GPS Tracking

Global Positioning Systems or GPS are satellite navigational systems made-up of 24 satellites revolving round the earth. Each satellite has a corresponding receiver on the earth. The satellites orbit the earth at a height of about 12,000 miles. It makes two complete orbits everyday. The GPS satellites continuously transmit digital radio signals that contain data on the location of the satellites and the time taken for signal transmission.

GPS tracking is the term given to the process of being able to locate the exact location of a receiver on earth. Now that the production cost of GPS technology is significantly lower than when it first came into existence, many companies have found new ways to make use of this technology. In GPS tracking, the user is able to keep a track of where they have been using a portable GPS device. GPS tracking can be used in a better way when it is combined with other broadcast technologies, such as a wristwatch or radio. GPS watches, for example, can be fitted with a GPS receiver, which relays a signal to a central command center equipped with GPS software systems. The central command center can track the position of the watch and transmit that information to a third party. That third party may be anyone who needs the position of the wearer urgently. In fact, a variety of such GPS phones and wristbands are sold in the market today. This serves two purposes. Firstly, it provides the driver with an integrated GPS system, without the necessity to purchase a car navigation system, or a PDA-based GPS system. It also offers the possibility to relay that information via a radio or cell phone transmitter.

GPS systems have been used primarily as vehicle locators, especially in cases when a vehicle attached with such a system is stolen. The police, once informed, can find out from the control center where the vehicle is, and proceed to track it down. Tracking is also being used in other fields such as pet tracking, coordinated tracking and consumer tracking.

GPS provides detailed information on GPS, GPS Tracking, Handheld GPS, GPS Systems and more. GPS is affiliated with Free Cell Phone Number Search.

Cell Phone GPS Tracking - Privacy Issues

Although there are many advantages to cell phone GPS tracking, there are also privacy concerns. As most people carry their cell phone with them at all times, the ability is in place to track the exact movements of all individuals. Is this a case of Big Brother, and who can access to this information?

Cell Phone GPS tracking can prove useful in many walks of life and especially when an emergency arises. Picture the scene of a road accident where injuries have occurred. A 911 call made from a GPS cell phone would significantly speed up the arrival of the emergency services if the GPS signal from the cell phone can be pin-pointed to an exact location. This feature alone could save many lives.

For these reasons the FCC has instructed that wireless network providers provide the cell phone GPS tracking location information for 911 calls which have been made from cell phones. This is known as E911. In essence this is no different than a 911 call made from a land line, as the land line is registered to an address and the relevant emergency services can be quickly dispatched to that address.

However, where the difference occurs is that a property does not move but the tracking of a GPS cell phone is registering the day to day movements of an individual, and that has given rise to the privacy concerns of who can access such private information.

However, the relevant law relating to E911 is fairly explicit. It allows carriers to provide tracking location information to third parties for e911 emergency calls only, however not under any other circumstances whatsoever without the consent of the cell phone owner.

The privacy of cell phone GPS tracking has also been backed up by a number of recent court hearings. Recent court hearings have disallowed the requests of law enforcement agencies to obtain cell phone GPS tracking information from the cell phone companies for suspects. The courts have ruled that Congress have not authorized location tracking without actual evidence of wrongdoing and that probable cause is not sufficient reason for the release of records.

These events will ensure that the advantages of cell phone GPS tracking will not be compromised by privacy issues and that its long term future and usefulness is secured.

For more information on cell phone GPS tracking and other GPS products visit www.satnav-gps.info today.

GPS Tracking System: The Key to Saving Money on your Business

It is natural for a business to have its ups and down. Since everything is beyond your control no matter how you strive of putting all things into its right place, sometimes it still fails. Sometimes you just assume that everything is fine though it's not.

Forget about all your worries because with GPS tracking, all will turn into proper places, everything will easily be tracked. The GPS tracking system has helped reduce cost in both personal and professional life of a person and the benefits have been huge.

GPS tracking isn't for every business, but if your company employees drive company vehicles, it is best suited for you. With active GPS tracking technology, you can monitor a driver's speed and location in real time. That's how convenient it is. A unit in a car or truck records the vehicle's speed and location, sending the information back to your office instantaneously. Or consider the cheaper passive GPS tracking technology, which records a driver's speed and location on an onboard unit, which can be accessed later when the driver returns to the office.

