GPS Tracking

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…)

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The faux red Ferrari that was Ferris Bueller’s “choice” machine in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” is going to attract a new owner.

The borrowed sports car that was part of Bueller’s ditch day in the 1986 John Hughes teen comedy is set to go to the highest bidder on April 19. Bonhams Auction at the RAF Museum in London announced the pending sale. Organizers think it might sell for between $40,000 and $60,000.

A real 1961 Ferrari 250GT California Spyder recently sold at auction for $11 million. But this model, despite its celebrity, will go for much less because it is a replica. It’s a kit car dressed up to look like a GT. In a recent interview, Matthew Broderick, the now-grown star of “Ferris Bueller” said the movie producers probably didn’t trust kids with the rare, terribly expensive vehicle, so they came up with a more affordable alternative. Broderick, in fact, recalled that the car didn’t run very well and kept stalling during filming.

Sounds like Broderick is not an interested party.

No owner in his right mind would let a real Spyder out of his sight without some serious anti-theft equipment. Would you rely on recovering your stolen vehicle with the GPS tracking technology provided on a cell phone that might or might not remain with the car? A standalone, real-time GPS tracking device, discreetly installed direct on the vehicle, should be on the “must have” list for a “must have” car.

In the movie, Bueller justifies the theft of his friend’s father’s car with the comment, “It’s his fault he didn’t lock the garage.” Anyone who owns a really rare car would not settle for that as an excuse.

Real-time vehicle tracking devices like the Victoria GPS, a product from industry leader LandAirSea Systems, can be purchased today for about $300 and installed in only a few minutes. The Victoria GPS tracking unit is motion activated and does constant tracking, giving location updates every 10 seconds.  Other GPS tracking units provide a location update only when the user sends a request to the device.

Until recently, people who had expensive cars had few choices in theft prevention, besides locked doors, noisy, obnoxious alarms and security personnel. Now a live GPS tracker can alert the car’s owner with a geo-fencing feature, the minute that asset leaves a designated geographic boundary, and it can continue to report the vehicle’s route moment-to-moment until the asset is recovered or the thief is apprehended.

Bueller wouldn’t have had a chance pulling off his daylong joyride.

Source: Yahoo Movies

GPS Feature on Stolen Smartphone Leads Cops to Thief

A Florida man’s smartphone lived up to its name when it was stolen, by attracting authorities to it like a beacon.

The GPS tracking and navigation application the owner opted to buy led police to the handheld phone and the thief, much like a scavenger hunt.

(more…)

A motorist tracks a speeding bus. New players in the car track market are offering prices as low as Sh15,000 to cover a car for a whole year. JACOB OWITI

Competition is intensifying globally in the vehicle tracking market, with increasingly tech-savvy consumers enjoying falling prices and preferring around-the-clock real-time tracking systems to those that are prompted or “pinged” in the event of a vehicle heist.

Business Daily Africa, an online version of the newspaper Business Daily, published out of Kenya, Nairobi, reports vehicle tracking system manufacturers are reviewing their price structures because the world market is being inundated with products from North America, China and Europe.

The main solutions in the tracking system game in Africa are Stolen Vehicle Recovery Systems (known as SVRS) and those that are based on the Global Positioning System and Global System for Mobil Communications (GPS/GSM). (more…)

SANTA CRUZ, CA – A vehicle tracking device in a stolen Mercedes was instrumental in uncovering a holiday burglary ring in affluent central California.

A young couple, Timothy Staley, 27 and Katrina Adamich, 21, were arrested in tourist hotspot Santa Cruz, CA, after police tracked the stolen vehicle to the parking lot of a beachside motel, with the aid of its GPS tracking system.

A Santa Clara County family reported to police that their home was burglarized and their vehicle was missing on Thanksgiving, after they arrived home following a holiday celebration with family. In addition to the brand new Mercedes, a digital camera, computers, jewelry and clothing were taken by unknown persons.

Luckily the sedan came from a car dealership that provides live GPS tracking as standard equipment. A live or real-time GPS tracking system calculates its exact position on earth with the signals from orbiting satellites. Those regular position readings are then transmitted over a wireless network to the Internet. The user can access data about the vehicle’s GPS tracking location at any time, from any Web-enabled computer or smartphone.

Vehicle tracking devices are known for their incredible accuracy. GPS tracking coordinates are usually within a few feet of the object’s actual location.

Within hours of the reported burglary, police used GPS tracking to find the swiped Mercedes. It was parked in the lot of the Paradise Motel at 300 Second St. The motel surveillance camera fingered Staley as the thief. He gave no resistance as police approached him. Staley allowed the authorities into his rented room, where they found his accomplice Adamich and numerous pieces of expensive electronics, jewelry and clothing.

Santa Cruz police said they believe the couple was responsible for a series of break-ins in the area.

Methamphetamine was also found in the rented room. The couple, who were transients, now have a permanent address in local jail. The GPS tracking system in the stolen car gets credit for the bust.

Police say the holidays are a time when burglaries, muggings and shoplifting are at their peak. Shoppers and retailers, wrapped up in the busy season, are easy targets, because their guards are down.

GPS tracking systems can be used for all sorts of asset protection, not just vehicle tracking. Tiny GPS tracking units can be attached to major electronics, appliances, furniture, Christmas decorations and even clothing. If the items are stolen, GPS tracking will lead to their recovery, just as it did the Mercedes; a common vehicle in California perhaps, but unique because of its vehicle tracking system.

-          Source: Contra Costa Times