GPS Tracking

Welcome to the 21st Century Mufasa!

There’s a wonderful scene from the Disney animated film, “The Lion King” (1994), where young Simba, who’s next in line to be King, sneaks off with his best friend, Nala, to an elephant graveyard. There they encounter a pack of vicious hyenas, who seek to eliminate them by order of the devious and sinister antagonist, appropriately named Scar.

Mufasa, Simba’s father and the reigning King, hearing that his son is in grave danger, immediately goes out to find and rescue his young son. He arrives just in time to neutralize the threat, and in doing so, saves both Simba and Nala from immanent death. It’s an intensely dramatic and suspenseful scene in the film, where we see both the fierceness of the lion’s power as well as a father’s love.

Now, what does any of this have to do with GPS tracking technology? Great question!

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To Boldly Go Where No Beer has Gone Before

Recently, two fans of Natural Light sent their favorite beer into space. Drinkers Danny B and Rich T approached the company who makes Natural Light and pitched their idea to send one of their beer cans into space. Apparently, the idea was enthusiastically received, calling the product, “The first beer in space” and pledged to support the project on the Natural Light Facebook Page.

After careful consideration and rigorous planning the makeshift device – named Aluminum Fullcan – embarked on its maiden voyage on November 18. The spacecraft – made from a styrofoam cooler carrying a full can of beer, a GPS tracking device, some hand warmers to keep the device from freezing in space, and a video camera pointing at an empty can on the outside of the craft (since a full can of beer would have exploded in space) – was launched using a weather balloon at 11:11am.

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In Beijing, China, the Chinese Red Cross is handing out GPS tracking units to young children as a preventive measure against kidnappings.

The official news agency of the Chinese government, Xinhua, has announced that 20,000 GPS tracking devices will be distributed throughout the city to elementary and middle school students; however, by the end of 2011, the goal of the Red Cross is to give out a total of 100,000 of these units. With the help of these GPS tracking units, parents and guardians can better monitor the location of their children throughout the day. The unit is even able to notify parents if their child is too close to certain dangerous locations, such as construction sites or major/busy streets. The GPS tracking devices are designed to be worn as a large wristwatch, sized especially for children. In addition, the GPS tracking watches also function as a limited cell phone, able to dial out to four different numbers and receive calls from twenty numbers. An emergency button is another feature of the GPS tracking device, which sets off an alarm if the child triggers it.

Chinese parents can rest assured that these new toys will not interfere with their children’s studies – the GPS tracking devices do not have the capability to allow game playing or communication through message. In addition, they have been programmed to go into sleep mode during normal school hours.

The Red Cross states that the GPS tracking devices are being provided in order to help prevent violence and kidnappings against Chinese children. In China, the number of children being kidnapped is steadily increasing. The Chinese Red Cross asserts that over 200,000 school children are listed as missing in the country every year, but recent figures show that last year, the number increased dramatically to an all time high of 600,000 missing children. Some speculate that the astonishingly high number of kidnappings may in part be due to the nation’s one child policy, which was established in 1979 after a massive population boom following the death of controversial Communist leader Mao Zedong. Since sons are highly prized over daughters, the need to have an heir to the family name may have contributed to a large number of these kidnappings. Many young Chinese boys are kidnapped and later sold to wealthy families that do not have an heir.

The Chinese Red Cross has distributed these GPS tracking units without charge; however, parents will be responsible for payments of service charges. Estimated at 400 yuan per year, or about $60 U.S.D., this policy has garnered criticism as unaffordable for most Chinese families.

Cautious parents are often wary of allowing their children to learn to ski or snowboard, fearing for their safety and anxious that they could get lost on the slopes.  Fortunately, ski resorts are beginning to implement a GPS tracking system that will give nervous parents some peace of mind.

A small real-time GPS tracking device, no larger than a deck of cards, is strapped to the leg of every student enrolled in the ski school, as well as the instructors.  If a student wanders beyond a certain predetermined radius from his/her instructor, an automatic alert is issued to school supervisors, who can immediately notify the instructor.  The GPS tracking units enable school supervisors to monitor each student’s track, location, speed, and altitude, ensuring a swift reunion between instructor and student.  The distance allowed varies by the level of the class.

