Using Bubbler With Spotwalla to Track Receipts

Dave28117

Dave28117

Premier Member
#1
#1
I attended the Jax rally and was thrilled to hear about the process of embedding pics of DBRs into your Spot route tracking using the Bubbler app on Andriod. Below are the steps and I believe I've followed them properly, but have not been successful in adding a photo into my route. Can someone give me some tips on what I might have incorrect in my setup?

  1. Obtain DBR,
  2. open bubbler app on your phone
  3. align next to MC Odometer display.
  4. Select New Message.
  5. Touch the camera icon to activate the camera
  6. Ensure the Date/Time/City/State & MC odometer are clearly visible
  7. Take the picture: Accept/Retake as necessary
  8. Select message type, press icon
  9. Verify the “Last GPS/Upload” date/time------or not
  10. Check the spotwalla map every once in a while just to be sure that all is well
 
Stephen!

Stephen!

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#2
#2
To keep from consuming all of your data, Bubbler reduces the resolution of the picture before it attaches it to your message. What you see in the preview is not necessarily what you will see on SpotWalla. Some practice is in order, to include verifying the text on the receipt in the image is still legible, before relying on this method for documentation.

That said, your process looks correct.

The only thing I would add is Step 2a. Make sure you device has a good GPS signal. If Bubbler is unable to ascertain the the location the picture was taken, it will not upload it, nor (I believe) will it tell you that it did not upload it unless you happen to be watching for the temporary pop-up at just the right moment.

Do you have a link you can share to a SpotWalla trip during which you tried this process and do not see your pictures attached to your points?
 
Stephen!

Stephen!

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#4
#4
kerrizor said:
Oof.. that's no bueno :(
Click to expand...
Well..... It has to know where to place the picture on the map... This is where being able to upload later to a specific spot has been so handy. Now made even easier because you can upload directly to the Spotwalla site rather than having to find a 3rd party host and connect a link.
 
kerrizor

kerrizor

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#5
#5
Yeah, it _should_ just be able to store it in memory and burst it out when it gets reliable signal.. or use the EXIF info from the photo.. and how unreliable does the signal need to degrade to? Even with only a couple weak satelites you can make a reasonable approximation based on other pings with stronger strength.

(Sorry... GPS + camera used to be my field..)
 
Stephen!

Stephen!

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#6
#6
kerrizor said:
Yeah, it _should_ just be able to store it in memory and burst it out when it gets reliable signal..
Click to expand...
It WILL store and wait for a cell (or WiFi) signal to send the message and image (assuming it knew where it was when the image was captured), but if it does not have a GPS location to attach to the image, it cannot just make one up... :D

kerrizor said:
or use the EXIF info from the photo.. and how unreliable does the signal need to degrade to? Even with only a couple weak satelites you can make a reasonable approximation based on other pings with stronger strength.

(Sorry... GPS + camera used to be my field..)
Click to expand...
To include location in the EXIF data requires having the location known to the device creating the image. You go on a cave tour and your GPS simply ain't gonna work. As for how degraded? I guess that depends on the value you have set for the "...maximum time, in seconds, to wait for a GPS fix." and how quickly your device is able to ascertain its location with that degraded signal. Mine is set to 45 seconds and rarely misses a fix. What Joel considers to be "reliable" I do not know.
 
Stephen!

Stephen!

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#7
#7
P.S. In order to not destroy your battery, unlike your "smart" device or a dedicated GPS, Bubbler does not keep track of your location between fixes at a 1Hz rate. Every fix is "fresh" and depending on your update frequency, you could be quite some distance from where you were when the last fix was created. For reference, this is a screenshot from a recent trip where I was running Bubbler on my phone. I am pleased with its performance at 37,000 feet and 400 knots.
 

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kerrizor

kerrizor

Premier Member
IBR Finisher
#8
#8
Well, yeah, but a smart heuristic would be "well, I HAD a good GPS fix 2 minutes ago, I was moving in this direction at this speed, where could I possibly be now?"
 
Dave28117

Dave28117

Premier Member
#9
#9
Stephen! said:
To keep from consuming all of your data, Bubbler reduces the resolution of the picture before it attaches it to your message. What you see in the preview is not necessarily what you will see on SpotWalla. Some practice is in order, to include verifying the text on the receipt in the image is still legible, before relying on this method for documentation.

That said, your process looks correct.

The only thing I would add is Step 2a. Make sure you device has a good GPS signal. If Bubbler is unable to ascertain the the location the picture was taken, it will not upload it, nor (I believe) will it tell you that it did not upload it unless you happen to be watching for the temporary pop-up at just the right moment.

Do you have a link you can share to a SpotWalla trip during which you tried this process and do not see your pictures attached to your points?
Click to expand...
I had my JAX trip set up on spot coming back. I took a couple pics at stops with bubbler and sent them. neither showed up. I'm wondering if I have some settings wrong on one end or the other.
 
Stephen!

Stephen!

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#10
#10
Dave28117 said:
I had my JAX trip set up on spot coming back. I took a couple pics at stops with bubbler and sent them. neither showed up. I'm wondering if I have some settings wrong on one end or the other.
Click to expand...
Gotta link? I have been told by a few folks that they were unable to see pics on my trips. Turns out it was the browser they were using. Maybe they are actually posting but your browser is not displaying them.
 
Stephen!

Stephen!

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#12
#12
I do not see ANY Bubbler points on there. Only SPOT. Go into your settings for this trip and make sure you have your Bubbler device selected as a source (you can use more than one source for better track fidelity).

 
Last edited:
Stephen!

Stephen!

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#13
#13
Stephen! said:
I do not see ANY Bubbler points on there. Only SPOT. Go into your settings for this trip and make sure you have your Bubbler device selected as a source (you can use more than one source for better track fidelity).
Click to expand...
For the purposes of troubleshooting, temporarily having your Bubbler device as the only source will make things easier.
 
Dave28117

Dave28117

Premier Member
#15
#15
thanks guys! I have added Bubbler as a Device. I noticed in the setup of the trip that I can enable multiple devices. I'll give this another go and see how it works out.

I did update my jax trip, but still no data there from bubbler. I assume it doesn't magically find what was posted before. :)
 
Stephen!

Stephen!

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#16
#16
If Bubbler was running and sending data, and if you have the Bubbler device selected on the trip you linked above, any data created during the timespan encompassed within the trip will show. SpotWalla is a repository for the data being created. Trips are a way to display that data based on time blocks. I can create a Trip based on data generated 11 years ago as long as the device I select was creating data during that time. So yes, it should find the data, if Bubbler was running.
 
BeerTapper

BeerTapper

Premier Member
#19
#19
I'm having trouble setting up my Bubbler email. I've tried my Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook account and I always get "ERROR ENCOUNTERED Message failed to send"

I'm using the SMTP & Ports they say to use. Anybody have some tips?

Gary
 
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