How to control location-based services (GPS) on the BlackBerry smartphone
 

We're still a few months out for 4.1.5 ... but with 4.3 just coming out we're part way there with this one.
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How to control location-based services on the BlackBerry smartphone
Doc ID : KB14430
Last Modified : 2007-11-07
Document Type : How To

Environment

* BlackBerry® Enterprise Server software version 4.1 Service Pack 5
* BlackBerry® Device Software 4.3 or later



Procedure

Third-party applications and preloaded BlackBerry smartphone applications on BlackBerry smartphones that support the GPS feature can use the GPS feature by default. For example, BlackBerry® Maps is a preloaded application that uses the GPS feature on the BlackBerry smartphone to allow BlackBerry smartphone users to locate the global positions of their BlackBerry smartphones. The BlackBerry Enterprise Server includes options to allow the BlackBerry Enterprise Server administrator to control the GPS feature and the location-based services on supported BlackBerry smartphones that use the feature.

Note: The BlackBerry® Infrastructure does not store the locations of BlackBerry smartphones. When the BlackBerry smartphone sends the identity of the wireless service provider with which it is registered to the BlackBerry Infrastructure, the BlackBerry Infrastructure retrieves the ephemeris data for each GPS satellite signal on the wireless network and sends it to the BlackBerry smartphone. The GPS receiver on the BlackBerry smartphone then knows the location of each GPS satellite in the wireless coverage area. The BlackBerry smartphone uses this data to calculate its own location, but the BlackBerry smartphone does not report its location to the BlackBerry Infrastructure.
Resolution

Disable the GPS feature on the BlackBerry smartphone

The following measures prevent third-party applications and preloaded BlackBerry applications from accessing the global position of the BlackBerry smartphone:

* The BlackBerry Enterprise Server administrator can set the BlackBerry smartphone GPS application control policy rule to Not Permitted in the default application control policy to prevent all third-party applications from using the GPS feature.
* Using BlackBerry Enterprise Server software version 4.1 Service Pack 5, the BlackBerry Enterprise Server administrator will be able to set the Disable GPS IT policy rule to True to prevent BlackBerry smartphones that are running BlackBerry Device Software 4.3 or later from permitting third-party applications and preloaded BlackBerry applications from accessing the GPS feature.

Control use of the GPS feature by specific third-party applications on the BlackBerry smartphone

The BlackBerry Enterprise Server administrator can set the BlackBerry smartphone GPS application control policy rule to Not Permitted in a specific application control policy to prevent specific third-party applications from using the GPS feature.

Prevent the BlackBerry smartphone from reporting its location to the BlackBerry Enterprise Server

By default, the Enable Enterprise Location Tracking IT policy rule is set to False to prevent the BlackBerry smartphone from using the GPS feature to report its location to the BlackBerry Enterprise Server at regular intervals. The BlackBerry Enterprise Server administrator can turn on Enterprise Location Tracking, specify a message that the BlackBerry smartphone displays to notify the BlackBerry smartphone user when Enterprise Location Tracking is enabled, and configure the interval after which a BlackBerry smartphone reports its location to the BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

Disable the BlackBerry Maps application on the BlackBerry smartphone

The BlackBerry Enterprise Server administrator can use the Disable BlackBerry Maps IT policy rule to specify whether the BlackBerry Maps application is disabled on the BlackBerry smartphone.

I've always been curious as to what good the Enterprise Location Tracking is for. So it sends your GPS cords back to the server, is there some app out for us admin's that we can view where the BB's are at based on the location tracking?

I don't know what as of yet ... I need to play more with GPSs to see, but I figure the log data from the coordinates could easily be manipulated with MS LogParser to make pretty much any mapping software work well with it.

Anyone else have insight on this?

Here is where the GPS coordinates are stored in the SQL db when tracking is enabled:

Table: SyncLBS
Columns:
Id
UserConfigId
RecordType
RecordTimestamp
ServerTime
Latitude
Longitude
Altitude
DeviceStatus
Data

I haven't gotten around to testing this yet to confirm this is working under device OS 4.2.2 or higher as stated in the IT policy.

I've enabled it on mine, but have not received the notification that it's enabled on the device, nor are there any records in the table mentioned.

