7.1 Scripting Language
tion provides you safety in an unknown area. A client script is a program that is embedded in a Web page.
The code is interpreted by a browser, which provides an inter-
5.3 Administrative Capabilities active experience for an end user. Client scripts can be written
Consider yourself as a guardian for a group of students that in scripting languages such as VBScript or Jscript. Each ele-
has gone on a trip. You are the person who has been assigned ment on a Web page is represented by an object that may have
the job to look after the students and bring all of them back properties, events and methods. This is known as the Dynamic
home safely. It is impossible for you to stay with each student HTML Object Model. Client script can process events generat-
individually. But if one of them is making a delay and no one ed by these elements [4].
is available there who can provide any sort of information A server script is a program embedded in a Web page that is
about him, then it is a serious trouble for you. Well, GPS Based located on the server side. The code is interpreted by server
Location Tracking System is providing you the solution. Once software and it plays a key role in a dynamic Web application.
each student gets registered on the network, you don’t need to The server script is never sent to a client machine directly; in-
worry about their location. All you need to do is to switch on stead, it dynamically generates HTML and client script that
your PC and all the registered students will appear in one are sent back to a browser. Server scripts can be written in
window with their most recent location update and recorded scripting languages such as PHP [5].
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7.2 Android Operating System 7.7 Web Server

Android is a Linux-based operating system designed primari- LAMP is a solution stack of free, open source software. The
ly for touchscreen mobile devices such as Smartphones and acronym LAMP refers to the first letters of Linux (operating sys-
tablet computers. Initially developed by Android, Inc., which tem), Apache HTTP Server, MySQL (database software, but now
Google backed financially and later purchased in 2005, Andro- sometimes MariaDB) and PHP, Perl or Python, principal compo-
id was unveiled in 2007 along with the founding of the Open nents to build a viable general purpose web server [10].
Handset Alliance: a consortium of hardware, software, and
telecommunication companies devoted to advancing open 7.8 Programming Languages and Tools
standards for mobile devices. The first Android-powered Various latest demanding programming language and sup-
phone was sold in October 2008 [6]. Android is open source porting tools used to develop the system are listed below:
and Google releases the code under the Apache License. This
• Java
open source code and permissive licensing allow the software
to be freely modified and distributed by device manufacturers, • Jason
wireless carriers and enthusiast developers. Additionally, An-
droid has a large community of developers writing applica- • PHP
tions ("apps") that extend the functionality of the devices, writ-
ten primarily in a customized version of the Java program- • Javascript
ming language.
• HTML
7.3 Global Positioning System (GPS)
The basis of GPS is the process of "trilateration" from a group • CSS
of satellites. To trilaterate, a GPS receiver measures distance
using the travel time of radio signals. Distance is measured by • XML
calculating the amount of time it takes a radio signal from the
• Database Query language
satellite to make a one-way trip to the GPS Receiver. Trilatera-
tion is like triangulation, which uses a known distance and the
measure of an angle to determine a point in geographical 8 REQUIREMENT ANALYSIS
space. Trilateration uses two or more reference points and the
8.1 Bisection of the System
distance from those points to the subject point to determine
distance [7]. The GPS-based Location Tracking System via Android Device
consists of the following two sections.
7.4 The Java Programming Language • User
The Java programming language is a high-level language. In the • Admin
Java programming language, all source code is first written in The facilities for the users are in below:
plain text files ending with the .java extension. Those source files • Set his/her own password and user name
are then compiled into .class files by the javac compiler. A .class • Record his/her location data on a website
file does not contain code that is native to your processor; it in- • Start and stop services any time he/she wants
stead contains bytecodes — the machine language of the Java • Set up proximity alerts based on location
Virtual Machine1 (Java VM). The Java launcher tool then runs A user using the application owns his own user name and pass-
your application with an instance of the Java Virtual Machine [8]. word so that no other person can enter on the application and
create confusion to the admin about the location of the user. The
7.5 The Java Platform user enjoys safety in a dangerous place against being lost as
A platform is the hardware or software environment in which a he/she is leaving his/her footprints on a website that is being
program runs. We've already mentioned some of the most popu- viewed by the admin. So if there any mis-communication occurs,
lar platforms like Microsoft Windows, Linux, Solaris OS, and Mac the admin can get there soon to help him/her. Additionally, if the
OS. Most platforms can be described as a combination of the op- user wants to set an alarm system based on location, then the
erating system and underlying hardware. The Java platform dif- proximity alert system can help him/her. It allows a user to man-
fers from most other platforms in that it's a software-only plat- age his/her tasks [Link] user who will be tracked must
form that runs on top of other hardware-based platforms [8]. have the following capabilities:
• Operate a Smartphone with Android OS
7.6 Android Virtual Device • Must have a basic knowledge of English
An Android Virtual Device (AVD) is an emulator configuration The facilities for the admin are in below:
that lets you model an actual device by defining hardware and • Can add or delete a user whenever necessary
software options to be emulated by the Android Emulator [9]. • Can have the access to the location and travel-
ing path of each user

