Only an industry expert can fully understand the complicated science and engineering behind a Global Positioning System tracking product.

Yet consumers are being bombarded with a host of new GPS tracking products and applications. GPS tracking technology has exploded in a very short span of time. Several years ago, there were a handful of competitors in the market. Now there are perhaps hundreds of GPS tracking companies.

As they are becoming more affordable and user-friendly, high-tech GPS gadgets are winning favor with everyday consumers. It’s as important as ever for a potential buyer to make an informed decision. Cost and features are important, but so are the people standing behind the product.

Once the potential buyer has done some basic research, he or she will learn that GPS tracking products fall into two basic categories. The difference is the way the GPS tracking systems collect and display location data. Passive systems store the data in internal memory for download and review at a later time. Active systems, also known as “real-time” GPS tracking devices, give location readings almost immediately as they occur, and the user views the data from a remote computer. Read the rest of this entry »

Vehicle Tracking Device was Key to Conviction

CHENANGO COUNTY, N.Y. – A New York man was sentenced June 11 to 25 years to life in prison for the second-degree murder of his former babysitter, who he ran over with his truck.

George Ford Jr., a contractor from Piscataway, N.J. who has a seasonal residence in South Otselic, had insisted that he accidentally killed 12-year-old Shyanne Somers on July 8, 2007, while returning her home from a babysitting job. But evidence uncovered from a Global Positioning System vehicle tracking device inside the truck contradicted his telling of events.

Ford was convicted of the crime Feb. 19, 2009 by a Chenango County Court judge.

“This might be the first murder trial in the nation where charges hinged so heavily on GPS evidence,” said Steven Moehling, Vice President of Sales at LandAirSea Systems in Woodstock, IL. A LandAirSea GPS Tracking Key® vehicle tracking device was operating in Ford’s truck and documenting the vehicle’s location as the murder occurred. The vehicle tracking device was placed there by Ford’s wife, Cindy, because she suspected that her husband was having an affair. Moehling testified at the trial about the company’s GPS Tracking Key®, interpreting the data collected on the device the night of the murder, and speaking on the accuracy of its readings.

GPS tracking systems record the time, speed and geographic position of a receiver at regular intervals. Location is determined by the capture of radio signals from Department of the Defense satellites orbiting the earth. In passive systems such as the GPS Tracking Key®, the user later retrieves the vehicle tracking receiver and downloads the data stored on it for viewing on a personal computer. Read the rest of this entry »

MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. – A planned evening of thievery turned comical in New York, when three teenagers, in essence, called in their own crime. It’s the high-tech version of leaving your wallet at the scene of the crime. The criminals led police right to them.

At about 3 a.m. Dec. 29, three young men were trying to break into cars and strip them of parts at Sierra Auto Body Parts on Midland Avenue in Middletown, police reported. Two teenagers were in a car while the third waited nearby as the getaway driver.

One of the suspects unknowingly bumped his cell phone’s emergency button and it dialed 911, said Middletown Sgt. Jay Tobin. The 911 dispatcher was puzzled at first, but stuck on the phone long enough to overhear the criminal suspects’ plot and got it on record.

All cell phones have emergency GPS tracking capability, ordered by the government in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. So the dispatcher tracked the phone by its GPS signal to the scene of the crime and sent a patrolman that was in the area to the location.

At one point on the police tape, one of the suspects can be heard saying to the getaway driver, “You better come. We’re getting the tires … just shut the car off. They’re going to think we’re stealing it.”

After which the dispatcher relayed to the patrolman: “It sounds like they’re ripping a car off … it dialed in their pocket by accident. They’re taking the tires off a car.”

Police arrived while the crime was still in progress and, while they tried to run, Fabian Corley, Andre Pryce and Xavier Jenkins were arrested. Each of the three teens faces several misdemeanor charges.

The manager of the auto parts business, John Sierra Jr., spoke to a television crew and admitted that his yard, full of cars, might have been a lure to the young men. Because of the bad economy, many customers were unable to pay the costs of repair, so he had been keeping customer’s cars longer.

