GPS Tracking
GPS Tracker
GPS Tracking Technology: Reshaping The World
“National Borders are not even speed bumps on the information super highway.”—T. May
GPS tracker technology has allowed businesses to oversee fleet management and employee driving activity, law enforcement agencies accuratley and covertly conduct detailed surveillance, families monitor the driving behaviors of a teen or senior and much, much more. Here is where you will find the latest information on how GPS trackers are being used by different people across the globe every single day!
Car Monitoring Devices in Covert Places
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Tracking Vehicles With GPS Covertly
Most applications affiliated with GPS vehicle tracking have a tendency to be covert in nature. Parents wanting to spy on their driving teens, people in a relationship thinking their other half is cheating and companies suspecting employees are abusing work vehicles are all possible candidates for using GPS tracking devices. However, all of those mentioned possible users would likely not want their target aware that they were being monitored via Global Positioning System technology. Understanding that the market demands a solution that allows users to easily and covertly attach tracking hardware, manufacturers developed an external magnetic mount on some GPS devices to allow for outside placement.
Outside Placement Of GPS System
Most people introduced to vehicle tracking believe that the GPS system is supposed to be placed on or near the front windshield in order for the GPS to acquire information from orbiting satellites. The reason for this logic is due to the familiarity of navigation systems where the most popular placement option tends to be the front windshield. Manufacturers of navigation devices understand that drivers need to see routing and directional information and therefore almost always select the front windshield area for GPS placement. With this knowledge they make the business decision not to spend a significant time in development on the GPS antenna, but this is not the case with manufacturers of GPS tracking systems.
Covert placement is essential for most users of GPS vehicle trackers and that is why tracking companies have made two significant design changes to meet the needs of users: an exterior magnetic mount and more sensitive antenna. The inclusion of a magnetic mount was made for the simple that it gives the user an easy way to connect the GPS tracker to the outside of a target automobile. This provides very easy and covert placement for vehicle surveillance. The second ingenious design of a more sensitive antenna was developed to give the user more flexibility in terms of placement. Through the combination of both design features users were given the option to place a car tracker underneath the target automobile!
GPS Under A Car
It's hard to fathom a GPS system working under a vehicle but with an exterior magnetic mount locking the tracker upon the vehicle and strong antenna able to acquire the smallest of GPS signals the application is simple. This is because GPS signals that have no ability to penetrate trough metal are instead captured when they are reflected off the ground!
GPS technology continues to evolve and become more stealth and that is a positive thing for those interested in surveillance for personal safety and automotive security.
Saskatchewan Farmland Moose Project Uses GPS
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Moose Project Aims To Use GPS To Increase Safety
GPS tracking systems are routinely called upon by research scientists to monitor endangered species or observe animal behavior, but now those animal tracking applications could have a direct impact on public safety if the Saskatchewan Farmland Moose Project has success. In an effort to reduce the fatalities associated with motor vehicle accidents involving roaming moose, the Saskatchewan Farmland Moose Project was created to look for patterns in animal movement, behavior or anything that could lead to increased safety. The program, which is being conducted by the University of Saskatchewan, will begin this month when roughly 50 moose will be captured then outfitted with real-time GPS collars
How The Moose Tracker Systems Will Work
Once a moose is captured and equipped with a real-time GPS tracker collar scientists will then be able to track the movements of the animal. This information may be helpful in determining why moose travel near busy highways and roads. The collar tracker systems will function for two years before naturally falling off with no harm to the moose.
The primary region being targeted is a stretch of frequently traveled section on Highway 11 between the cities of Saskatoon and Regina. This is the area where moose are routinely documented crossing busy roadways, resulting in a spike in automobile crashes. Even though the transportation authority has put up multiple "Moose Crossing" signs along with other agencies increasing the number of moose hunting licenses in that particular area.
One of the challenges wildlife and ecology experts are faced with is a recent trend showing that moose habits and patterns have changed. Numerous farmers familiar with the way moose interact with the land have attested to this in interviews with local farmers. The farmers expressed that in the recent years they have witnessed moose in the region "feeding on peas, alfalfa and canola" with regularity. This change in feeding habits could be what is causing the moose to roam in more populated areas.
The goal of the Saskatchewan Farmland Moose Project is to learn more about the animals so better strategies can be created and applied to reduce the unnecessary deaths of both motorists and moose.
What Are VMT Fees
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Oregon Moving Ahead With New Vehicle Tax
For decades the government has stressed the importance of the United States reducing foreign oil dependency while at the same calling upon the automotive industry to develop cars that could receive more miles per gallon (MPG) The creation of more fuel-efficient vehicles may have been a slow process, but today their are more hybrid automobiles and cars that can get 20+ MPGs on the road today than ever before. All of the new hybrid and gas-friendly automotive machines have been helpful on the environment and the wallet of motorists. However, the eco-friendly vehicles also result in less revenue from gas taxes causing states such as Oregon to push ahead in legislation to tax drivers according to the amount of roadway use through what is being called Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) fee.
States such as Oregon are keenly aware that fuel-efficient automobiles are impacting revenue designed for road maintenance and feel a VMT fee would even out the playing field so to speak. In theory, the VMT fees would replace the road taxes motorists pay at the gas station, and instead monitor the mileage driven by each motorist to determine the appropriate fee per driver. However, monitoring the mileage driven per motorist is where it gets quite tricky because of the concern of privacy advocates have over one of the methods discussed in that mileage summation: GPS tracking devices.
