Options for Getting Data Into Tracking Server
Support for Wide Range of Input Data
Tracking Server supports data streaming in from a wide variety of real-time sources. Tracking Server can bring in data from moving vehicles that are periodically reporting a changing position, but it can also bring in data from stationary sensors that are continuously reporting new measurements. For example, Tracking Server could be used to track a fleet of ships in a bay. At the same time, it could be used to monitor the movements of people on one of those ships. And at the same time, it could also be used to monitor the water level in the bay that is being reported by sensors on buoys.
In general, the actual source of the data streaming into Tracking Server doesn't matter much at all. For example, you could have real-time data flowing into Tracking Server from another computer system that is generating the data! What matters more than the source of the data is the format of the data, and Tracking Server supports a huge range of formats through the use of generic and custom inputs.
Generic Inputs
The Generic Input data link helps you ingest incoming XML or CSV data from external sources into Tracking Server. The Generic Input data link provides an interface capable of establishing multiple connections using TCP/IP and UDP transport protocols to submit data messages to Tracking Server. Connections using TCP/IP can be run in a server configuration or a client configuration. The server configuration allows multiple data feed clients to connect and submit data messages to Tracking Server. In the client configuration, the data link can be used to connect to a single existing data feed server to receive data messages.
Custom Inputs
If your data is not in a format supported by the Generic Input Data Link, the Tracking Server SDK provides tools that make it easy to get data from any external source into Tracking Server. Custom input data links are the most common way to get data into Tracking Server.
To help developers create custom input data links, the Tracking Server SDK provides templates for creating custom C# and C++ data links. For more information on using the templates, refer to the "Tracking Server SDK" documentation.