GPS Tracking: A Useful New Tool

GPS Tracking: A Useful New Tool

by Fabian Toulouse

In a world that is ever more interconnected by telecommunications, with highways and airlines that allow rapid transit, and in a culture greatly influenced by commerce with its explosion of affordable goods, sometimes the trick is not creating something or moving it from place to place, but only knowing where things are.

GPS tracking is a great technology that individuals, businesses and other organizations can use in their quest to locate almost anything. Whether it is something as easy as figuring out where you are on a hike in unfamiliar wilderness to locating a shipment of merchandise to keeping track of how fast a teenager is driving from home to school, GPS tracking offers a strong tool to locate people or vehicles.

Developed by the United State military, GPS, or Global Positioning System, is amazing. Over thirty satellites circle the earth from a distance of almost 13,000 miles. A receiver at ground level reads the satellites’ microwave signals and allows the user to know his or her location, speed, direction and precise time.

In addition to its uses for individuals, GPS tracking offers organizations a reliable, unobtrusive way to make sure company vehicles are being properly used. A GPS tracking system can verify if an employee is misusing the company car, or is exceeding the standard speed limit, thus raising the fuel costs. Using the system lessens overtime and, in a worst-case scenario, helps locate a stolen vehicle.

For organizations in which employee travel or merchandise delivery is crucial, GPS tracking allows managers and owners to make sure that the time spent on the road is time wasted or time well used. Even though the satellites that make GPS possible are thousands of miles overhead, the benefits of a GPS tracking system are practical. This system gives users a better way of managing resources and tracking productivity.

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New web site up and running

Well it's all happened quicker than we thought, our new and improved more user friendly web site is up and running. We will be adding very soon to our site, our new "LifeLine" monitoring and GPS phone software, it is looking to be far superior to anything we have seen in the market place.

Two charged in GPS thefts

By ANNIE ZELM | Sunday July 06 2008, 7:35am

SANDUSKY/PERKINS TWP.

Officers seemed to have no trouble tracking down a Columbus pair who admitted to stealing numerous GPS units from tourists' vehicles.

Two Columbus residents were arrested early Saturday morning shortly after one allegedly punched through vehicle windows to steal at least 9 GPS units from the parking lots of hotels in Sandusky and Perkins Township, police said.

Richard J. Greene, 26, was charged with two counts theft and two counts criminal damaging, and Misty M. Calloway, 23, was charged with receiving stolen property and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Greene allegedly broke through the driver's side window of a 2002 Honda Odyssey van and the right front passenger window of a 2005 Dodge Caravan, both of which were parked at the Motel 6.

The owners of the vehicles reported seeing blood on the dashboards. The Perkins Police Department brought Greene and Calloway into custody and located four GPS units, two of which he allegedly seized form the parking lot of Maui Sands Resort. He had lacerations on his forearm. Greene was transported to the Erie County Jail.

He later admitted to stealing various models of GPS units from vehicles along U.S. 250, including the Fairfield Inn, Kalahari Resort, Hampton Inn and Comfort Inn. His initial court appearance is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Monday at the Erie County Municipal Court.

Greene was also charged with one count of drug abuse, one count of receiving stolen property, nine counts of criminal damaging, one count of possession of criminal tools, one count of resisting arrest and one count of theft, according to Perkins Township police reports. He was also cited for driving under suspension.

Officers from the Perkins Police Department seized criminal tools and drugs from the pair, including a pair of needle nose pliers, a screw driver, two flashlights and a marijuana cigarette, as well as a plastic bag containing marijuana.

How your GPS can dob you in

TRAVELLING without a GPS has become unthinkable for many drivers, including the criminal fraternity, it would seem. Police are now finding the devices a valuable aid to implicating their owners in crimes, because forensics experts can extract information about a suspect's whereabouts from them.

Scotland Yard analysis of the devices has helped solve dozens of investigations into kidnappings, grooming of children, murder and terrorism. Information about a suspect's whereabouts at particular times, their journeys and addresses of associates can all be discovered - if they have been using a GPS. The devices retain hundreds of records of locations and routes in their memory.

