Send GPS coordinates from your Thuraya to Twitter

by Jon Thompson on May 2, 2008

First off, I apologize for the long delay.  I still need to review Cradlepoint’s PHS300 Personal Hotspot and a few other items and will try to do so in the next few days.  In the mean time I think I have come up with a way for aid workers using Thurayas (and I assume Iridiums) to send their GPS coordinates to their Twitter accounts.

The Thuraya FAQ section has step-by-step instructions for sending your GPS coordinates via SMS:

Send GPS Coordinates Through SMS…

  • Go To “Menu”
  • Select “GPS Manager”
  • Select “Current Position”
  • Upon reading the GPS Coordinates, press “Options”
  • Select “Send As SMS”
  • Type the Mobile Number you would like to send the SMS to.
    Press “Send”

What most of us may not know is that 40404 is only one of the short codes available to Twitter users and that there is also a long code available for all international calls: +44 7624 801423 Here is the info from Twitter Phone FAQ:

What are the Twitter phone numbers?
We currently have three short codes and one long code for those who twitter internationally.

  • In the US, use 40404.
  • In Canada, use 21212.
  • In India, use 5566511.
  • Anywhere else, use +44 7624 801423

If you can get your location out there using Twitter you can also also use services like Fire Eagle, Dopplr, etc.  Thuraya’s SG-2520 runs Java you should also be able to run a host of location based apps like Google Maps for Mobile.  There are so many services and applications out there it would be great to hear more about what is and what could be.

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Sat2Twitter - Tweet from far away | Aid Worker Daily
March 11, 2009 at 8:53 am

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