CARLSTADT, N.J. – An arrest in Carlstadt, a borough of New Jersey, stands as proof that Global Positioning System (GPS tracking) technology is increasingly becoming smaller and more sophisticated.

Police arrested two men for allegedly stealing bottles of Creed-brand designer perfume and cologne from a Carlstadt, N.J. shipping company they worked for. Tiny GPS tracking devices were attached to random bottles of luxury fragrances, after representatives of both Gale Network Company and retailer Neiman Marcus fretted over losses in their inventory. The fragrances had been disappearing over the course of a year.

On May 27, a GPS tracking report noted that one of the marked bottles had wavered from its regular shipping route. The real-time GPS tracking device on the bottle led authorities to the Jersey City home of Carlos Mayta, 30.

Police found a total of 17 bottles of Creed in Mayta’s possession. Mayta then fingered an alleged accomplice, Arturo Vasquez, 30, of Union City, who reportedly admitted to stealing 30 bottles of Creed. The estimated value of the perfume and cologne recovered is $11,000.

Each man was charged with theft of movable property. Mayta faces an additional charge of receiving stolen property.

Not only do the suspects face jail time, they are being investigated by U.S. Immigration Services. Authorities said the case is still open and other arrests might be pending.

The House of Creed is a sixth-generation, privately-held French company founded in 1760. Its products, for men and women, are favored by the Hollywood elite, and they pay handsomely for them. Some Creed fragrances retail for as much as $130 an ounce.

MAPLE RIDGE, B.C., Canada – Police investigating the report of a stolen vehicle found something else entirely when a GPS tracking device pointed them to a home in Maple Ridge, B.C.

In May, the owner of a white Dodge pickup phoned the Ridge Meadows Royal Canadian Mounted Police, to report that his vehicle had been stolen. The missing vehicle was equipped with a portable, real-time vehicle tracking device. The owner logged on to his computer to get GPS tracking information and he got the exact location of the GPS tracking receiver – even the address.

Police, prepared for a rather routine recovery and arrest, went to the residential address, but found no white Dodge pickup. They did witness a vehicle carrying two men pulling in the driveway. The passenger ran quickly into the house, with the driver not far behind.

When police gained access to the home, the smell of marijuana was detected. They found pot, and they uncovered what they believed to be a crystal methamphetamine lab. In addition, several vehicles and one boat on the property were seized and suspected stolen.

The original white Dodge pickup that police went to the suspect house to find, was located several hours later. It was parked on a busy city street several blocks away.

Investigators later linked the drug suspects to the Dodge pickup theft as well.

The truck’s GPS tracking system was not inaccurate. It appeared that the suspects discovered the vehicle tracking device and removed it so the truck would not be traced. Unfortunately for the suspects, someone brought the GPS tracking device into the house to store it, and forgot to turn it off.

Three men and a woman who lived in the house were arrested.

When a flat-screen television was stolen from a luxury log cabin in the Great Smokey Mountains, a Global Positioning System (GPS tracking) device attached to it, led police to its recovery.

Sheriff’s deputies in Sevier County, TN were called June 1 to the Sterling Springs Mountain Resort and Spa in Sevierville. Managers reported the burglary of a rental log cabin. One of several items stolen was a flat-screen TV. The television “told” police where it was taken.

The television had real-time GPS tracking unit installed. Using radio signals from satellites, the GPS tracking unit determined its location and sent out regular transmissions. Police traced it to a home in the neighboring town of Seymour, about 10 miles away.

Every day, stalkers, petty criminals and drug dealers are locked behind bars, nabbed with the help of one of the fastest-growing surveillance technologies in law enforcement: the GPS tracking device.

One such criminal, Bernardo Garcia, was recently convicted of manufacturing methamphetamine in northwest Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation mounted a passive vehicle tracking device on his car and tracked him to his manufacturing site. A spokesman for the police unit said that investigators use GPS tracking units on about 75 suspect vehicles a year. An appeals judge ruled that drug agents had good reason to suspect Garcia of drug dealing and were justified in using the GPS tracking unit to bust him.

