[aprssig] SPOT engine on APRS.FI

[Bob Bruninga]

I wonder if we should implement a SPOT engine that looks for messages to SPOT and then turns them into objects at the senders location.

For example.  For the upcoming Appalachian Trail survey (http://aprs.org/at.html), our southbound survey hikers will pass the northbound through hikers.  They could send a SPOT message from their APRS HT's which would put that hiker on the map.

The process for the SPOT engine would be simple.

If the message is sent to "SPOT" then the first word of the message becomes an OBJECT NAME placed on the map at the present location of the sending station. The second word (two bytes in brackets [/>] would be the symbol and all additional words would be the object comment.

In this way, this can be a universal means of easily inputting objects from APRS radios.

Did I overlook anything?  I guess it should be a stand-alone engine that then generates an OBJECT onto the APRS-IS so that all systems see them?

Bob, WB4APR