I'll post this in the Pub as it's really only idle curiosity for now. I'm working (the term is of course relative) on telematics on commercial vehicles. These can:

1. Tell you where the vehicle is.
2. Give you speed and a host of vehicle data about if the doors are open and so forth.
3. Let you read some of the vehicle diagnostics remotely.
4. Transfer scanned documents from cab to office.
5. Trigger payments such as tolls.
6. Lets the person in the office route the vehicle round traffic.
7. Has a translation function so an English dispatcher can tell a Polish driver where to go.
8. Has a distress signal.

All you need is a vehicle with a lot of CAN info (becoming common), a black box with a mobile phone signal and some software.

To me the black box should be phone shaped, rather like a phone and the phone shaped phone should be gathering the CAN signals and sending them. The box on the bike should be fag packet sized and only a CAN hub.

When this can be done, would there be an application for overlanders? Let the folks at home know the bike is at X and the ignition is on. Possibly make getting photos to or documents from a cloud easier as it's data only. Let your mechanic tell you which bit you should try and fix with epoxy and baleing wire. You could set an alarm that phones home if the bike isn't keyed on for so many hours or days.

The current services are subscription and in the 10-pounds per month range. The hardware is mid hundreds of pounds but my thoughs on phone plus box make it cheaper.

Is this something you would want or is it intrusive?

Lights blue touch paper and retires

Andy

I have a road angel bike trac, and it will do quite a bit of the above: 1, 2 (no doors, obviously!), 3 (battery info) and 8 (if I drop the bike). Part of me would be interested in the toll idea, and I've looked into those used in France. I'm trying to use fewer motorways, however! The idea of being able to transfer documents could be interesting, but I'm not sure how often I'd use this even if it were available.

I use my device for two main reasons: firstly, I want to be able to track it if some scrote nicks the bike. Secondly, I've also given my login details to my girlfriend - people at work think this is crazy! - so that I don't have to stop and ring if I'm going to be late, or (better) she can see where in the world I am when I travel. It's a kind of way to stay connected when I'm away. I do ring her, too! I can also track my route if I've stumbled onto something great I'd like ride again. The only thing it doesn't have at the moment is an APP that I could use rather than having to use the internet. Perhaps I use my 'phone too much?!? First world problem, I'm aware!

ETA tracking is easy. ; current location is start point, feed it into routing software, display answer.

A" girlfriend dashboard" may be a love it or hate it thing? I can imagine the grilling I'd get if the app predicted home at 6 and I walked in at 6.15. Still, just claim I've been having sex with a gorgeous blonde I picked up and it'll soon be reduced to a charge of " playing on the bike. "

Andy

Some years ago I played around with something along the same lines with Ham Radio. It was, still is used with a radio transceiver, some hardware ( TNC) and software. It is now possible to get it all in a modern transceiver. It allows world wide coverage including at sea. It basically bounces signals around where ever possible to reach the destination, reporting position etc in as near real time as it is possible depending on connection to other stations. It has facilities for user input messages too. Works like the internet without internet, or with internet. It is essentially free for radio hams. More info here > Google Maps APRS

I haven't messed with it for a very long time, and quite honestly GPRS data tech is much more reliable.

__________________
Regards Tim

Learning my craft for the big stuff, it won't be long now and it's not that far anyway