We did the same starting about two years ago. But we have integrated pictures and positions:
See example at:
http://www.tourlive.ch/mobile/archiv.php?zeit=28102006133832&id=10505
Sorry the page is only in German, and at the moment you can not download the symbian software. Used hardware: Nokia 6630, bluetooth GPS device
The software can push the information directly to the internet or store it locally for later use.

Rene

We also did a similar project to the oneyou describe (www.locoblog.com) but the main aim here is not geotagging the photo but a long term deployment in a fixed location with no facilty to charge the battery. Did you have any facilty for keeping the battery charged or was it just the the normal battery. If you have some figures for battry life i would be interested.

Paul

Hi Paul
No, we only use the normal battery. The mobile has power for about 3-5 hours with one battery charge (depending on the upload interval/network coverage)
Our goal was to have maximum stability, because on certain situations we don't have physical access to the mobile.
With our system we provided live information for internet users during different bicycle races (e.g tour de Suisse and others). In that case we had several mobiles mounted in the cars directly in front or behind of the cyclists. During these races the mobiles are typically charged by the car battery.
Rene

Rene

Thanks for the information we have similar figures dependent as you say on frequency of up-load and network coverage. We have incorporated power saving by power down the camera but you have to be careful about giving the camera light levels time to adjust. I will blog any info we get about how long the batterry and solar panel gives us as it seems it may be useful info.

Alessandor

Sorry i clicked the wrong button and lost your comment but i think I remeber the jist of it. The problem with using the server which I considered was the extra drain of battery resources so we decided not to utilse that route although in other locations it would be a possibilty. Maybe I will play with that next

Paul,

I want to do something similar, but I want the mobile to be activated by a motion sensor. As soon as motion is detected (which will give me a set of opening contacts) I want the camera to start recording, and to send the pictures to several preprogrammed phones. I am a mobile phone ignoramus, but there must be a way it can be done. Furthermore, if we use a bluetooth phone, the motion sensor may be mounted remotely and fitted with a bluetooth device that will turn the the process on when motion begins, and turn the camera off and hang up when motion ceases. Again you might know of such a device.

Piet Kil
New Zealand

Piet

It could be done although a permanent bluetooth connection can be power consuming. You could simply send the pics a mms but that is expensive otherwise i would be tempted to send the to a site that alerts users via sms and they they view the phtos from a flashlite app or via phone browser.

Not seen or heard of this but as i said is definately possible

Paul

Paul

Thanks for your interest. My prime consideration is reliability of operation, therefore the fewer components in the system the better. Expense of transmission is a secondary consideration.

First, how to get a set of external electrical contacts (opening or closing) to control a sequence in the cellphone. Initially they could be hardwire connected to the phone. The actual programming sequence would be turn on the camera, phone the two numbers, transmit the pictures. On motion ceasing, disconnect the phone users, turn off the camera, return to standby mode.

Bluetooth connection of motion sensors would sacrifice reliability but might enhance motion sensitivity by allowing the sensors to be placed away from the phone, or several sensors to be used. Hardwiring remote sensors is still a (more labor-intensive) option.

Next, at more sacrifice of reliability, extra camera / motion detector sets could be connected to original cellphone (hardwire or bluetooth) to monitor different areas from a central phone. A hardware cost comparison may reveal that discreet cellphones at each location are more economical.

I need some how-to Paul, maybe you have a student who would like to get his/her teeth into setting this up and making it work.

Kind regards
Piet

Piet

Most of the things could be done in sofwtare the power problem could be averted if mains power is avaibale then you would need the electrical contacts. The other alternative if power is avaiable to the phone is to use motion sensing directly from the camera to trigger an alert see my blog http://blogs.forum.nokia.com/view_entry.html?id=450 which could be adapted. Indeed phones might well be the cheapest form of infrastrucure.

I dont have a student at the moment but possibly later in the year when i am setting new projects.

Hi Piet & Paul,

We have created a pretty complex app that uses motion sensing from the camera to trigger a wide range of actions.
The app was created as a security device and we are pretty excited about it.
The cameras picture buffer is accessed directly and monitored for changes in frame captures fired every few seconds. When motion is detected the the pictures are stored and sent by MMS or email. Sound is also recorded and sent.
The motion detection is still a problem for outdoor use. In low light the camera gets very noisy / grainy and we havent really cracked the filtering for this. The AGC on the camera is such that you can't really tell when low light is happening to either add filtering or switch off.
We use a small solar panel and a motorbike battery for permanent operation, just like the pic. The better car chargers are very economical on power.
We would like to have an external trigger also. The API doesn't expose the headset button which would have been ideal. We have used hardwiring onto the keyboard to simulate a keypress but this is scruffy.
We might get around to playing with Bluetooth too. Most PIR etc sensors use 455Mhz radio which could be picked up and patched across to a Bluetooth module, I'm not really that electronics savvy.
Please get in touch if you fancy exploring the issues further. Ours is a commercial product although we are a small family firm and always looking for help.
Pete Mounsey
NAB Systems Ltd
Harlow, Essex.
techteam@nabcentral.com