When I try to open up that table to view the contents I seem to be getting a permissions error. Is anyone else getting this. I am the dbo.owner so not sure why I would be getting a permissions error on it

I have changed such IT Policies:
1.Location Based Services > Disable BB Maps > True
2.Location Based Services > Enable Location Tracking > True
3.Location Based Services > Enterprise Location Tracking User Promprt Msg > ...
4.Location Based Services > Ennt. Location Tracking Interval > 15
5.Security Policy Group > Disable GPS > True
And in Software Config Policies:
1.Device GPS > Not Permitted

Everything like in THIS article.
And I still have not latitude and longitude in my SyncLBS table on BES.
Is there anything else to be done?
Tested devices are new 8310 with GPS.

What HH OS do you have on the 8310?

Platform 2.5.0.34
BB Version 4.2.2.176

Ok ... so that's not 4.3 or later as required ...

Aaaa, you are right.
My mistake ;)

(y) ... you're eager ... like the rest of us ... well ... some of us.

I'm confused, per my BES it (4.1.3.18) The location based tracking requires 4.2.1 or later which isn't what the link to RIM states is 4.3 or later ???

.
 

8310 with 4.5 OS

Location Based tracking enabled and now we can see where all devices are in Google Earth in "realtime" (well 15 minutes until we figure out how to get a higher resolution)

So can you tell us how you did this?

Did you create your own mashup with Google Earth because I thought that this was the only way to perform tracking when using Google. You enable tracking on the devices and then you create your own mashup using Google Maps and code in your devices. Please let us know if you have taken a different approach to this tracking

I have SP5 on my BES, 8310 with 4.5.0.42 and nothing appears in dbo.SyncLBS. There are only 4 records but no latitude and longitude :(
IP Policy for LBS:
BBMaps Disabled - true
Enable Ent. Location Tracking - true
Ent Location tracking user prompt message - filled
Ent location tracking interval - 15

What else ...?

I have latitude and longitude numbers but they dont seem to update at all. Do you know if your BB got a message letting the user know that LBT was turned on?

Yes there was information on BB.

There is also way to turn it manually
Options > Advanced Options > GPS > GPS Services: Location ON/OFF

I have tried this and have got it to work ok on a 4.1.5 BES server and a 8310 running 4.2.2. Same settings as posted above. It has seemed to update ok. Only shows the latest results though. It is not easy to tell which user it is for though as it only shows as as a userconfigid number which doesnt seem to relate to anything else. Tried the coordinates that it gave and they were correct.

The UserConfigID is a link to the ID field in the UserConfig table, which in turn wil give you user names.

I use QueryExpress to run very quick queries over my BESMgmt, so much faster than the Manager to keep a quick eye on whose BB hasn't connected recently.

This is the sql query itself:
Output is a list of Latitude, Longitude, UserConfig IDs, Names and their PIN, least I am assuming that will give you the detail you require as I haven't done the actual upgrades yet I dont actually have any data returned.

LBS so fun....
 

I have finnaly got the LBS to work. Seemed as if BB maps gps functionality did not work when tracking was enabled, with some reboots of the phone and finagaling, it works. I found another post on how to create a log file, and it is logging, and GPS functionality works for BB maps.... This is where you dont change anything..

I would like to know what the RECORDTIMESTAMP is. Its seems to count down per location logged, where as the Server timestamp counts up. I have figured out the crude meathod to calculate the date and time ( Seconds passed since Jan 1, 1970, 12:00am. but i am wondering is this the time the server got the record? is the record time stamp the GPS time? Anyone know how to figure out what the actual time is of this time stamp? I have searched endlessly and to no avail. It seems that the number changes by 1000 for about every second on the server time stamp. Assuming 1000ms per second, but thru trial and error, this came up with nothing.

The number is a negative in the log, and gets closer to 0 as time goes on.... what is this final date? I'm not going to wait around, its a LONG number. Any ideas on this?

I would also like to be able to pull that data into excel, or into google earth, but with excell, I can connect to the sql server, but the BESmgmt database is not in the list of available databases, so I can't query that database. I use the Mysql Server that came with BES server.

Any help would be appreciated, as there is almost no documentation on this.

Thanks in advance...

Hi,

I am new to this but I find it very intersting that we can track on Google Map. What is the easyest way to achieve this? I use SQL 2005 for database, BES 4.1. sp 4 and OS 4.5

Many thanks,

Bruno

You can start here:

http://www.blackberryforums.com/bes-...-policies.html

I still can't get it to work flawlessly (ie change the Policy, have it start sending back info and not stop).