Traccar#

Traccar is a free and open source GPS tracking system for which there exists an OwnTracks protocol decoder (called owntracks) which is, by default, configured on TCP port 5144 on the Traccar server:

<entry key='owntracks.port'>5144</entry>

Thus you need to configure OwnTracks clients in HTTP mode to connect to your Traccar server at this port, using a URL such as

http://traccar.example.net:5144

To make Traccar accept a connection from an owntracks client, you set a matching identifier. This identifier is per default the tid of your device. If you have configured a topic for your device, owntracks will identify using the topic instead of the tid (currently iOS only).

An example of a configuration using a topic of owntracks/jane/phone to identify against the Traccar server.

Notes#

• Neither encryption nor friends are supported in Traccar.
• If you see a 400 error in the Traccar log, this can mean the identifier you configured for the Traccar device doesn't match the one sent by the OwnTracks app; try the other one, tid or topic.

HTTP Payloads#

HTTP POST payloads shall contain at least the elements lat, lon, _type:location, tst, and either or both of tid and topic. If topic is contained in the payload, that will be used as Traccar's identifier (in which case tid will be added to attributes), else tid.

  {"lon":2.29513,"lat":48.85833,"_type":"location","tst":1497476456, "tid":"JJ"}

  {"lon":2.29513,"lat":48.85833,"_type":"location","topic":"owntracks/jane/phone", "tid": "JJ"}

The following JSON elements, if they're contained in the HTTP payload, will be added to Traccar's position attributes: vel, alt, cog, acc, t, batt, so with an HTTP payload that an OwnTracks app produces like

{
  "cog": 271,
  "batt": 41,
  "lon": 2.29513,
  "acc": 5,
  "vel": 61,
  "vac": 21,
  "lat": 48.85833,
  "t": "u",
  "tst": 1497508651,
  "alt": 167,
  "_type": "location",
  "topic": "owntracks/jane/iphone",
  "p": 71,
  "tid": "JJ"
}

a query on the Traccar API could produce something like this:

[
  {
    "id": 475,
    "attributes": {
      "t": "u",
      "battery": 41,
      "tid": "JJ",
      "ip": "127.0.0.1",
      "distance": 0,
      "totalDistance": 0
    },
    "deviceId": 4,
    "type": null,
    "protocol": "owntracks",
    "serverTime": "2017-06-15T06:37:32.000+0000",
    "deviceTime": "2017-06-15T06:37:31.000+0000",
    "fixTime": "2017-06-15T06:37:31.000+0000",
    "outdated": false,
    "valid": true,
    "latitude": 48.85833,
    "longitude": 2.29513,
    "altitude": 167,
    "speed": 1.18575,
    "course": 271,
    "address": "9 Avenue Anatole France, Paris, Île-de-France, FR",
    "accuracy": 5,
    "network": null
  }
]