With more than 30 million of them in use in Britain - some in mobile phones - police expect the data to become an increasingly important forensic tool. But the use alarms privacy campaigners, who fear the data could also be used to trap people who commit minor crimes such as speeding.

Mark Stokes, the head of the digital systems department at Scotland Yard, said such devices were often seized at arrests. "The GPS can be used with other evidence to place a person at a crime scene at a particular time," he said.

An Automobile Association spokesman said: "We don't see anything too sinister with police using these techniques to solve serious crimes."

Telegraph, London

Man used GPS device to stalk victim, court told

Courier Mail

June 28, 2008 03:20am

A GOLD Coast businessman who allegedly attached a high-tech tracking device to a female acquaintance's car has appeared in Southport Magistrate's Court charged with stalking.

Police alleged Neil Stewart Hanmer, 67, took the opportunity to hide the sophisticated GPS device in April after offering to have the woman's car serviced.

The developer monitored the woman's movements closely via the internet, even using internet cafes to track her while he was overseas on holidays, police alleged.

The woman became suspicious when he began frequently contacting her via text messages saying he knew where she was and eventually went to the Southport police station to lodge a complaint.

It was alleged Hanmer even called her while she was speaking to police, saying he knew she was at the police station and demanding to know why.

Specialist police officers later searched the woman's car and allegedly discovered the tracking device in the vehicle. It was believed Hanmer knew the woman through mutual business interests.

He was granted bail on the condition he did not have contact with his alleged victim. The matter was adjourned until August 22.

GPS system used to slow speeding cars

Tuesday June 24, 03:00 PM

By AAP

Car systems that tell drivers of speed limits and reduce vehicle speed if they fail to slow down are to be trialled in three states.

The NSW Centre for Road Safety will install 100 cars with GPS devices that will notify drivers of the speed limit and warn them when they are going to fast.

If they fail to slow down, other technology will kick in to limit the supply of fuel to the engine, forcing a reduction in the vehicle's speed.

If successful, the trial in the Illawarra region could lead to a wider rollout of the system, with the technology adopted during car manufacture, says NSW Roads Minister Eric Roozendaal.

The 18-month, $1 million NSW trial will begin next month.

The technology will also be trialled in Victoria and Western Australia.

"Speeding is a factor in around 40 per cent of all fatal crashes in NSW, with 139 people losing their lives on our roads last year because of speed," Mr Roozendaal said.

"This kind of technology has the potential to help cut the road toll and save lives."

About 2,500km of roads in the Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama areas have been mapped for the trial. They contain 4,000 speed signs and 950 speed zones.

Three local organisations have volunteered to take part in the trial, which will analyse driver behaviour to see if the Australian-developed technology has any impact on driving habits.

Mr Roozendaal admitted some drivers might not like the idea of losing some control of their vehicle to "Big Brother", even if it did prevent them speeding.

"I can imagine there might be a lot of drivers that might see benefits in avoiding being caught speeding on our roads," he said.

"(But) if it does slow drivers down, if it does make drivers safer, it does change the way they behave ... we'll see if it can be rolled out further."

The new technology could also be used to curb "recalcitrant" speeders, Mr Roozendaal said.

Asked if the speed intervention system posed any safety risk, Mr Roozendaal said an override function would give drivers some control in emergency situations.

"There are full safety considerations and in the event of an emergency, or in the need to accelerate, they can override the system," he said.

"I'm assured by the road safety experts that this is all very safe."

Mr Roozendaal said it could be years before the system was rolled out across NSW, due to the current cost of the technology and the logistics of mapping huge areas.

"I imagine it would be a couple of years before we could see any realistic broader commercial response," he said.

"The other thing that needs to be done is map electronically all the speed zones (across the state). That's quite a labour-intensive project."

He estimated the cost of installing the devices at between $700 and $800 per car.

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Coming in August

CPS will be launching a new web site in August 2008. The web site is being designed to be more interactive and will allow customers to generate customised reports of their GPS data.

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