GPS tracking systems use signals from satellites to determine exact location of a receiver. The device used to nab Garcia was a passive vehicle tracking device. It had to be removed from the vehicle and the GPS tracking data downloaded onto a personal computer. Passive GPS tracking devices are helpful to police because they provide a detailed history of a vehicle’s movements that is powerful evidence, proven effective over and over again, in courts of law.

In general, police can freely place vehicle tracking units on suspects’ cars when the vehicles are parked on public streets, in parking lots, or in view of the public on a private driveway. Courts are still referring to a 1983 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said people should have no expectation of privacy in public places.

GPS tracking is widely used by police, and quite affordable, considering It saves untold hours in manpower. One investigator described GPS tracking technology simply as “a way to work smarter.”

The benefits of GPS tracking technology is growing constantly.

Not content with merely tracking truck locations to see that deliveries are being made on time, Coca-Cola Enterprises has moved into a new area: analysis of GPS data for optimal efficiency.

The soft drink giant employs more than 10,000 driver/merchandisers, who are valued for their reports from the “front lines.” The delivery people are the first to know which products are moving, how fast they are moving and the benefits of product placement in a retail store.

That’s why Kevin Flowers, the director of enabling technologies for Coca-Cola, has furnished drivers with mobile GPS tracking devices. GPS tracking units have become so accurate, they can record location within just a few feet. Managers can now monitor each individual driver’s movements, independent of the company vehicle.

GPS tracking units can be equipped with about a hundred of hours of flash memory; and have their data read using almost-unlimited space on a personal computer. Fleet managers can do in-depth analysis of the wealth of GPS tracking data. Patterns of activity and habits can be identified – both those that work, and those that do not. Read the rest of this entry »

Benefits of Geo-Fencing in Real-Time GPS Tracking Devices

One of the interesting and helpful features that come with the purchase and activation of a real-time Global Positioning System (GPS tracking) device is geo-fencing.

A combination of the words “geographic” and “fence,” the name quite aptly describes this GPS tracking function. It is the high-tech version of “drawing a line in the sand.” Geo-fencing is a geographic limit placed on the travels of a person or an asset. In the GPS tracking version, a second party is alerted when that item or person crosses a virtual boundary.

It would have been hard to believe, even 10 years ago, that information about someone’s whereabouts can be delivered so quickly and with so much detail, it would put the town gossip to shame.

How Does Geo-Fencing Work?

For geo-fencing to work, the vehicle must be equipped with a vehicle tracking device, or the person to be monitored must carry a wireless phone with GPS tracking technology. Also, the user must have access to the Internet. The GPS receiver’s location is recorded at regular intervals, using radio signals from satellites. That information is transmitted through a wireless network and travel history can be viewed in real time on a remote personal computer. Read the rest of this entry »

Incident Proves Danger of Teen Driving Distractions

A Tampa Bay paper reported that a 17-year-old girl, skipping school and out on a joy ride with friends, got into trouble when she ran into a police officer – literally.

The teen driver apparently became distracted while texting and bore down on the back end of a patrol car.

Texting has officially become more popular than cell phone calls. In fact, it’s been stomping the competition for a couple of years now. Nielsen Mobile, a communications research firm associated with The Nielsen Company, said U.S. wireless subscribers average 357 texts a month, versus 204 phone calls.

Nielsen looked at the wireless bills of a volunteer sample of 50,000 subscribers and noted activities such as text messages, favorite games and ringtones.

The numbers get more interesting when Nielsen shows results by age group. Teens, ages 13 to 17, send or receive 1,742 texts per month; more than any other age category. (The next-closest age group, ages 18-24, was far behind. They averaged 790 texts a month.) Put that statistic behind 4,000 pounds of speeding steel, glass and gasoline, and you’ve got trouble waiting to happen.

That Florida teen driving disaster should feel lucky she got away with only $3,000 in damage, a ticket, and probably a good grounding from her parents.

Read the rest of this entry »