Vehicle Tracking for Dog Mushers
GPS tracking systems are commonly used to monitor the movements of trucks, cars, cargo, planes, boats, even snowmobiles and motorcycles. But for the first time in history, modified vehicle tracking devices will be in widespread use in a competition sled dog race in Alaska.
The 64th Rendezvous World Championship Sled Dog Race will kick off Feb. 26 in Anchorage, in south central Alaska. Sled dog teams registering for the 25-mile sprint will be outfitted with GPS tracking devices. Fans will be able to follow the race’s progress on their home computers via the Internet.
The race is the cornerstone of the three-day Fur Rondy Festival. The winter carnival was started in the 1930s as a pastime for Anchorage’s snowbound and isolated residents. It coincided with the time trappers came to town with their season’s bounty. Lacking the rich mineral deposits or abundant fishing harbors of other Alaskan towns, hunting and trapping became the backbone of Anchorage’s economy.
GPS tracking is sure to bring a new level of excitement to the sled dog race. While the event annually thrills residents of Anchorage, estimated 280,000 population, it rarely reaches a wider audience, except via the TV news or a sports wrap-up.
Now, with GPS tracking, the competition between these sub-zero athletes can be closely monitored by anyone – anywhere in the world.
Races that are spread out over some distance are difficult, at best, for fans to follow in detail, without GPS tracking. Other than at the start and finish lines, the sled dog teams disappear over the horizon and follow the official course into the woods.
Things happen in the back trails that spectators don’t ordinarily see, said Fur Rendezvous president Ernie Hall. GPS tracking will now allow fans to follow along with all the exciting developments of the race, including spills, passing and other encounters.
Each musher will be issued a standard real-time GPS tracking receiver at check-in, to be attached to the dog sled. The GPS tracking units are engineered much like familiar vehicle tracking devices. They are compact, battery operated components that read radio transmissions from GPS tracking satellites in space and use a mathematical method call triangulation to determine the exact location of the device. The GPS tracking data is then streamed over a wireless network to a server.
Hundreds of teams can be tracked by GPS tracking technology at the same time and their positions, speed and direction displayed in “real time” on an animated map. The GPS tracking system is set up to transmit a position update every half second, on every participating dog team.
Adapting vehicle tracking technologies for long distance races is still rather unusual, but it is becoming more common. GPS tracking has been incorporated into the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the longest and most famous sled dog race in the world, also held in Alaska. And for the first time this year, GPS tracking monitored every competitor in the Bayview Mackinac Island Boat Race in Michigan.
Tags: cars, dog mushers, GPS Tracking, planes boats, sled dog race, tracking systems, trucks, Vehicle Tracking
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