UFO tracking system

[Filakius]

A non-profit, open source, community based grass-roots organisation that tracks UFOs live by receiving data from civilians in real time.

Uses tablet/mobile phone application similar to Google SKY, and this idea developed by an Australian University to track meteors.


Phone GPS shows the users current location when sending UFO report.
Piggyback off FREE Instant Messaging apps like Skype, Viber, Hangouts, KIK, Messenger, Twitter to spread messages to the public.

GPS location based alerts to others near by and along the expected trajectory.
Runs on all Apple and Android devices.
Members can contribute by responding to alerts and filming the sky in their area.
One UFO sighting can now be corroborated by others.

MUST be non-profit organisation. No owner. High staff rotation, transparent reviews and policing.
Profits (if any donations) can ONLY be spent on improving the business. (i.e. peer reviews, advice, etc)
Proceeds go into a trust fund, owned by the company and legally can never be removed for personal gain.
Changes are voted on by members and must benefit the organisations goal.
Source code will be open-source, uploaded to GitHub for peer review and editing.

*Technically this can be used for a variety of other real life applications such as Amber Alerts, natural disasters or even road works and traffic reports. Its a great idea in general.
Its basically a program that can spam messages over a variety of IM programs.

 

[Kchoo]

Triangulation would place the UFO location.

The more witnesses that get notices, the more opprtunities for photos, and the more accurate the triangulation.

Technically this could be used to surround any target with phone cameras and witnesses.. not just for UFOs but spotting Most Wanted... Or to help surround and isolate a criminal before he gets to far away from a crime scene etc. etc.

 

[Filakius]

 

[3FEL9]

Is it a proposal or something already underway ?

 

[Filakius]

Is it a proposal or something already underway ?

Hi. Just a proposal and throwing around ideas at the moment. Anyone is welcome to participate or take steps to get it underway.

I wanted to post somewhere for the GitHub community to see the initial idea and discuss functions, problems and ideas unrelated to coding.

I use Python and SL4A but require help with iOS devices.
I'll be uploading my code this week and discussing options with GitHub today.

 

[Kchoo]

We could use it to spot ISIS and suround them....

 

[Filakius]

I uploaded some code to get it started.
Anyone is welcome to edit the code or test when there is a working Beta. (Currently Android only)

GitHub - Filakius/UFO-Tracking-and-monitoring: An application that tracks and monitors UFOs

 

[notdej]

Anyone is welcome to participate or take steps to get it underway.

are you asking for money?

 

[Filakius]

are you asking for money?

No, "participate" by helping with the code. Or "get it underway" by organising it to happen.
If someone made a paid app.., I would develop one for free.

Last year I contacted a few UFO watching clubs to pass on the idea hoping they would get it started.., but no luck.
It doesn't matter who does it, as long as it works and we all get a copy for free.

 

[notdej]

No, "participate" by helping with the code. Or "get it underway" by organising it to happen.
If someone made a paid app.., I would develop one for free.

Last year I contacted a few UFO watching clubs to pass on the idea hoping they would get it started.., but no luck.
It doesn't matter who does it, as long as it works and we all get a copy for free.

What do you expect/ hope to achieve? Personally I can't see the point

 

[Filakius]

What do you expect/ hope to achieve? Personally I can't see the point

That's ok. I'm not entirely sure if it will work, but I'll give it a go.

I still hear UFO reports. A lady rang the local radio station talking about a metallic ball in the sky around 5am in the East sky, and did anyone else see it.

I even saw a few recently out bush that were extremely high, extremely fast, but could remain still for hours.

When I was a sceptic, I always wondered why some people see UFOs, and others do not. This was kind of used as weight that their stories were BS.

But now I see its because most of the time.., us humans are sitting inside a house.., or a car, bus or office and rarely look to the sky for more than 1 minute at a time (approx for arguments sake).

Everyone wants to see a UFO.., so maybe we can make that happen. Next time these "contactees" and UFO nuts claim to see an alien ship.., we can all be alerted in real time.

 

[notdej]

Everyone wants to see a UFO

no they don't

 

[Filakius]

no they don't

Sorry, I was way out of line speaking for "everyone".

Everyone I know wants to see a UFO for themselves, and I assumed everyone else must as well.
Thank you for pointing that out.

 

[Filakius]

 

[Dundee]

Hi. Just a proposal and throwing around ideas at the moment. Anyone is welcome to participate or take steps to get it underway.

I wanted to post somewhere for the GitHub community to see the initial idea and discuss functions, problems and ideas unrelated to coding.

I use Python and SL4A but require help with iOS devices.
I'll be uploading my code this week and discussing options with GitHub today.

