Car 54 Where are you… or where is your call box?

So, Dad had this old box with a phone mounted it in. He used it for an outside phone from the barn to the house. It got locked at some point, and key was missing. We took it to the local locksmith and left it with him. I got a call a couple days later saying it was ready. Went back to pick it up.

A bit of a surprise when he opened it up for the first time in many years.

Gamewell alarm box #424.

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Real Time GPS Tracker Part 3

This entry is part 4 of 4 in the series Real Time GPS Tracker

Tips for Greenalp Real Time GPS Tracker. You are allowed to add two overlays which is a really nice little addition to the program. An overlay is a previously created route or track saved as a . KML file and uploaded to a web server, and then the Real Time setup points to the file. This is sort of neat so you can put the overlay there, then when you run/walk/bike/ski/drive the course your “guest” viewers can see where you are at on the actual course. You could create a collection of overlays, and then update the web site with the one you will want to display next, but I do not want to go in and have to change this all the time. I wondered if I could take several tracks and merge them together, then upload the combined KML file and see each of the courses. Turns out this can be done. I got a very simple program “KML Merge”.

I created several KML files by exporting tracks out of Sport Tracks, then used KML Merge to… merge them together. Simple.
I posted the newly merged file on the web server, went to the Greenalp setup, added the merged file, and now have several different courses using only one of the two files allowed.

Real Time GPS Tracker Part 2

This entry is part 3 of 4 in the series Real Time GPS Tracker

I wanted to show you how Real Time GPS Tracker works when you go to the web site and view the map during a run. But while the web site dispays a series of actual points during the run, it does not maintain the information in a method that allows it to be replayed.

Using Real Time GPS Tracker to run the Winnipesaukee River Trail between Franklin and Northfield New Hampshire. When I go to New Hampshire on business I always like to run the Winnipesaukee River Trail at least once. It is a nice six mile “out and back” which is an old train route. I have documented in in pictures before. This time I tried a little experiment using Greenalp Real Time GPS Tracker, a little utility that I have been playing with recently.

Since I cannot see where I am running, while I am running I wanted to make a movie of the run… which is also what I wanted to post on the blog to show how Real Time GPS Tracker works.

First I logged onto the Greenalp web site, and set up all the tracking information. I verified that as one of the two allowed map overlays I had loaded was for the “WRT”, then went to the map page to verify the overlay was visible. NOTE: If you have not sent any information from the phone app to the server the map appears blank. This makes it hard to determine what will happen in the next steps. So allow the phone to send your location, then you can turn it back off.

You may want to change the zoom factor on the map to capture more, or less, detail depending on the length of the run you are planning. You can make the map full screen and zoom in so you can see the entire overlay of where you will be running, if you are using an overlay. If you zoom in to far, the map will self center so you will be able to see the point, but it may cause unwanted jumping around of the screen. Conversely, if you zoom out to far the track is so compressed you will not be able to see where the run occured in any detail.

The next part of this was figuring out how to make a movie of the run. While I could have easily done a screen dump during the entire run I was concerned it would create a huge file that would be a)boring b) difficult to download. What I wanted to do was a “time lapse” movie. So, how to do that was the next challenge. After much searching I ended up using two programs I already had 1) Snagit and 2) Windows Movie Maker. https://www.techsmith.com/snagit.html

https://windows.microsoft.com/is-IS/windows/get-movie-maker-download

After much experimenting I found that SnagIt does not directly capture time lapse movies, even though it says it can do this. NOTE: If you know how to do this please let me know the secret! So I created a new profile to take automatic screen captures every X seconds. It must also have automatic file naming activated. After testing it a couple of times I felt I had a workable solution. I let it run awhile taking screen captures to see how large things were going to get. Once I had about 100 individual screen shots saved as .png files (other types can be used.) I wanted to try creating a movie. I fired up Windows Movie Maker and imported all the screen captures. I drug, dragged… moved all the files into the time line and then played around a little bit with the transistion effects, basically cutting the display and transistion to as short as it would allow me to. This resulted in about a 40 second, 90 megabyte movie. (This is higly dependent on screen resolution, capture size, file type, frequency, etc.) Then i used the “create movie” to make a movie. (.WMV) Success! Worked great.

So, last night I was able to get out to the “River Trail” for a run. Before I left the hotel I started the app on the phone, I logged onto the Greenalp web page, pulled up the map, and then screwed up. I did not allow the phone to send the location (hence the note above!) and then I did not zoom in the way I meant to. Anyway, I did my run, got back to hotel, stopped SnagIt. Created the movie, and ready to post it on the blog.

Tracking a run with Real Time GPS Tracker
It appears I lost GPS signal a couple of places, even though the Garmin watch never did. The track has a strange leg in it over to Mount Cardigan, which is a place I have run before, but don’t know why it would show up on this map.

Anyway, if you are looking for a way to track runs, but especially for others to see where you are running in real time, this is working great for me. The whole movie thing was just an experiment to see if I could capture a track to show what it looks like here on the blog. It is not something I plan to do on normal runs, where the Garmin 305 combined with Sport Tracks does a better job of recording “historical” data.

Enjoy

George

Big Brother Watching? To much info, or a cool program?

This entry is part 1 of 4 in the series Real Time GPS Tracker

I have been searching off and on for a way to let people know:

    a) Where I might be running when I am traveling, and if I am out in the hills somewhere maybe an idea of where I could be found if I don’t get back within a reasonable time.

