go-osmand-tracker

README

go-osmand-tracker

A basic application written in Go for receiving live location updates from the OsmAnd app.

Getting started

Assuming you've installed a working installation of Go, have set all required environmental variables and have set your personal preferences... Here's how to get started:

---

1. Running the server

The easy way — If you just want to download it and use it

go get github.com/ricardobalk/go-osmand-tracker

go-osmand-tracker

or...

The hard way — If you want to build the source code yourself and/or help with the development of this server application

1) Clone this repository

... via HTTPS

git clone https://github.com/ricardobalk/go-osmand-tracker.git

... or SSH

git clone git@github.com:ricardobalk/go-osmand-tracker.git

... or with the GitHub CLI

gh repo clone ricardobalk/go-osmand-tracker

2) Move into the directory

cd ./go-osmand-tracker

3) Edit the source code, run or build it

go run main.go

---

2. Setting up the OsmAnd app

1) Open the plugin settings menu

2) Enable the Trip recording plugin, and change the settings

4) Set up online tracking

First thing to do is pointing the OsmAnd app to the go-osmand-tracker server. Don't forget to turn it on!

Optionally, you can tell OsmAnd to keep the location updates for a while, in case you lost internet connection.

5) Enabling the widget for easily turning the location tracking on and off

It is possible to enable an on-screen widget that shows up in the upper right corner, which can be tapped to switch location tracking on and off.

Alright, you're all set up! 👍

---

3. Using it

Submitting location updates

Once the server is running and receiving location updates from the OsmAnd app, the location updates appear in the console output of go-osmand-tracker.

Manual location updates (without using the OsmAnd app) can be made using any tool that can generate simple HTTP GET requests, for example, Postman or curl.

An example of an update request in curl is shown below:

curl -I 'http://localhost:8080/submit?lat=48.858370&lon=2.294481&timestamp=1600000000000&hdop=1&altitude=10&speed=12.3456'

A successful location update does not return any data, but the HTTP response code should be 204 No Content.

Retrieving the last known location

The last known location can be retrieved using the /retrieve endpoint. An example of retrieving the last known location with curl is shown below:

curl -s 'http://localhost:8080/retrieve'

{"latitude":48.85837,"longitude":2.294481,"timestamp":1600000000000,"hdop":1,"altitude":10,"speed":12.3456}

---

Known limitations

There are some known limitations that come with go-osmand-tracker. As a proof of concept, the things described below were not part of the initial specification. All help is appreciated! If you're participating in Hacktoberfest, feel free to help! 😉

Authentication, encryption (the lack of it)

The current server I made is just an HTTP endpoint, without authentication, practically providing no security at all. If you're planning to use it in production environments (you should not), you might want to set up an intermediate proxy with Apache or Nginx, pointing to a local instance of go-osmand-tracker and offering some sort of authentication and SSL (TLS) security. Adding (basic) authentication and SSL (TLS) security is planned for the future.

Multi-user support

The app can only receive location updates from a single user. When authentication is built-in, it becomes possible to provide multi-user support as well.

Saving tracks

The current app only saves the last known location. There is no database that can save tracks. This is planned for the future.

Custom port

It's currently not possible to set the port from the command line. There is a variable in the source code which can be used to change the port.

HTTP GET

The current app uses GET instead of POST, so it is not a correct REST-y way to receive location updates, but the OsmAnd uses GET requests for location updates, so that's why GET is used. It is planned that go-osmand-tracker should accept both GET (for backward compatibility) and POST (with a JSON body) in the future.