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I have a GPS Tracker which sends the GPRMC string of the NMEA 0183 protocol, at fixed periodicity, to a predefined number as SMS. I am looking for a software which can port these incoming SMS to a COM port to plot them dynamically to Google Earth or a custom GIS application, and use the name of the sending GPS as a label on the map. THe software should be capable of simultaneously tracking multiple GPS trackers simultaneously.

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This question makes a lot more sense if you get rid of "port these incoming SMS to a COM port to "... Can you clarify what the COM port is doing in your concept? Why can't the SMS-receiving software plot directly to google earth? That would be a 10kB android application... – Sparr Dec 18 '10 at 2:56
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I'm curious about your tracker, did you build it yourself or buy one? – user2278 Mar 11 '11 at 8:19
@Sparr I think the COM port is an implementation detail. Most if not all SMS gateway software communicate with the hardware through COM ports ( which may be virtual or real ). – R.K. Apr 9 '12 at 3:24
@R.K. what "hardware" are we talking about here? – Sparr Apr 28 '12 at 4:11
Cell phones or 3G modems. They usually connect to the PC via a USB cable but the computer still communicates with them through virtual COM ports if I'm not mistaken. – R.K. Apr 28 '12 at 8:51

3 Answers

up vote 6 down vote

Kannel is the most known sms gateway (Free and Open Source), it runs both in Linux and Windows. You can connect it with a GSM modem or a mobile phone to send or receive sms (or MMS). If you have a GPS who can connect to GSM you have the solution. AND of course it connected with Mysql or Postgresql and more DB. From a database you can send the data to a web system.

Kannel: Open Source WAP and SMS gateway

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Would Gammu SMS Daemon http://wammu.eu/smsd/ be a start?

Gammu SMS Daemon is a program that periodically scans GSM modem for received messages, stores them in defined storage and also sends messages enqueued in this storage. It is perfect tool for managing big amounts of received or sent messages and automatically process them.

You can currently store received messages in files or in various databases. MySQL and PostgreSQL are supported natively and wide range of others (including SQLite) through libdbi (libdbi backend is currently not available in Windows builds).

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I'm using gammu-smsd with sqlite3 and it's been running for 4 years now using SIEMENS MC35i , any kind of terminal GSM modem speaking a decent protocol will probably work with it. This is a good suggestion. I also have to add it's running on ubuntu linux on a minimac. – Glenn Plas Jan 12 at 20:33
up vote 1 down vote

Check out SlingshotSMS. It's a minimal SMS server which connects GSM modems to websites and applications via a simple HTTP interface. Here's a sample architecture.

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You could do away with the Drupal backend and write your own. It's also portable so you can run it from a flash drive.

THe software should be capable of simultaneously tracking multiple GPS trackers simultaneously.

If I understand it correctly, those would be different numbers sending to your tracker? If so, you could just filter them by sender so you would be able to distinguish them.

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