I tried something like this, and is on the back burner due to some problems I had in translation from google location points to SQL files, can elaborate if your interested. A slight variation though. My idea was a public website that you added a sighting to, that was uploaded as a data point onto my custom google map. The idea was that I would set zones that people could subscribe to. You would register any valid email address on the site. And subscribe to notifications to any area(s) of interest. If someone uploaded a sighting in that area, you would get an email notification telling you that a sighting has been seen in one of your areas of interest. My plan was to keep the notifications in the email title so people would not have to feel threatened by opening potentially bogus emails. Also I had concerns about privacy. If people were sitting in their backyard and used their phone gps to say hey I see aliens, they just tagged their home address. Very undesirable. So my plan was to use my custom web page and google maps to tag a sighting with no identifiable personal info, just a point.
I got as far as subscribing to google maps, got a personal key so I could uses their stuff.
I have a personal website and domain name which not even my kids know about so I used a sub page to test it on there. Worked OK. (Cant use google maps on a locally hosted page, has to be online hosted)
I was able to upload points manually with a custom Icon but the whole thing grind-ed to a halt as the points are added into a text file that looks for all the world like XML.
So here is the problem that killed me. How do I let generic users, upload a point, that has to create an entry on a server in roughly XML format. Most servers will let you host SQL etc. So it all got a bit much. How do i send a point, tagged live on a web page by a logged in user, that saves as in SQL, but displays as XMLish format as required by google maps.
Got brain strain, games called, life got in the way etc etc.
So,
I would love to help, if you think I have anything to offer.
My Primary skill areas are in order of preferance...

C#,
C,
C++, (please no gui stuff )
VB (Yuk)
ASM, 8086 and 6809
HTML, (humble)
Have played in ...
Pascal,
Cobol,
Crap I dunno, I am old probably most of them.

I have briefly looked at Python but if you are a code cutter like me you know give it a week or two and you can soon pick up on another language. Their all much the same in the end.

I have written a couple of android aps, just for shits and giggles but am no guru.
I wrote a torch ap (wow )
And a little game that had animal images and sounds for a mates Autistic son.
So....
I have lots of ideas, this has been a pet/back burner project of mine for a long time now.
If you think I can help, let me know what you need.
Here is a happy Snap for as far as I got.
You like my little UFO markers in the left hand area.
I was particularly stoked with them. They are hosted from the website and visible to all
via the page.
Anyway,
Let me know if you think I can be of help.
Cheers
Me

 

[Filakius]

C#, C, C++, (please no gui stuff ), VB (Yuk), ASM, 8086 and 6809, HTML, (humble), Have played in ... Pascal, Cobol. Crap I dunno, I am old probably most of them.

I have briefly looked at Python but if you are a code cutter like me you know give it a week or two and you can soon pick up on another language. Their all much the same in the end.

I have written a couple of android aps, just for shits and giggles but am no guru.
I wrote a torch ap (wow )
And a little game that had animal images and sounds for a mates Autistic son.
So....
I have lots of ideas, this has been a pet/back burner project of mine for a long time now.
If you think I can help, let me know what you need.

Assuming HTML stands for "How To Meet Ladies".., teach me oh wise one.

But seriously. Wow man. Impressive list. I only just got into coding this year.
I remember glimpsing at VB and C+ back in the day.., and it was difficult as hell.
I bet you will be a Python wizard in no time. You will have a natural understanding of flow control, blocks of code, functions etc. and can probably slot right in. That was as steep learning curve for me, understanding how it all works and why. Do you think you will learn a new language?

Here is a happy Snap for as far as I got.
You like my little UFO markers in the left hand area.
I was particularly stoked with them. They are hosted from the website and visible to all
via the page.

Yea I did notice actually, very cool
Hope you don't mind, I put it up on the GitHub site last night.
UFOAPP (UFO TRACKER) · GitHub

The website cropped it though. I'll resize it today so the whole image fits.

Just noticed this morning playing around with Messenger..., I spammed 150 different inboxes, but Facebook ended up blocked me. They have a daily limit of 150 different people you can message at once.

 

[Filakius]

Here's a link to the facebook messenger 150 message restriction.
How many people can I message at once on Facebook? | Facebook Help Center | Facebook

Most people have more than 150 friends on FB, so I'm looking into an API that will post comments automatically, that way the user can reach all friends via "Status Update".
Otherwise the user can manually create a "LOCAL GROUP" in Facebook Messenger, by selecting friends they would want to immediately notify. Most likely people who live nearby.

The idea was that I would set zones that people could subscribe to. You would register any valid email address on the site. And subscribe to notifications to any area(s) of interest. If someone uploaded a sighting in that area, you would get an email notification telling you that a sighting has been seen in one of your areas of interest.

That's brilliant. I have been trying to find solutions to this problem.
Not many people want extra apps on their phones. I personally don't have the space and trust is an issue.
Even fewer would want a "UFO app". Its just weird.
Less would want a "UFO app" that GPS tracks you. That's just creepy.

