Home Builders Using GPS Tracking to Combat Theft

As the local police officer shortage shows no sign of easing, Albuquerque people and businesses are taking the role of policing into their own hands.

When opportunist thieves struck on Papagayo Road during the construction of a new home, they no doubt believed that stealing from the property would be easy. Shortly before this, thieves had broken into one of the Abrazo Homes new houses, stealing $4,000 worth of new cabinets.

In fact, vandalism and burglary have become a real issue in the area, with some houses being repeatedly burgled.

What these burglars didn’t bet on, however, was the fact that Abrazo Homes employees had attached a GPS tracker within a box of cabinets. When these were stolen, the tracker led police directly to the offending people in Southwest Albuquerque.

The suspects, Josue Garcia-Garcia, Ubaldo Terrazas, Valerie Pinon and Geraldo Gamboa are facing a number of charges, including burglary. Additionally, the four have been linked to another burglary in a different house that’s under construction.

Ubaldo Terrazas told police that he had kicked in the front door of the home to gain access. When he got the stolen property home, he threw the tracking device away. However, by the time he did this, the police and Abrazo Homes employees had already pinpointed his location.

What is a GPS Tracking Device?

A GPS tracking device employs the Global Positioning System to track and determine its exact location. The recorded location data is them either stored within the device or is transmitted to a computer or central location database. This then allows the tracker’s location to be found.

GPS trackers are used in a variety of settings. For example, in law enforcement, someone who’s been arrested may sometimes be required to wear a GPS tracker on their ankle as a condition of their bail. This technology may also be used for people who’re subject to restraining orders. Some parents use GPS tracking for kids to keep an eye on their children or use GPS tracking for teen drivers. Also, these devices are often used in the care of the vulnerable and elderly. They help promote independent social inclusion and independent living and are very positive when they’re used in this way.

If you’re interested in a GPS tracking device for any of these reasons or more, be sure to check out our inventory of GPS tracking devices here.

Snowmobiling can be an intensely fun way to spend the day during the long winter months or up in the mountains in springtime. Snowmobiles can also be critical transportation when the snow is too deep or roads are too treacherous to traverse in a car or truck. What you may not realize, is that GPS tracking for snowmobiles offers many benefits you’ll want to know more about, including those listed below.

Provides Accurate Location Information for Emergency Response

Snowmobile accidents can be life threatening. In these instances, minutes – even seconds – matter. GPS tracking provides an exact location of where the accident or event took place allowing emergency responders to arrive quickly so they can begin treating the injuries or transporting you for treatment.

Protect Your Investment in Your Snowmobile

Snowmobiles are substantial investments. They are also easy targets for thieves. GPS tracking may not prevent all snowmobile thefts, but they will aid in the swift recovery of the vehicle because it allows law enforcement officers to track the movements and GPS coordinates of the snowmobile. Fast recovery can aid in the recovery of your snowmobile unharmed.

Use GPS Tracking to Mark Your Trails

Marking your trails with GPS allows you to connect with others who aren’t on the trail with you or those who may be meeting you along the way. You can mark your trail, coordinate your activities, and arrange to meet in the middle with GPS tracking. It’s a great way to create an adventure on the snow with friends and family or to allow those who can only be with you in spirit to come along for the ride.

Ensures You Can Always Find Your Way Home

It doesn’t take a huge change in the wind for a day of fun in the snow to become a dangerous situation. It’s easy to get lost, lose trail markings, or even become disoriented while snowmobiling. Some people may even get a little off course because it’s easy to focus on fun rather than landmarks. It happens. When the weather shifts, you get lost, or other things happen that might make it difficult to find your way home visually, GPS tracking can help you get back on course again.

GPS provides benefits beyond even these, especially for parents worried about children on snowmobiles and dealing with emergencies on snowmobiles, tracking kits activities, and notifications when snowmobiles are operating when they shouldn’t be – or even outside of an established perimeter. GPS tracking for snowmobiles can help with all these things and more.

Contact us here at LiveViewGPS to learn more about GPS tracking for snowmobiles.

Oregon State University conducted a 5-year study that utilized GPS tracking technology that showed that cows that were grazing actually spent little time in streams.

In fact, the 5-year study showed that only 2.5 percent of time was spent by the grazing cattle on federal rangeland in streams. This finding could be vital since there is continued debate over what type of impact cattle has on public land.

Oregon State University researchers equipped cows that came from 3 different ranches with homemade GPS tracking devices inside their collars. This GPS tracking technology mapped and provided researchers data about the cows’ positions over the five years during the fall and spring grazing seasons.

The homemade GPS tracking collars provided the researchers with the positions of the cows every five minutes and over the entire course of the study, provided them with over 3.7 million data points. The GPS devices were able to show researchers when the collared cattle was within at least 30 meters of these streams.

The collared cows grazed in the Umatilla national and Wallowa-Whitman forests on federal grazing allotments where the study was conducted. Researchers were provided with potentially substantial findings since public land grazing critics have long been debating that the cattle polluted the water and trampled the streambanks.

It was found that typically, the cows didn’t graze or even rest near the streams. Rather, they tended to graze on higher ground and rest in areas that were dry and away from the streams.

Previous logging or fires, fences, water sources, and good forage influenced how the cows moved. In each grazing allotment, the cows only used around 10 percent of the stream area.

It was usually during the summer heat that the cows showed much interest in the stream areas. They seemed to prefer the riparian areas better during the cooler spring seasons.

Researchers went through three  herds of cattle and chose cows at random among the 400 or so cows in each herd. As some of the collared cows disappeared, were sold or had their collars wear out, new cows were brought into the study and collared.

The results of the study could play a role in grazing allotments in the national forest and cattle grazing on public land.