 

    b) During a race where I might be at on the course so people know when I may be at a chosen location.

I tried a number of different ways, none seemed to be what I wanted.. there are programs that let you send the current location via email or SMS, but they did not do what I wanted. Some only have “fences” that can be programmed to let someone know when you get to a certain place, which is nice, but by the time I get to the end it is to late to let the person know.

Finally I came across “Real Time Tracker”, by Greenalp. This does what I have been looking for!

    a) it is free!

 

    b) it sends constant position updates, directly to a map, not just the link to a map.

 

    c) it can be put right here on Kazology.

 

    d) it can send text msg if you want it to.

 

    e) it is very configurable as to frequency of recording way points, and also when it transmit the data to the server.

 

    f) it WORKS! which at least one program I tried did not… I had to pull the battery to get it to stop.

 

    g) it also can do overlays, which I have not done yet, but sounds pretty cool, especially for races. I believe you can add a KML file of a route previously run and recorded, or for some bigger races a downloaded map of the course. Then when the Android is transmitting it shows not only the current location and track taken, but where on the course you actually are at any given time.

 

    h) it saves the last recorded route until a new one is started. The duration is configurable.

 

    i) it allows tracking of multiple phones. Maybe 3-5 standard, more as a paid service.

 

    j) you can create friends to share with, or wide open.

Check out the last, or current run!

Free real-time tracking. Free GPS tracker. Show your location live on Google Maps. Free for your Android phone.

This is particularly useful for runs when I am away from home so people can track if I am running or in a ditch. It can also be used during races to see where I am on the course… or pretending to run while I am sitting in a bar somewhere.

Recommended!

Until Real Time GPS is false,
George

An Amazing Time at Marvins Marvelous Mechanical Museum!

We had seen an article about “Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum” in a “Things to Do” book. It sounded interesting, but we never got around to visiting it.
Well, we finally did, and the panel of experts all agree, it was worth the time!

It is not a far drive up to Farmington Hills from Ann Arbor, so we left about noon, stopped for some lunch and got to the museum about 2 pm.
Marvins Marvelous Mechanical Museum
I was surprised, there was no entry fee. I expected to pay a few bucks just to get inside.
When you open the door and walk it, it is a smorgasbord of sights and sounds for the senses to feed on!

I suggest you use one of the picture links to view the entire photo album so you can see what I mean!

Towards the end of the visit a nice person was standing between some machines just sort of watching. I realized this was Marvin in person. I said “Hello” and he immediately struck up a conversation. He wanted to show us the “Tic-Tac-Toe” playing chicken, which I think is one of his favorites from the literature and advertising I have seen.

Marvins Marvelous Mechanical Museum

Marvins favorite Arcade item?

 

Marvins Marvelous Mechanical Museum

At the end the chicken will reward you with a nice post card

Marvins Marvelous Mechanical Museum

I can only still imagine what this did… I did not try a quarter to see it in action.

Marvins Marvelous Mechanical Museum

Some things are just better left to the imagination.

We spent several hours roaming around the place. It is not huge, but it is packed, and I do mean packed, with interesting articles from the rafters to the floor, and every nook and cranny in between.

If you are in the Detroit area, and Farmington Hills with a few extra hours take time to stop by and see this place!

Until the final quarter is played,

George

 

How to FTP files to an iPod Touch / Phone or iPad – Part Two

This entry is part 2 of 4 in the series FTP to iPod Touch

Now that you have the FileApp App and probably played around with it… and if you haven’t already figured it out. (Hey I did it so it ain’t all that hard….)

The first step is to start the file sharing program. Just click on “Start Sharing”… oh wait a minute… you are using your wireless network, or on you PC/Laptop.. see warning in Part One of this project.

Open the program.

The program will show what the IP address for the iPod is that you should use.

Open the program.

The you are supposed to be ready to go using a normal web browser and “Drag and Drop”. I didn’t get this to work for me though. (Update: I did get this to work… but with other issues. See upcoming post.)

Open the program.

I used an FTP Program instead. (I may go back and try the browser method again since I think more people would use that method than using FTP client.) There are lots of free FTP clients out there like Cute FTP. Mine happens to be built into the file manager program I have used for many years “Power Desk”.

Begin, in whatever FGP program you use by adding a new FTP site. tippmix eredmények él?

Open the program.

Name the site anything you want.

Open the program.

Use the IP address shown on the iPod, FileApp earlier. (192.168.1.117 in my case) Add the PORT number which is shown after the colon in the IP address in FileApp (2121 in my case.)

Open the program.

I used the “anonymous” logon, just leaving it the way it was…. and leaving the “password” blank.

Open the program.

If it asks for a password I just click on “No”.

Open the program.

Ignore this message, or at least I did.

Open the program.

The final setting, for my FTP program look like this.

Open the program.

Now try to open your FTP session, you may get a prompt for a password… I just cancel this.

Open the program.

If it all goes according to plan you have a successful connect dialog box! gaminator kalandtúra

Open the program.

Now you can start the fun stuff!

You should see a method to move files depending on your FTP client.

I started by dragging my entire Second Site HTML folder over to the “root” which seems to be “Start Here”. I haven’t tried to rename that, no reason to I guess. I did make a subfolder “Kasdorf Genealogy” using the FTP client first, then put all the files in it.

Open the program.

Next, using the FileApp Program.

George