GPS Applications Go Well Beyond Navigating

Ask someone about GPS technology and the ensuing conversation usually involves one of three familiar product lines: the little gadget that gives you directions in your car; the court-ordered ankle bracelet used to keep track of a criminal; or the built-in feature in cell phones that might help locate you in an emergency.

All are legitimate uses, but to stop there and think that is a fair summary of GPS products is to sample only a small sliver of the pie.

GPS vehicle tracking is today one of the fastest growing applications in the entire industry.

Despite the dismal economy, smart vehicle tracking manufacturers and distributors are showing an uptick in sales and respectable revenues. Why? Marketing, creativity and invention. Vehicle tracking has moved beyond cars, trucks, planes and boats and strictly covert operations. Vehicle tracking manufacturers are taking every opportunity to think outside of the box. How can vehicle tracking work for you?

Vehicle Tracking: Top 10 Uses and Emerging Applications:

1. Military and defense contractors. These government agencies were among the first to use vehicle tracking technologies: in training and in conflict. The military values vehicle tracking for its precise location information in the most rugged and remote of environments, and for guiding soldiers and equipment in the field.
2. Personal asset protection: Small, portable versions of real-time vehicle tracking devices have been used for theft recovery on expensive household items such as antiques, perfume, flat-screen TVs and appliances such as air conditioning condensing units.
3. Business asset protection: From corporations to mom-and-pops, businesses are protecting large and expensive assets with vehicle tracking technology: machinery, shipments, parcels, medical equipment, computer hardware and artwork.
4. Law enforcement agencies. There is no nationwide consensus on whether police can legally plant a vehicle tracking device on a vehicle without a warrant. But there’s no question a police officer or investigator can legally hide one on your car.
5. Business efficiency:  In this recession, companies are taking advantage of vehicle tracking to work  leaner, eliminate waste and ultimately slash operating expenses. Business people use vehicle tracking to streamline service calls and deliveries, reduce employee error or misuse of work time and track routine vehicle maintenance.
6. Adventure and travel: Vehicle tracking technology can be used for both “live” (real-time) tracking and for recording a travel history (passive vehicle tracking). Vehicle tracking has been used successfully in hunting, genealogy (archiving of cemeteries), archeology, and many long-distance competitions (iditarods, sailing, marathons).
7. Private investigations: PIs were among the first professionals to recognize the value of vehicle tracking. Vehicle tracking devices replace hours and hours of sitting in wait. And they are light years more accurate than personal notes or recollection.
8. Monitoring family members: Vehicle tracking devices have been applied to monitor every generation in a family: small, vulnerable child; new teen driver; college student; evasive spouse; and forgetful parent.
9. Aerospace: Pilots of private planes have long used vehicle tracking technologies as a teaching tool, to chart courses and to validate and evaluate flights. Look to the commercial airline industry to start phasing in GPS or vehicle tracking technologies into air traffic control. Vehicle tracking can log longitude, latitude and altitude.
10. Electronic Container Tracking, better known to the masses as freight delivery tracking. About 7 million freight containers travel through U.S. ports every year. Companies use vehicle tracking-based technologies for supply chain optimization, loss prevention, government and regulatory compliance including tariffs and counter terrorism.

What is Vehicle Tracking?

Vehicle tracking is a highly reliable way to detect the location of an object, by employing the U.S. Department of Defense’s family of 24 satellites, orbiting the earth. In vehicle tracking, a GPS receiver is placed in or on a car and it receives satellite signals from at least three GPS satellites. Coordinates are mathematically calculated to determine location, usually accurate within feet.

In active devices, the data is transferred through a cellular network to an Internet-based server and the user can read the information in real time, from a remote computer.

With passive vehicle tracking devices, location is recorded at regular intervals (usually seconds) and held in memory until a time when the user can retrieve the device and download it onto personal computer.

In both cases, all the vehicle tracking data is assembled in a readable, usable format, against a map backdrop or in a text report.

What the Future Holds

As time goes on, look for an ever-widening array of vehicle tracking products on the market. With that will likely come the following advances in vehicle tracking systems:

·         Smaller: Think music files and how we obtained them and played them 10 years ago. Microprocessors, digital formats and lithium-ion batteries have already changed the way  we use vehicle tracking devices.

·         Stronger, longer: Owners of vehicle tracking systems make power a priority. Consumers fear battery failure.

·         Better signal acquisition: A vehicle tracking device losing satellite signal is akin to losing battery power.

·         Competitive pricing: Competition in the field of vehicle tracking is forcing manufacturers and distributors to give consumers more bang for their buck.

·         More durable: The market is demanding to use vehicle tracking devices in innovative ways.  For example, there has been some attempt to convert vehicle tracking technology for use in oil field operations. Vehicle tracking devices will be developed to survive even harsher environments like extreme temperatures, moisture, pressure, corrosion, and vibration.

One thing is for certain, vehicle tracking devices can’t get much better on accuracy. Imagine the distance between a satellite in space and a small object on the face of the Earth. Vehicle tracking is a mathematical wonder. Some manufacturers are claiming vehicle tracking and locating coordinates are accurate within a few feet. Assuming that’s true, vehicle tracking couldn’t get more spot-on.

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Tags: GPS Applications, GPS Technology, GPS Tracking, Top 10 Uses, Vehicle Tracking

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This entry was posted on Thursday, August 13th, 2009 at 10:53 am and is filed under All Articles, GPS Fleet Tracking, GPS Tracking, GPS Vehicle Tracking, Law Enforcement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.