How To
This page anwers the following subjects in sequential order: Getting started
To get started you need to install the My World GPS Tracker application on your phone.
The app will use your phone's GPS chip to get your current locations as you move around and either save them to your phone, or submit them to the website in real-time (live).
In the application, you will be asked to set up an account by providing a username, password and your email address. Please beware that entering a valid email address is important, since your address will have to get confirmed.
After creation of your account in the application, the app will try to get its first GPS location, and submit it to the system. This may take some time, depending on what phone model you have.
Please note that GPS reception indoors is minimal and not recommended. (See: Best Practice)
After your first location has been submitted, a map page will be automatically created for you here on the website. You can log in on the website using the same username and password you created in the app on your mobile, and customize your profile, avatar and settings.
After that, you're all done. Just send the link to your map page to your friends and family and go out. Note to start the application whenever you start your journey, and to exit the application whenever you arrive at your destination.
The application
The app explained
Hover the image below for detailed information on each section of the app!
Hover the image on the left for detailed information on each section of the app!
Offline Mode: GPS Tracking outside of network reach (On holidays and abroad)
Whenever you are on holiday, or anywhere where the mobile network is not available, you can still use the tracker to collect data, in order to submit your routes later. For instance, you may go on holiday where roaming costs are very high, therefore, you can start the app in offline mode, and save your whole day's routes to the phone's internal memory. Then, whenever you are back in reach of network, or wifi at a hotel, you can restart the application in online mode to submit your historic data. This way you can show people at home what you've been doing, or what progress you have made.
To start the application in Online Mode, simply select the 'Online' option at startup. This will submit your current locations to the website in real-time, and will submit all previously saved data.
To start the application in Offline Mode, just select 'Offline' here. This will not make a connection to the internet, and will save your locations and tracks to the phone's internal memory. The data saved will be submitted the next time you start the application in Online Mode.
Flags: What are they and how to use them
Flags are ment to put a small piece of text on your map. Useful whenever friends are watching your map in real time, so you can send them status updates, or for your own reference afterwards.
Here's a proper example:
Customize your marker, add an avatar
Once you have logged in to the website, you may change your avatar from the loginpage, or the settings page on your profile. This avatar will be displayed on your phone and on the map to distinctly mark your current location.
Best Practice: Create good, pretty and functional tracks
GPS does not work well inside of buildings, or in general, whenever the device doesn't have a clear view of the sky above. This will result in inaccurate data being collected and submitted, causing a huge amount of scribbly lines around your current location. There's not much sense in running a GPS tracker whenever you are not moving. Therefore, whenever you reach your destination, just exit the application, and start it again when you are going out. This will increase your over-all track quality and will, above all, save you data traffic and battery power.
Take a look at the following examples: This is when the tracker runs when not moving or when indoors. Pretty ugly, right?
Now this is a track worth watching. Long story short; Start the app when going out, exit going in.
You might wonder why the app doesnt simply detect whether you are moving or not, and start/stop itself. The answer is plain and simple. It would require power. To detect whether you are moving, the GPS would need to stay active non stop, thus using power. On top of that, the phone would also have to calculate whether the latest location indicates movement compared to older ones. Both these processes would consume valuable battery power. To keep the application as efficient as possible these checks will not be performed, leaving you in charge of what the app is doing in order to keep the battery lifespan as great as possible.