Live location S+ app
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Thanks, guys, for the feedback!
Let me answer some of the questions:@Tieutieu
Currently, I’m sending data once per second within the Suunto watch’s event loop. I plan to make this interval customizable via the app. But first, I’ll be doing more field tests to measure battery consumption, as it might not be the actual bottleneck in terms of energy usage. However, energy efficiency is a top priority!
Sending data on button press is a great idea—I’ll definitely consider adding that option.@Ze-Stuart
Yes, the server currently stores the starting position of the activity and tracks the route. It also receives some activity events like pause/resume, and these are reflected on the route. At the moment, I’m just sending GNSS connection health as metadata, but thanks for suggesting that more connection health information be added.
Regarding connection stability, I’ve managed to establish a pretty stable connection between the phone and the remote server. However, the watch connection is a bit trickier due to the nature of BLE and limitations in the Suunto SDK. For example, I haven’t yet found a way to reconnect the watch while the workout is still active smoothly, but I’m working on it!
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@Nikolai-Simonov Magnificent.
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Wow, Great work
@Nikolai-Simonov -
This is pretty awesome! Considering it’s developed outside of Suunto and by using your own server infrastructure - it’ll most likely be a paid S+ app. Do you have any pricing strategy already?
S9PP 2.40.38
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This is great to hear @Nikolai-Simonov. I would definitely use this feature.
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@Łukasz-Szmigiel Yep, it’s developing outside. It’s a good question about the monetization. I’m trying to keep it free as much as possible, and some features don’t need any infrastructure, e.g., the Feature I’m currently working on is sending SOS messages on Android phones. It doesn’t require any infrastructure.
It uses tiny data packets (only 15B for the location message), so it will be relatively inexpensive to maintain this infrastructure for real-time tracking. If we store it, it would be a bit expensive, but there are many things to consider. I guess that some extra features could be subscription-based or something.
anyway, thanx for a reasonable question.
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@Nikolai-Simonov said in Live location S+ app:
Hi Suunto community!
I’m excited to share a video with technical demo of a SuuntoPlus app I’m currently working on. This app is designed for live tracking: the geolocation data from Suunto watches is transmitted via a connected phone to a remote server and then made available through a web app.
This method was chosen because, unfortunately, Suunto watches don’t have radio modules for WAN connectivity. However, this option is far more energy-efficient, using significantly less power than sharing geolocation via the phone’s GNSS module.
I started this project after hearing some unfortunate news where having even approximate last-known coordinates of a lost person could have made the search much easier. Therefore, the primary goal of this app is safety. In future iterations, I plan to add an SOS button and possibly crash detection.
For now, here’s the demo, and I’d love to hear your feedback and comments!
Very cool. I‘m thrilled that there is finally someone who takes care of this. If you manage to implement Crash detection I can stop looking at garmin watches and stay with a beautiful Suunto watch.
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@Nikolai-Simonov Do you need any help with documentation etc? I had done some experiments with the s+ and ble in the past.
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@Nikolai-Simonov
Thank you ! This is so great ! I’ve asked this functionnality in every survey Suunto sent.Are the locations (and consequently the course, the start, the end of the course) sent to a remote server (outside Suunto scope) ? If yes, who is in charge ? How long does the date stay on the server ?
If you need user test/feedback, do not hesitate.
Regard
X3
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I’m looking forward to it. Because I usually train alone in the mountains and in a possible bad situation I have nothing to do. It looks good at first glance. A web map using Google Maps would be better.
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@Nikolai-Simonov Hi, is there any news? How is the development going? This is a function that I miss very much. By the way, Coros has already implemented this really well. I find the live location in the mobile phone very helpful for orientation. Even if this requires a data connection, this is super helpful… Hope your project works out.
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Hello @Nikolai-Simonov, do you plan to open source it at some point? I guess this would accelerate the developement thanks to contributors
Have you thought about using https://www.traccar.org/ as a backend server? This an open source GPS tracking platform with many interesting features like live tracking, alerting, a REST API to interact with, etc… -
Hello Community!
Sorry for the silence; there were some personal issues, such as moving, changing jobs, etc.
Now everything is well.And I’m bringing some updates about the plans:
Currently, it’s working within the MVP boundaries.I’ve asked Suunto how I can provide an app for the testers, and currently, there is no way I’m able to install it only from the development machine. It’s quite disappointing because it drastically limit the possibility of testing outside.
However, recently, I realized that I can actually try to publish an app. but restrict access for testing purposes on the smartphone side. (like a testing account or smth.)
Also, there’s a knowing issue on the watch side. I’m still trying to figure out a smooth way to reconnect the watch to the phone if the connection is lost. Unfortunately, SDK doesn’t allow us to handle this thing manually. An issue like this would be annoying, but it still is.
Anyway, I’ll prepare the infrastructure, and it should be done this weekend; after that, I’ll send the SuuntoPlus app to the Suunto store.
Because it’s a process, they have a manual review, etc. It took time. I don’t know how much exactly, no guesses.
After that, I’ll share the app here. At first, it will be an Android downloadable APK because it’s much easier; lately if everything goes smoothly, I’ll share the iOS app as well.
Suunto Race
Suunto Wings
Suunto 9Baro -
@Emile Hi! Yep, this is in my plans, but not at the first stages of development. At least after the MVP or smth.
about the traccar, it’s not really suits my needs.
and currently BE side works pretty well and data efficient (it’s cruccial for mobile environment), on geo package costs 13byte. -
@Nikolai-Simonov hey I think if the app is OS some people that have the VS studio plugins could test.
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@Nikolai-Simonov Hi Nikolai, I am eagerly waiting for a solution like yours. Sadly we have iOS devices but hopefully you can provide your app soon after the Android version. Thank you for your effort to give this option to our Suunto what is already available for Garmin users.
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B Brad_Olwin referenced this topic on
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Just wanna say that I really hope this S+ app or something similar is coming!
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I will definitely use it.
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I may be making myself a little unpopular here, but I would still recommend that users in Switzerland use the REGA app on their smartphones to share their live location. It not only shares the location with the contacts you have selected, but also with REGA, so that in an emergency, a rescue can be carried out as efficiently as possible to the last known location. The app can also be used to directly notify the REGA operations centre in the event of an emergency: https://www.rega.ch/en/our-missions/this-is-how-we-help-you/rega-app
For those who are not familiar with REGA, I would just like to mention that it is the most important Swiss air rescue service and coordinates the air rescue operations centre. In case of insufficient mobile phone coverage, alpinists can also use the emergency radio telephone (161.3 MHz).
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I saw this Partner connection.
This can be an alternative while waiting for a S+.
