GPS Beacon.
General information
When enabled, GPS beacon allows you to share a URL (web) link with others to track your real-time location in any web browser. Even when enabled, GPS beacon only functions (sends data to a server at regular intervals) when you record a track in the app (e.g. MENU > NEW TRACK starts a new track recording).
Here is what someone with a link to your beacon might see:
The locations list at the bottom is synchronized with the map. Scroll through locations to have them focused on the map with a light blue dot.
There is also a “Points” switch on the beacon web page. When switched on, it enables you to tap on any point on your “track” and see the corresponding location point in the list:
Please take into account that showing points on the map for each location tracked under the beacon may lead to slow map interaction. When you switch “Points” on, it’s better to zoom into the area of interest so there aren’t too many points to show.
Setup and configure
The idea for the GPS beacon is to enable leaving a breadcrumb for your loved ones, when needed. Tap on the MENU button to open the main app menu and check on the GPS Beacon status:
Tap on the “settings” button to open GPS tracking settings and tap on the GPS Beacon settings there:
The GPS Beacon settings screen opens.
By default, neither the beacon nor the URL link to it is enabled. Tap on YES in either the “Enable GPS Beacon” or “Enable web browser link” section to enable the beacon and the URL link. For the first time only, either YES will do the same thing: register your beacon on the server and create a web link for your beacon. After this first time, you can always control the URL link access and/or sending data to the beacon separately.
After creating a beacon/link, you can open your own link in the browser, change the link URL, or send the link via “Share” button in the “Web browser link” section:
Protect with password.
Tap on the password protection row in the “Web browser link” section to enable or disable password protection for the link. When a password is set up for the link, it will need to be entered before any map or data are shown.
History.
Tap on the “Keep history” row in the History section to set up how many hours of your location history the beacon should store. The history configuration screen also allows you to erase any history that is being kept for your beacon on the server.
You can also disable the history altogether, and then only your most recent location will be stored on the server and shown on your beacon web page.
Synchronization frequency.
When beacon is enabled and you have tracking active, the app will send your location breadcrumb at regular intervals to a server. You can configure this interval in the top “GPS Beacon” section.
Security and privacy considerations.
The GPS Beacon function involves sending and storing your location data on a server. Here are some statements on data security and communications:
- All communication with the servers happens over HTTPS.
- Your location breadcrumbs are sent to your personal GPS beacon (server) only when you explicitly enable Beacon in the app and track recording is active. After beacon creation, you can enable or disable the beacon at any time.
- If you set up a password for your GPS beacon web link, only a one-way hash of your password concatenated with a salt is stored.
- All messages from the app to the server are signed and validated with the unique key exchanged between the server and the app when your beacon is first created.
- The request for beacon creation is signed with the server/app key.
- If you delete your beacon history via the app, it is deleted immediately.
- History cleanup happens on the servers every 15 minutes, so stored history data may exceed the number of hours set up by you by up to 15 minutes.
- There is no identification of your IP address, device ID, or anything else stored (or sent) on the servers that could relate your location records back to your device or to yourself.
- Server infrastructure and data storage are provided by the app owner/developer (Stanislav Dvojcenko, EU citizen, Czech Republic) and his company Kalimex-Consulting s.r.o. (EU, Czech Republic) in compliance with EU data privacy laws.
Updated privacy policy .