The GPS tracking system is designed so that you can track your trucks, containers, trailers, and other vehicles easily. By the use of fleet management you will know when your assets stop, sit idling and the road they are on. With the latest GPS Tracking systems, you can monitor the activities of all your vehicles.

A GPS Tracking System works this way:

You may have heard of GPS technology as a navigational tool. 24 satellites constantly emit signals to be received by handheld computers, such as the GPS Magellan units. A microchip then processes the signals to determine the user's location. Many then display this information on a map, so you can see exactly where you are and how to get to your destination.

GPS vehicle tracking works in a similar fashion, with a couple extra steps. As in GPS navigation, a GPS tracking unit, stored in a vehicle, uses satellite signals to calculate the vehicle's location. It then calculates the vehicle's speed and stores or transmits this information to be accessed by a third party.

As of now, there are already some technical support teams that function, focusing on user-centered design and usability applications. To improve its range and provide for different markets, many GPS services have many add-ons to enhance the performance.

Since the foundation of any company is to stick on their philosophy that in order to maintain long term business relationships, it must be based on reliable service, high quality and strong industrial design and information technology support to adapt to the rapid changes in the markets and the business world.

These companies have dedicated themselves in the use and development of GPS products and applications, including Bluetooth GPS Receiver with SiRF Star 3 chipset, GPS Car Tracking System (Integrated GPS with mobile communication technology), Personal GPS Burglar - proof Tracker, GPS Data Logger, GPS Post-tracking System (off-line tracking). Many companies have invested so much to manufacture products designed to flexibly and rapidly customize their GPS to meet market demands.

These GPS vehicle tracking products are designed and built to provide precise information so that the services of the company who uses them can monitor their fleet as well as enhance the quality of their services.

S. Stammberger is the owner of GPS Navigation Systems. For more information on GPS and GPS Tracking Systems visit http://www.gps-navigation-systems.net

Comprehensive Vehicle Tracking - What Will Your Employees Say?

Launching a comprehensive vehicle tracking program can put your business on track for greater efficiency, cost effectiveness, and responsiveness to customers. Your employees, on the other hand, may have a range of reactions to the idea of being tracked. It?s important that you communicate openly and honestly about the new system and address their questions and concerns directly.

Common employee concerns
Some of the most common concerns your employees might have include:

Privacy ? Vehicle tracking means that the fleet operator has the ability to know where each vehicle is at any given time. This can be disconcerting for employees because they feel a part of their privacy is disappearing.

Scrutiny ? Vehicle tracking allows a fleet operator to carefully scrutinize driving patterns and behaviors. This extra scrutiny is objectionable to some employees if the operator does not allow them a certain amount of flexibility in their daily activities.

Misunderstanding ? Vehicle tracking often creates fear that the fleet operator will misunderstand or misinterpret tracking information that is produced. Employees worry that the tracking information will be automatically accepted without them having an opportunity for input.

Communicating about the new system
Communication is key to helping your employees understand and accept the new vehicle tracking system. Emphasize how it will benefit employees and help them do their jobs better. Also, talk about how those benefits affect the business in terms of cost savings, efficiency, etc.

Give your employees some ?hands on? opportunities with the new system. Show them the equipment that goes into the vehicle and how it communicates with the fleet managers. All the while, continue pointing out how the system will help them do their jobs better and with less inconvenience.

Overcoming resistance
There will inevitably be some employees who embrace the new system rapidly and others who take a little more time to accept it. There will also be a few who remain resistant no matter what you say or do. In these situations, you need to have a step by step plan in place to deal with and overcome such resistance.

Most companies find that a graduated approach works best. Start with initial training and education about the new system, answer questions and concerns, and get feedback from employees as the system comes up to speed. Offer additional training or assistance to those who have trouble with the system or simply do not like it. Set up clear expectations right from the beginning that the system is in place to stay and that all employees are expected to use it and accept it.

Most of the time, setting clear expectations and consistently enforcing requirements are enough to get even the most resistant employee moving in the right direction. When that starts to happen be sure to recognize and praise that employee so that he or she will know that you are aware of the changes and effort they are making.

Richard Harris is a vehicle telecommunications expert who has developed an innovative vehicle tracking system.

