GPS Tracking an Alzheimer's sufferer

Leonedes

Hey guys,

I have a close family relative that suffers from Alzheimer's and she recently accidently wandered away and we went through hell to find her back. In order to avoid such a horrible accident from happening again, I immediately thought about GPS tracking.

I've looked online and saw that my options are kind of narrow, there are a couple of services that are either too expensive > 1000 $ or have a high montly rate > 50$. ( I have no problem ordering from the states )

However, I have thought about the idea of getting a really cheap or used android phone, add to it a 3G internet subscription and a GPS tracking app. Charging the phone would not be a problem and hiding it in her purse(which she never lets go of) is also extremely easy.

What do you guys think about this solution? What phone/app would you recommend?

Ayman

I think this is a nice and viable solution. You should definitely be able to find a cheap android phone(check with Stars Communication price list) that can run this app. There are many alternative to this app but seems like that's the most popular one.

There exists some limitations to this on our 3G network in case of indoors there may not be strong 3G reception and the GPS may not work properly anyways. But I think you should give it a try as it wont cost too much, would be interested to hear the feedback.

Leonedes

That's exactly the app I had in mind. Although what worries me is data consumption, i will try to test it out on my phone first.

yasamoka

The phone will be sending latitude and longitude every 15m, 20m, 30m, or 1h. Both are numbers that have 7 significant digits. That is 14 bytes of data for a single upload of GPS coordinates, not including overhead. You are expecting a few bytes upload every once in a while.