Create a Google Map Heatmap with Cellular and GPS Data

A heatmap overlaid on satellite imagery is one of the more tantalizing means of displaying map-based data. Considering my newfound love for the Raspberry Pi Pico, and having seen how easy it can be to add cellular connectivity to the Pico, why not combine these loves in a new project?

In this tutorial, we are going to build a cellular- and GPS-enabled IoT solution that collects cell signal strength and location data at defined intervals, stored in the cloud, with a web app to display said data in a heatmap.

Specifically we will be developing with:

1. Raspberry Pi Pico (any compatible MCU works fine too).
2. Notecard and Notecarrier from Blues Wireless (for cellular connectivity and GPS).
3. 1602 LCD module (for displaying in-action status updates).
4. Google Cloud Platform (for cloud functions, storage, and maps)

If you'd like a quick 1.5 minute overview of the project, check out this video:

The final result on the web will look something like this:

Ready? Get started over at hackster.io!