He advises on vehicle tracking, and a range of information can be found at http://www.autoalert.me.uk/news_toc.jsp

Vehicle Tracking of Terrorists

Surveillance professionals all know that those they are watching are generally very mobile; moving from place to place often. The FBI and CIA know that to keep a careful eye on such folks is difficult, time consuming and extremely costly from a logistical standpoint. A man on man coverage is often employed as a strategy much like a basketball defense strategy; expect in this case the surveillance team becomes the background of the target. Another way to set up a defense program is thru tracking each and every target with in a larger grid format; grid defense. This becomes problematic when the hand off a surveillance target crosses territorial boundaries or during transition the target does something unexpected.

The target can be picked back up if indeed their vehicles or method of transportation has been adequately tagged with proper equipment. There are issues of course with the switching of vehicles. Often targets are lost when the target “gamma” flips during the transition and makes “U”-Turn and then switches vehicles or does something which is not in his previous bag of tricks or normal anticipated method of operations.

Bugging vehicles is problematic for those who have anti-bugging devices and it is further compromised thru misdirection of a target that understands he is being targeted. Carefully orchestrating baloney into conversations on phones and in certain rooms of homes or in vehicles the target that knows of such surveillance can cause excessive misdirection and cause alarm to those who pursue for clues. In the case of International Terrorists; “Fear Factor” is the weapon, so even if no plot exists; a fictitious plot can put everyone on Red Alert unnecessarily. Knowing that 95% of Intelligence gathering is pure bull and about 5% actually relevant, it makes the jobs of the surveillance professionals quite tedious. They need to track down each particular BS conversation and lead and exhaust it before continuing. This often costs money in payroll and time to background check all peoples involved and all the plausible stories.

With more and more people being put onto watch lists by paranoid government bureaucrats and more and more people using the government to attack their enemies by putting them on watch lists, the costs are becoming quite high. This means budget increases of taxpayer’s monies, which is an issue due to government borrowing. As the Department of Homeland security has found, it is nearly impossible to keep an eye on every new possible in country insurgent in the United States and those who are in organized crime such as gangs, radical groups or even potential connections to International Terrorists.

I propose a new invention. A passive RFID Tag, which connects to the electrical system of a car. Here is how it should work. First the antenna of the RFID tag would be made of a highly conductive material and would have razor sharp inner angles. Here is a picture of an RFID Tag;

Figure Number One:

http://www.microstripes.com/applications/rfid/tag1.gif

Figure Number Two:

http://www.none-o-your.biz/issues/tags/rfid-swsas-03.jpg

The tags would be attached under the car to exposed wires, which would give them energy when needed. The passive tags would simply ride on the wires until they passed a sensor. The sensors readers would be put inside the road sign poles out of site and have a small piece of tape on the exterior of the sign which would be a cell phone antenna. The road sign itself would be the RFID receiver antenna, which would be placed in the outer border glow in the dark strip around the road sign.

In figure one the RFID Tag antenna would be placed along the wire and attached by splicing the wire in two points along the length of the antenna. In figure two the antenna would be placed perhaps inside of a frame rail and wedged against an automotive electrical wire and splice it at one point where the RFID Tag pierces the polymer insulation on the wire. Each time a target passed by such a road sign the tag would be alert the center for FBI Surveillance.

By using this system we could reduce the number of FBI agents on the payroll and reduce the taxpayers expense for surveillance teams by turning to some old fashion grid defense surveillance. During the cold war the FBI had put transponder units in the dash boards of the Russian Diplomatic Cars which would beep and identify the car each time it crossed a bridge out of Washington DC. Such a plan is not without some history, but with the new technology and passive RFID Tags no one would know that their car was being watched. The good part is that a helicopter, specially equipped police car, truck stop, cargo container crane, rest stop, overpass or border crossing could easily be equipped with the same receiver device and would instantly pick up the gamma target and alert Central Command.

I believe that it is possible to track nearly all suspected International Terrorists without excessive cost to the taxpayer or mistakes during hand offs from MI 6, Scotland Yards, FBI, CIA or other international anti-terrorist survelliance teams. Adding the latest and newest and least expensive technology to our arsenal will save millions of dollars of taxpayer’s money and many lives. Please think on this plan.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington