CBS 5 – KPHO

GPS tracking technology is being used to help cut back on the number of Arizona wildfires and put them out quickly once they begin.

The state of Arizona, like California, has a reputation of having to dealing with wildfires when the temperatures rise. The hot, dry, desert climate makes it susceptible to wildfires breaking out with almost no warning.

In the past, the best way to curb wildfires was to thin out local forests and cut down trees in areas that are prone to fires. However, this process has proved to be time consuming and expensive, which has caused efforts to move slowly and not be as beneficial as wildlife prevention experts in the area would have liked. Read the rest of this entry »

A puma mountain lion being tracked with a GPS tracking device shows that he is on the move and getting a little too close.

The puma mountain lion’s name for now is forty-six M (46M). He is a young puma that is currently being tracked by scientists at UC Santa Cruz as part of the Santa Cruz Puma Project. There is a GPS tracking collar around his neck that lets researchers know exactly where he is at all times, where he is headed, and every time he stops or is on the move.

Global positioning systems (GPS) let scientists get this updated information in real-time. It uses radio and satellite signals to determine the puma’s location on a map by using points. Associate professor at UCSC, Chris Wilmers, has been keeping an eye on him and watching as he makes his way to the downtown area of Mountain View.

Several weeks ago, the puma left his mom’s territory in the Santa Cruz mountains, in what is known as dispersal. Within the garage of an apartment building in Mountain View, Wilmers takes a look at the downloaded data from the GPS tracker. Read the rest of this entry »

GPS tracking helps find employees that were committing fraud against the New Jersey Transit.

The NJ Transit used tracking to catch a total of ten employees that were caught committing fraudulent activity and abuse against their employer. The employees received varied levels of discipline — from suspension and fines, to termination — based on what they were caught doing.

This comes just a month after the transit authority began tracking the vehicles with GPS tracking devices as part of a $500,000 program. The program was intended to catch this very type of abuse, so it has been successful so far.

Global positioning systems (GPS) have evolved over the years, offering a wide range of benefits to various types of organizations. This type of technology uses satellite signals in order to gather information and data. Read the rest of this entry »

Cameron County offers ocelots safe wildlife crossings by using GPS tracking devices.

The Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge in Cameron County, Texas was looking for ways to provide safer travel across busy roads for local wildlife, including their endangered ocelots. The first thing they needed to do was discover exactly what location to put the wildlife crossings, based on where ocelots typically travel. They decided to use GPS tracking devices to pinpoint the location and movement of ocelots and use that information for building wildlife crossings.

Ocelots are big cats that frequent this area of Texas. They are also known as the dwarf leopard, since they have the same markings but are considerably smaller. Ocelots are carnivores, eating nearby rabbits, birds, and snakes. In certain parts of southeast Texas, there are about 100 ocelots, with approximately 1 million in the world. They are also nocturnal creatures, remaining in the trees or brush during the day, and coming out at night. Read the rest of this entry »

Airport shuttle companies have a lot of balls in the air at any given time. From driver routing to fielding anxious calls about shuttle arrival times and even enquiries regarding the ability of shuttles to make it to the airport in time for specific flights, suffice it to say they have a lot going on simultaneously.

With so many people depending on airport shuttles, juggling all those balls can be quite challenging at times. That is, for shuttle companies that aren’t yet taking advantage of GPS tracking technology.

There are other benefits to consider, though, when it comes to GPS fleet tracking on airport shuttle vehicles. Here are just a few of them. Read the rest of this entry »