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An admin can enjoy the peace of mind that he/she is able to track
each one in his/her network. He/she can have a look at the path
of each user that he/she has used to get to the last location that
his/her device has uploaded to the site. So he/she is able to man-
age his/her task of ensuring safety.
A user with a PC wishing to track the Smartphone users must
have the following capabilities:
• Operate a PC comfortably Fig. 1(a) Modular diagram for user
• He/she must have a minimum knowledge
about the world map

8.2 Project Development Requirements

As the project is based on usage of two devices, we have di-
vided our project requirements in two parts. These are sum-
marized in the following table.
Devices A personal computer Android Virtual
Device Fig. 1(b) Modular diagram for admin
Hardware Processor Pentium IV Android Virtual
requirements or higher Device can be 9.3 Use-case Diagram
RAM 128 MB or configured with The use case diagram consists of the following criteria men-
higher Eclipse IDE. tioned below.
Disk space 128 MB Need to have • It should be the scenario that describes the
Software re- Operating Windows – Android OS interaction between a user and the system.
quirements system XP, Win- Google API ver- • It displays the relationship among actors and
dows – 7, sion 2.2 or high- use cases.
Linux or any er support . There are two components in a use case diagram that helps
other OS understand the use case diagram. Those are,
• Actor
8.3 Application User Requirements • Use-case
Smartphones with Android OS An actor in a use-case diagram represents a user using the
Internet support system. On the other hand, a use-case represents the set of acts
GPS support that a user might perform while using the system.
Android OS version 2.2 or higher

9 SYSTEM DESIGN
9.1 Overview of System Design
The purpose of system design is to create a technical solution
that serves both the user and the admin. The system should be
designed in such a way that is very flexible to use for both the
administrator and the user. The preparation of the environ-
ment needed to build the system, the testing of the system and Fig. 2: Symbol of Actor and Use-case
the migration and the preparation of the data that will ulti-
mately be used by the system are equally important. In addi-
tion to designing the technical solution, system design is the
time to initiate focused planning efforts for both the testing
and data preparation activates. The Location Based Tracking
System is a real life problem solving application. Both the ad-
min section and the user section are designed in such a way
that both parties enjoy the facilities of the application.
9.2 Modular Design
The whole system is divided into two parts i.e. the user and
the admin section. That is why, the modular design of the sys-
tem is also divided into two modular diagrams.
Fig. 3: Use-case diagram for user

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9.5 Schema Diagram Design of Data Storage

Fig. 4: Use-case diagram for admin Fig. 7: Schema diagram

9.4 Data Flow Diagrams

9.6 E-R Diagram Design Based on Schema Diagram

Fig. 5: Level-0 Data flow diagram Fig. 8: E-R diagram

9.7 State Diagram Design

Fig. 6: Level-1 Data flow diagram

Fig. 9: State diagram

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9.8 Snapshot from the Developed System Here, the data is accessing and sending to the web server upon
The simple user login form is in the following figure. the availability of Internet connection. These are happening on
background without any notification to the user. But, if there
will be any incoming call to the mobile phone, then the data
sending is stopped until the call has been disconnected.