My plan was to keep the notifications in the email title so people would not have to feel threatened by opening potentially bogus emails. Also I had concerns about privacy. If people were sitting in their backyard and used their phone gps to say hey I see aliens, they just tagged their home address. Very undesirable. So my plan was to use my custom web page and google maps to tag a sighting with no identifiable personal info, just a point.

This is a great idea! I would personally prefer to use this method.

Maybe there are only two different types of people that would use this app.
1) UFO Hunters
2) People interested in UFOs

A UFO hunting group may purchase a phone specifically for the organisation to use.
They might like exact GPS locating for their own group of people.., but the average citizen not so much.

I was thinking Tinder.., where GPS co-ords are not sent.., but gives a rough distance from each other.
But I think a LOT of people will be put off by GPS tracking and "UFO" together.., so I think this should be optional.

 

[SOUL-DRIFTER]

A non-profit, open source, community based grass-roots organisation that tracks UFOs live by receiving data from civilians in real time.

Uses tablet/mobile phone application similar to Google SKY, and this idea developed by an Australian University to track meteors.


Phone GPS shows the users current location when sending UFO report.
Piggyback off FREE Instant Messaging apps like Skype, Viber, Hangouts, KIK, Messenger, Twitter to spread messages to the public.

GPS location based alerts to others near by and along the expected trajectory.
Runs on all Apple and Android devices.
Members can contribute by responding to alerts and filming the sky in their area.
One UFO sighting can now be corroborated by others.

MUST be non-profit organisation. No owner. High staff rotation, transparent reviews and policing.
Profits (if any donations) can ONLY be spent on improving the business. (i.e. peer reviews, advice, etc)
Proceeds go into a trust fund, owned by the company and legally can never be removed for personal gain.
Changes are voted on by members and must benefit the organisations goal.
Source code will be open-source, uploaded to GitHub for peer review and editing.

*Technically this can be used for a variety of other real life applications such as Amber Alerts, natural disasters or even road works and traffic reports. Its a great idea in general.
Its basically a program that can spam messages over a variety of IM programs.

Nice idea.
If only one had a means to attach a tracking device to an unknown craft.

 

[Dundee]

OK.
When I went through this head space, here are some of the problems identified before I started.

• Different types of Devices...
  
• Android
• Apple Crap
• Windows Crap
• Screen resizing if using an App
  
• (this can be a diabolical nightmare even under one platform such as Android
• In that one phone has a wider screen than another, more pixels etc)
• Programming Platforms and plugins needed for each
• Distribution to Apple Store
• Distribution to Google Apps Store
• Distribution to Windows freeware places
  
• Superseded packages.
• People swapping devices every year, will they always reinstall.
• Maintaining security on the app,
• Patching
• The List goes on....

This is why I went for a web server based approach. Almost all of these issues go away or at least lessen dramatically if you are running a web based app,maintained on a central server. HTML etc changes I agree, but there is usually backward compatibility built into each new iteration of HTML, PHP, CSS etc
It is usually just new features added.

The other thing for me was, I never expected to get any help writing it, so I stuck with what I knew. And recognized what I didn't. I am not a big social media fan, nor am I a fan of anything apple. So I have never coded for an apple device.

For me approaching it on my own the web based approach was a no brainer, So long as you had a half decent web page design that was well coded. You covered all platforms, All devices, all OS's in one fell swoop.
No updates to distribute, security and backups etc all maintained by the provider.

Anyway, just my thoughts from the last time I had a stab at this one.

 

[Dundee]

The other thing I thought of is less tangible and far harder to quantify. But it is something I considered.
In the early days of sound cards, there was a few options, Creative, Gravis Ultrasound, I cant remember now, but there were others. Creative made available to all what was needed to code for it, build hardware for it, incorporate it on motherboards. Now what is pretty much the base chipset on most motherboards? Creative. Had you even heard of Gravis Ultrasound? they are long dead, or might as well be, because they tried to keep there code close.

Also, Compare Microsoft to Steam.
It has always been as easy as pie to run a dodgy copy of windows, but you end up having to buy it to be able to do anything decent on it. Updates, other software often checks ownership. Do you really think this is an accident?
Look how Steam has the games market wrapped up. You wanna play, you gotta pay. It is not that hard to achieve that kind of security. MicroSnot could do something similar in a heartbeat.
So you have to ask why?
In my opinion the answer is obvious.
Proliferation and market Domination.
Everyone has windows, because it is easy to get.
Have you ever tried to install or run a hacked copy of Mack software?
You can do it, but it is one hell of a task to achieve.
I don't bother.

So this begs the question.
What is the intention behind your app?

1. Are you hoping to get $1 or two from the apps store and become rich?
2. Or do you want to make a great app, that becomes the go to app for the UFO community?

In my opinion, if 1. then go down the apps store path and all that goes with it.
If 2. Then do a windows and make it so darn easy to get and use that you would be mad to use anything else.
For m it was 2. even though I didn't get too far with it all. Thats why I went for a server based approach as well.