The approach you take to data logging will vary based on your needs. Some of the key things to think about are:
- Phone signal
- GPS signal
- Battery
- Capture frequency
- Accuracy requirements
- Analysis
If you just want results with none of the technical components then there are great tools for specific purposes such as mapmyride or mapmywalk.
Google has been working on Google Latitude which lets you broadcast your location to a select group.Facebook have followed suit and integrated it into their messenger app.
My needs are somewhat more knuts and bolts. I just want a .csv file to download and work with. Enter my favorite solution, GPS logger for Android
It polls your devices inbuilt GPS module, and no that does not need an active mobile phone signal to work.
It then saves the data to a .csv file. You can pull that off the device via a cable and begin any kind of mapping project. The advantage to this system is
- it conserves the battery
- it has customization options for the capture rate
- It doesn’t automatically upload to some third party service
The other solution I have used in the past is a service called Moves, and I did this after reading an article on quantified self. However, this has since stopped working.
Keeping track of your location is fun while on an adventure. Here are a few examples.
At the ESRI UC in SanDiego
Exploring LA.
A quick bike trip around San Francisco
Here I was checking out the ESRI campus in Redlands, California.
Anything Mapping 