The police department in Florida is currently considering using GPS tracking technology to help find local special needs children.

Most people in the United States are familiar with modern technology, including global positioning systems (GPS). This technology has helped monitor the behavior of wild animals, catch thieves who stole from businesses and residences, and help track down people with Alzheimer’s disease who have wandered off. The latter is the type of benefit local Florida law enforcement is interested in.

Police Chief Buddy Williams is interested in using GPS technology to help track children with special needs, who might be at risk for wandering off. He first got the idea after the tragic death of a local 9-year-old boy. Leo Walker had autism, and wandered away from his home at night just a few weeks prior. By the time the police found him, he was lying dead in a pond not far from the family’s home.

Not only did it affect Chief Williams because he was part of the massive search to look for the boy in his community, but because he is also the father of a daughter with special needs. He understands the toll it can take on a parent when their child is at risk of wandering off and the risks it poses to their life.

“Why can’t we have a safe and simple solution to GPS locate children with special needs?”, said Live Oak Police Chief Buddy Williams. Read the rest of this entry »

By using GPS tracking technology, researchers hope to find out more about the motivations and behaviors of grizzly bears when hunters are in the vicinity.

In lieu of the annual fall hunting season, researchers want to know more about grizzly bears in relation to hunters. They have performed a GPS study that looks at the interactions and movements of grizzly bears when they are out in the wild. The study will last a total of two years and is primarily being done with grizzly bears located at the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

The head researcher of the study is Mike Ebinger of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST) that is located in Montana. There are multiple objectives that the scientists are hoping to find resolutions for during the study.

The first is to find out if the population of grizzly bears changes based on hunting activity. For example, if there are hunting shots fired, will other bears in the area disperse, thus reducing the population in that area. They are using cameras in various spots in the park where the bears frequent to look at their population before and after shots have been fired.

Another objective of the scientists is to examine how the killing of local wildlife affects the bear population. During the beginning of the study, researchers found that the grizzly bears would enter the hunting area if an elk carcass was left behind. They seemed to put their own lives at risk in order to find this food resource. For this reason, part of the study is looking for the carcasses of elk and other wildlife in order to see how the bears respond to them. Read the rest of this entry »

Fleet owners have important responsibilities to their customers, the greater public they serve, and the men and women who drive the goods on your behalf. Improving safety among your drivers is chief among those responsibilities as it helps to make the roadways safer for everyone – including your drivers.

Of course, the big question is where you even begin improving unsafe fleet driver habits. This list will give you a rundown of things you can do to improve driver safety among your fleet drivers.

Establish Written Policies Regarding Bad Driver Habits

This policy needs to be inclusive and updated often. The policy needs to outline the positive driving policies, while also establishing rewards for good driver behavior and consequences for drivers who do not follow the policy – including the loss of a job. All drivers need to be educated about the policy and sign statements affirming that they have read and understand the policy at least twice a year.

What should the policies include?

There are many issues your safe driving policy needs to address, including the following: Read the rest of this entry »

GPS tracking devices are helping to find illegal loggers in the Brazil rainforest.

Illegal logging is a major problem in many rainforests around the world, including Brazil. The greatest rainforest to many is, of course, in the Amazon, and regardless of the deforestation laws, illegal loggers are still managing to cut down trees there — and get away from local law enforcement.

However, technology is now helping to track these logging thieves down, in hopes that more of the rainforest can be saved from illegal logging practices.

The tracking of illegal loggers is being carried out by rainforest activists. The rainforest activists went to Para, regardless of the tricky and dangerous areas, undercover, in order to place GPS tracking devices on trucks.

By going undercover, they found out who was suspicious and might be logging illegally in the rainforest. Once the GPS tracking devices were on the suspected illegal logging trucks, the investigators were able to examine the route they took in the rainforest. Read the rest of this entry »

We’re in the midst of the busy holiday travel season, so it’s a good time to talk about suitcases.

Technology and travel combine with the new travel suitcases that are built with everything from GPS tracking to smartphone technology.

Suitcases have been becoming more technologically advanced for a few years now, and the newest ones are no exception. They won’t just keep your belongings in one place, allowing you to travel by plane or car safely, but they also provide extra benefits via your smartphone and GPS tracking technology.

A new high-tech “smart luggage” suitcase in the works is called Bluesmart, and can work with an iOS smartphone, like an iPhone, or an Android phone. It is specifically designed for traveling by plane as there is a feature that lets you connect the main suitcase with your carry-on luggage. While it is still just a prototype, the creators of Bluesmart soon hope to make a working model. Read the rest of this entry »