Tim Boudreau's Blog

The NetBeansMobile - coming to a city near you?

I'll also have a video camera along, if I can cajole anyone into being interviewed - hopefully we'll end up with some content for netbeans.tv, which is looking quite slick. How did this weirdness come to be? Well, I never planned to live in California forever, and I'm originally from Western Massachusetts. So with a let-up in the travel schedule for work, now was the time. So I bought this giant 1984 GMC truck for $1000, and spent the last two weeks fixing it up (I will never sand and paint a big truck by hand again!). I told my colleagues about it, and David Botterill suggested that I should put NetBeans signs on it, load it up with a GPS. And the rest was history, or is becoming history...

Getting all of this stuff to work together has been interesting. I'm using my tired old PowerBook to run everything (having just sent off my MacBook for a new screen - don't swat flies on your keyboard with a baseball cap. Bad things can happen.). So what all it does is:

• A Garmin G18 gps (basically a wart with a USB cable - no built in UI, it just talks to the computer) is used to record tracking data
• gpsbabel talks to it and writes the data out to a GoogleMaps compatible .kml file.
• A little Logitech webcam takes pictures
• isightcapture is the command-line utility that takes the pictures
• The computer is online via the internet connection from my BlackBerry Pearl phone
. Actually this part is currently the weak link, as getting the laptop online again via bluetooth after it has disconnected once is still eluding me
• Every so many pictures, it will rsync the photos and kml file up to the server
• On the server, a one-page wicket app is running, which periodically notices if new files have appeared, and serves them in what will hopefully be a usable ui

Places I could use some help
If anybody out there has experience with gpsbabel, I'd love to find a way to get it to spit out a single kml file and exit - I've only gotten this working in tracking mode, where it polls once every second and generates files too big for GoogleMaps (but not for GoogleEarth). Any pointers appreciated.

There seem to be a number of hacks, commercial products, etc. out there for hooking up a BlackBerry to a mac. Bluetooth is preferable, as if it's via USB, well, that's probably more reliable, but then I can't use it as a phone :-(

I'll post more info and pics when the graphics are on it tomorrow. As I said, if I'm going to be passing near you, let me know - just post something right here. Maybe we can set up a NetBeans demo or you can do something fun on camera or we can just have lunch.

Comments

• Hey Tim, on your way when you're around Albany, NY if you need a break you can definitely stop by for a couple of drinks :-) I'm not sure if we can organize anything to meet up with the local JUG (the scheduled meeting is on Sept. 20th), but still :-) email me at akochnev at gmail dot com if you'd be interested..

  Posted by: polrtex on August 29, 2007 at 06:47 AM

• Mega cool :-). Regards from Prague. Breh.

  Posted by: breh on August 29, 2007 at 11:53 AM

• Very nice. If you have Java enabled mobile phone you could try out the Mobile Trail Explorer which is able to record GPS trails and export them directly to KML file. ...and I have coded it with NetBeans IDE :)

  Posted by: tlaukkanen on August 29, 2007 at 01:04 PM

• If you should find yourself in the US capital for some odd reason; most definitely give me a holler! :-)John

  Posted by: cajo on August 29, 2007 at 08:18 PM

• Hey Tim,
  Maybe your friends in the bay area can get together for a good send off.
  Let us know where and when so we can all gather !
  Z

  Posted by: zaheda on August 29, 2007 at 09:55 PM

• Sounds like a fun trip! Capital Java User Group is just a couple hours north of Chicago on I-90. If that's close enough, we'd love to host a NetBeans demo.

  Posted by: daveklein on August 30, 2007 at 05:45 AM

• Hey Tim

  I run the Salt Lake City JUG and it seems that you will be driving right through SLC sometime this weekend. Let's try to get together. You can reach me at chrismaki at mac dot com.

  Posted by: cmaki on August 30, 2007 at 08:10 AM

• Hey Tim,

  Any chance you could add a starting leg from Silicon Valley (the home of Sun) up Hwy101 to SF? We could get Google to host the kickoff of your tour and they are located in Mountain View right next to Hwy 101. :-)

  --Van Riper, Silicon Valley Web Developer JUG
  

  Posted by: van_riper on August 30, 2007 at 11:17 AM

• Hello Tim,

  I am not sure what your plans are for Atlanta in January 08, but if you are planning on doing the trip through SC, please let me know and I will hook you up with some food, beer... did I mention beer, and more beer before you adventure to Atlanta. Have a great cross-country trip. I am jealous. I would love to do that kind of trip.

  Posted by: jyeary on August 30, 2007 at 12:26 PM

• An update: Kinko's didn't have the graphics ready for me as promised yesterday afternoon, so I'm picking them up now - hence no photos (if anybody has advice on applying vinyl lettering to a vehicle, it would be appreciated - I hear it's difficult and something you need to get right the first time, as unsticking the stuff requires a heat gun and destroys it).

  At this point, it's looking like at best I'll be on the road on Saturday - the 80/20 rule is kicking in.

  The software is pretty solid, with the exception of the PowerBook -> Internet via Blackberry part. Should have something up on a server today. I've set up a Twitter account to go with the rest of it.

  Posted by: timboudreau on August 30, 2007 at 12:33 PM

• Just a small word of warning, I-80 in SLC is undergoing construction so check CommuterLink for info on closures or take I-215

  Posted by: ranbato on August 31, 2007 at 07:30 AM

• Arg. http://commuterlink.utah.gov/ie.htm is the link

  Posted by: ranbato on August 31, 2007 at 07:31 AM

• 
  If you come through Albuquerque, NM (I-40 & I-25) I can give you a dog and pony show of two RCP apps that I've written.

  Posted by: pblemel on August 31, 2007 at 12:56 PM

• If you needed another excuse to take van_riper up on his offer for an initial stop in Silicon Valley, IIRC the Bay Bridge is closed this weekend while they install a new ramp for the new span.

  Posted by: peterwx on August 31, 2007 at 02:30 PM

• if you go by way of google, you can say hi to a mutual friend as well, though he expects to be out here 9/26 or so... drive safe and have fun!

  Posted by: kitiara on August 31, 2007 at 08:17 PM

• The Milwaukee gig sounds good! If all goes well, I'll be in Salt Lake City on Tuesday night; then it should be two days to the Chicago area. So ideally, I will be there on Thursday. Doable?

  Posted by: timboudreau on September 02, 2007 at 07:57 PM

• van_riper, it would be an honor to have a send off hosted by Google - that would be fun indeed. Alas, I think it won't happen, or I will not be able to make some other committments; and partly, having worked on this truck for three weeks, I have this burning itch to at least cross one state line!

  But I would love to do a talk at Google sometime, and do expect to be in California for work fairly frequently. So let's set something up for the not-too-distant future. I'm really not trying to snub you here - just being pulled in fifty directions at once :-)

  Posted by: timboudreau on September 04, 2007 at 01:35 AM

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