With the loss of www.aprs.net, I contacted Steve Dimse, K4HG, regarding taking over support of javAPRS. Steve passed along the source and I have undertaken some cleaning up of bugs and add a some features. javAPRS remains freeware.
NOTICE: Due to limited bandwidth, do NOT use www.aprs-is.net www.jfindu.net or www.ae5pl.net as either the codebase or the APRS-IS feed for your web pages. Upload the necessary .jar, .cab, and map files to YOUR web site and use YOUR web site for the codebase. Select a server (or a rotate.domain.name server name) from the list at http://www.aprs-is.net/APRSServers.htm for your data feed.
The tabs to the left point to:
- License - License for use on personal web pages.
- Installation - Documentation on how to install and use javAPRS.
- Parameters - Applet parameter definitions.
- Public Functions - Functions callable from JavaScript.
- Compression - Compressed Format Preprocessor code.
- Mic-E Parser - Mic-E parser code.
- javAPRS Findu - Live data version of Findu
- javAPRS SIG - Mail list for people interested in javAPRS.
- APRSTextbox - Applet that displays the data stream in text format.
The most current version is 2.7b27b. To upload all of the files (including maps), upload javAPRSDirs.zip and unzip it on your server. As of release 2.1, the applet is now signed by Analysis & Management Enterprises Corp. (www.ametx.com). It is released only as a signed archive in Sun/Netscape form (japrs.jar), in Microsoft IE form (japrs.cab), and in Apple Macintosh compatible form (japrsmac.jar).
Why issue it as a signed applet? This allows javAPRS to access remote APRS-IS server! It also eliminates the need for image routing reflectors! In short, it allows javAPRS to play outside of the Java applet "sandbox" which restricts network access. See the Installation tab for more information.
There is also japrspng.cab and japrspng.jar. These versions contain support for PNG formatted images. I have created separate files for the javAPRS with PNG support because of the extensive size increase in the files. If your web pages don't use javAPRS to display PNG images, these files are not needed. Later versions of Java include PNG support making this special support unnecessary if your users will only be using recent versions of Java.
I have now added japrsshp.cab and japrsshp.jar. These versions contain support for ShapeFiles (ESRI). I have created separate files for the javAPRS with ShapeFile support because of the extensive size increase in the files. If your web pages don't use javAPRS to display ShapeFile maps, these files are not needed.
japrsmac.jar, japrspngmac.jar, and japrsshpmac.jar have added Macintosh support. See the Installation tab for more information.
I have very limited bandwidth to my web/server site and cannot support many online connections. Please upload the javAPRS files to your web server and use another APRS server for the feed from APRS-IS. My APRS-IS feed port is read-only and shows posits, objects, items, and weather reports only. A list of available APRS Internet servers is at APRS Servers.
javAPRS can reside on an FTP server (see example to left). However, only the current Microsoft VM (5.00.3805) and Sun's 1.4 VM fully support this configuration due to Sun's previous assumption that firewalls and NAT don't exist (Sun didn't support passive FTP).
It is not my intent to make javAPRS a robust application similar to the other high quality APRS GUI applications that are available. I am making javAPRS a complete (and accurate) web based application for people to use on their web sites. It has the unique ability to display real-time data via a web browser which is invaluable for demonstration purposes and for use by persons who don't have APRS software on the computer they are accessing the Internet with.
If you have any questions or comments regarding javAPRS, please email me at pete@ae5pl.net
Click to join the javAPRS users group.