Oregon has listened to their constituents over concern that the government could use data obtained through the use of GPS vehicle tracking devices for spying and believes it may have found a solution. What is being suggested is giving Oregon motorists the choice between five different mileage reporting options to acquire VMT fees. Obviously, the state must have some accurate method of calculating mileage driven by motorists and most importantly have those motorists tell the state what those miles driven are. By giving Oregon motorists multiple options ranging from a device that reads the odometer of a automobile to GPS trackers that monitor the exact movements of vehicles, the state feels as though it can find a fair balance for everyone. Including those concerned with their privacy.
The more advanced methods of tracking that use GPS would save motorists more money in VMT taxes than those using a less transparent form of mileage accounting, but those who opt for a less evasive form of monitoring would have more privacy. In fact, one option discussed that involves no GPS tracker device at all makes a monthly assumption on miles driven and taxes according to that pre-calculated flat fee. The more advanced monitoring systems using GPS would be trackers that connect to the On Board Diagnostic (OBD) port of the vehicle.
During beta testing of the new VMT system, participants were able to select the monitoring option that suited their personal privacy comfort level and paid roughly 1.56 cents for mile driven.
Lawmakers in Oregon intend on moving forward with VMT fees by bringing legislation to the table later in 2013. Advocates for VMT fees proclaim that the current transportation system is out-dated and needs to be revised using the tools provided through technological advancement. They point to a rising population and dwindling revenue as evidence that the transportation system motorists need and demand can only be achieved through a program that taxes drivers more appropriately.
Source: Oregon News
GPS In Schools
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Real-Time GPS Could Monitor All Students In The Future
Earlier this week President Obama moved forward with a highly controversial executive order that would significantly change the second amendment. The measure has been widely criticized because of how the President side-stepped congress in order to push his own personal agenda, but regardless of which side of the fence you are on in terms of gun control their is no denying that the tragedy that unfolded in Newtown, Connecticut was the catalyst for this move. School safety is always a passionate topic, especially after a school-shooting occurs and gets wide spread media attention. Everyone can agree that students should always feel safe while in a learning environment and that is why in the not to distance future students may be required to wear real-time tracking devices so their location can be accessed at anytime.
GPS Real-Time Devices
Real-time GPS tracking devices provide instant locates on where a automobile, individual or asset is day or night, making them a possible solution for school safety applications. This is because tracker devices come equipped with sophisticated alerting features that can detect if a student leaves/arrives on campus grounds while always keeping school officials in the know on where each student is located. In fact, many schools have already been beta testing the use of tracking devices on students with a history of truancy problems and the GPS devices have been shown to increase class attendance and therefore increase grades!
How GPS Trackers Could Help Schools
Imagine for a moment that every student at a school was wearing a real-time GPS system. The GPS was fashioned as a bracelet with a locking device so the student would not be able to remove the tracker until they got home. Now imagine if a terrible event happened at the school, whether it be a fire, earthquake or school shooting. With GPS tracking data gathered from the real-time bracelets, school officials, police or other authorities could quickly determine where all students were at and if they were safe. They would be able to speak to each student via the two-way voice communication feature and let the kids know where to go to receive assistance. The school officials or authorities would be able to accurately determine where all students were located and what students need special attention or medical treatment.
GPS tracking devices have substantially dropped in cost over the past few years while the reliability and accuracy has only increased. Therefore, it will not be that long before school districts would be able to have the capital necessary to invest in personal monitoring devices for all students. Even better is that the units could be reused by new students every year because the GPS trackers are so durable. Although we have no way for certain to determine what the future holds everyone can agree that school safety should always be discussed. Students should never have to worry while attending class, and GPS tracking could be one of the tools to assist in enhancing student safety.
GPS For Monitoring Luggage & More
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2013 CES Reveals New GPS Trackers
Technology and gadget enthusiasts flock to Las Vegas every January for the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to discover what the next great and cutting edge devices will be. With the rising number of personal GPS tracking applications, many GPS companies at CES showcased their latest innovative GPS trackers for families and companies. One of the more popular devices that caught the attention of the public was a tracker named "Im Here", and many people believe it could be a game-changer in locational technology for personal safety.
Engineered and developed by an Italian company that made its name creating a Android smart watch, "Im Here" can be used in a enormous amount of different scenarios because of its pint-size. Since the tracker device was created so small it can be used by parents wanting to monitor their grade school children, travelers looking to safeguard luggage, companies desiring to better manage and about a million other things! The personal monitoring hardware will have a retail price point of $169.00 and with that purchase users will receive 200 free locates. Each real-time locate after will cost the user $0.05.
During the press conference at the CES show the company explained the "Im Here tracker calls upon the same technology that allows cell phones to transmit information. This is why the "I'm Here" tracker is equipped with a SIM card, and why it requires users to pay for real-time locates. Basically how a user would use the device is simple. They place the "I'm Here" tracker in a suitcase, vehicle or other object and if that item ever goes missing the person can ping the device. Once the tracker receives its ping the real-time location of it will populate on a map program that can be accessed in the form of a mobile app on the user's cell phone or computer.
Another feature that the "I'm Here" tracking device provides is an emergency panic button. This is a feature that is ideal for safety among parents wanting to give their kids a stealthy tool to send out an alert if their is a problem.
Consumers can anticipate to see "I'm Here" on retail markets such as online spy shops and speciality stores toward the end of the second quarter in 2013. The GPS tracking system will also be available for international users at the same price point for hardware and real-time locates.