DIY GPS Tracking for Your Android Device

Productivity Sauce

Being able to pinpoint the current position of your Android device can come in useful in many situations, but using a third-party app or service may not appeal to privacy-conscious users. If you are one of them, Self-Hosted GPS Tracker might be right up your alley. It consists of two parts: 1) a simple Android app that obtains geographical coordinates and sends them to your own server, 2) a couple of relatively simple PHP scripts parse the pushed data and display the position in an OpenStreetMap-powered map.

To get started with Self-Hosted GPS Tracker, clone the project's GitHub repository or download the source code as a ZIP archive, and move the PHP scripts from the server-side folder to a directory in the document root of your web server. Install then the accompanying app from Google Play Store or F-Droid, configure the app, and tap the Track button. Point then your browser to http://127.0.0.1/path/to/i-am-here.php to see the device's last known position on the map.