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Size of GPS Devices is a Factor

Monitoring Freight Movement Allows Quick Recovery

One of the best uses of GPS Tracking devices is in the tracing of stolen freight by bands of thieves.  Around the world, news stories are mounting about the theft of freight from semi trailers, trains, and maritime shipments.

Recently, a shipment of pharmaceuticals was recovered because of a small, pill-bottle sized GPS Tracking device.  This shipment was intercepted and the suspect was apprehended without incident near St. Louis, Missouri.

This underscores the need for further use of GPS Tracking devices in this application.  Here is where the fight will be won or lost in this arena. (more…)

Cell Phones Might Not Help You

Better to Have Two Sources of Help

The news about vehicle ownership is that people are keeping their vehicles longer than they ever have because of financial issues.  This means more miles on vehicles that would have otherwise been traded or sold.  More vehicles with over 100,000 miles are using streets and roads in our communities. (more…)

News stories about young children who have gone missing have a way of making parents uneasy. The world is not as safe a place as we once believed it to be.

To avoid this harrowing situation, perhaps we need to put up a stronger line of defense. What kind of Global Positions System (GPS tracking) device is portable, reliable and will help find your loved one if he/she is lost or kidnapped? Many are being advertised through electronics retailers and on the Internet, especially designed as a child tracking system. All have their limitations and they must be judged on their own merits.

From First Mobility, Children Love to Explore, Discover

The fact cannot be denied that once a child begins to crawl, his or her urge to explore becomes more intense. This curiosity makes them more vulnerable towards unexpected dangers: a sexual predator might take them, they could be targeted for ransom purposes, or they might simply get lost on their own. It is said that every 40 seconds, a child is abducted in the United States.

Needless to say, these alarming facts concern parents and make them afraid to let their children out of their sight. With every passing day, it becomes more difficult to keep track of a child’s activities. Yet it is the parents’ responsibility to ensure the safety of their children. (more…)

A young woman’s joy ride with a stolen car was cut short by police, who found her with the help of a vehicle tracking device.

Sherice Johnson, a 21-year-old Chicago resident, was charged on Sept. 22 with vehicular hijacking by Oak Park police. Law officials were able to track down the stolen vehicle by the GPS tracking locater attached to the car. The victim was a woman, who said she was carjacked in the business district of Oak Park, a western suburb of Chicago. Police did not identify the victim by name.

The car owner told police that her car, a 2004 Audi, was parked outside a business on the 800 block of South Boulevard Sept. 21. Two women approached her about 5 p.m. and grabbed her at the shoulders as she approached the car. The two criminals grabbed the car keys and the woman’s cell phone, jumped in the car and drove away, according to police.

The woman saw no weapon and she was not injured in the incident, Oak Park Police Commander Len Jorgensen said.

The Audi was equipped with a real-time vehicle tracking system. A real-time GPS tracking device catches satellite radio signals at regular increments, usually every few seconds or minutes. The vehicle tracking receiver’s location is determined by a mathematical calculation called triangulation. Those position updates are transmitted over a wireless network. The vehicle tracking system user can see the vehicle moving along a map on a remote computer.

In this case, police monitored the stolen vehicle on a computer map. GPS tracking led them right to the Audi and the carjacker.

Johnson was later identified by the victim in a lineup.

Source: Pioneer Press

News stories involving child abduction have a powerful way of making people reflect on their own lives and families. We all want to protect our children from harm, but we can’t watch them every minute.

The kidnapping of Jaycee Lee Dugard in California may have generated one of the most fearful reactions in recent memory. It is unnerving, first because she was held captive for 18 years, living in tents and sheds in her kidnapper’s backyard; and second, because she has two daughters, allegedly fathered by him.

Each new report of child abduction is usually followed by an interest in personal GPS tracking devices and other defensive measures. Parents and caregivers want to do everything they can to keep their children from being snatched; or, if they do disappear, to find them quickly, unharmed. Parents might be giving stronger consideration to GPS tracking devices or some other kind of emergency locator for their children.

GPS tracking is a technology already being used for child tracking. There are several small, portable, battery-operated GPS devices made for vehicle tracking that can easily be carried by a person. With continued demand, there is promise that the future will bring us even more compact and covert GPS tracking devices. (more…)