9.9 User Location Marker

The locations of movement of the user are marked and passed
to the server.

Fig. 10: User login

After successful login, the dashboard of the user is in Fig 11.

Fig. 13: User Location Marker

Here, the last positions of all registered users are shown. Three
marked points shows three users are available to track.
9.10 User Visited Path
The visited path of a single user is shown in Figure 14.
Fig. 11: Dashboard

The window showing the status of GPS is in Figure 12.

Fig. 14: User Visited Path

Here, the total visited path of a user consisting of all available

points in GPS is shown.
Fig. 12: Current Status of GPS
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10 CONCLUSION Md. Zahidul Islam received his [Link].

degree in Computer Science & Engineer-
As the dedicated GPS devices are costly we have chosen an-
ing from Hajee Mohammad Danesh
droid mobile phone as GPS device. Because all the android Science & Technology University, Dinaj-
mobile phones have this built-in feature. GPS device will find pur, Bangladesh in 2013. His main work-
out the current location from satellite. Depending on certain ing interest is based on computer pro-
condition we will find the location again. Might after certain gramming, Portable device and mobile
distance of location change we will count the location again. device programming and integration,
We will plot this location to map. At the same time we will Entrepreneurship, software design and
connect with an external web server to send this information development. Currently he is working as
there. The web server will store the visiting path as a summa- CEO of his own startup IT Company I-BoX Bangladesh. He likes
tion of some co-coordinating points. Actually, the web server cultural activities beside all other daily activities.
is a restricted area. So we will have to use username and
password to login that area. We can see the visiting path from Md. Nadim received his [Link]. degree in
the desktop or any other portable device. Computer Science & Engineering from
Like other systems it is also not free from drawbacks. It will Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science &
need the GPS service on from the time we want to track. It will Technology University, Dinajpur, Ban-
mostly use the battery power of the mobile phone. For this gladesh in 2010. His main working inter-
reason our mobile phone can be automatically switched off for est is based on computer programming,
lack of power. We need to depend on Internet connection to algorithm analysis database structure
store the information to the web server. If there is some prob- analysis, database optimization, software
lem with Internet connection or lack of necessary bandwidth, design and development, software opti-
we may not be able to send the data correctly. mization etc. Currently he is working for in Hajee Mohammad
Danesh Science & Technology University, Dinajpur, Bangladesh.
REFERENCES He is a lecturer of Dept. of Computer Science & Information
Technology.
[1] [Link]
[2] [Link]
[3] [Link] Masud Ibn Afjal received his [Link]. de-
[4] [Link] gree in Computer Science & Engineering
[5] [Link] from Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science
[6] [Link] & Technology University, Dinajpur, Ban-
[Link]&hl=en gladesh in 2008. His main working inter-
[7] [Link] est is based on computer programming,
[8] [Link] algorithm analysis, database structure
html analysis, database optimization, software
[9] [Link] design and development, digital logic and
[10] [Link] system design, multimedia, software op-
timization etc. Currently he is working for in Hajee Mohammad
Author’s Biography Danesh Science & Technology University, Dinajpur, Bangladesh.
He is a lecturer of Dept. of Computer Engineering.
Md. Palash Uddin received his [Link]. de-
gree in Computer Science & Engineering
from Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science
& Technology University, Dinajpur, Ban-
gladesh in 2013. His main working inter-
est is based on artificial intelligence, algo-
rithm analysis, database structure analy-
sis, database optimization, software engi-
neering, discrete mathematics, theory of
computation etc. Currently he is working in Hajee Mohammad
Danesh Science & Technology University, Dinajpur, Bangladesh.
He is a lecturer of Dept. of Computer Science & Information
Technology. Previously, he was a lecturer in department of Com-
puter Science and Engineering at Central Women’s University,
Dhaka, Bangladesh.

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