Baby manatees in Florida get tracked with GPS to learn more about them and hopefully save them from extinction.

In Miami, Florida, manatees are considered an endangered animal, and are at risk of someday becoming extinct. Researchers at the Seaquarium in Miami are hoping that with the help of GPS tracking technology, they can learn more about their regular behavior, daily habits, and what dangers them the most, in order to protect them.

The research started two years ago when biologists found an injured baby manatee in a Key Largo canal, struggling and needing rehabilitation. They helped the manatee at the Seaquarium — naming him Pilgrim. The manatee is now at its adult size at 620 pounds and 7.5 feet long. After being rescued from a deep water canal, it is now outfitted with a GPS tracker and sent back into the ocean. Read the rest of this entry »

Like drivers of landscaping companies, pest control company drivers spend a lot of time on the road every day. And like many industries that do business today, this is one that benefits greatly from GPS tracking. In fact, GPS pest control tracking reduces expenses, increases productivity, and provides a greatly improved profit margin for large and small pest control businesses alike. These are a few of the reasons why.

Verify Termite Treatments and Other Service Calls

It’s important to know where your drivers are at all times. When it comes to termite treatments and other service calls, you want to be able to verify the amount of time spent on any given property in case a customer decides to dispute a charge. GPS tracking records where the truck is at all times during the day. It’s a simple matter to verify the location for your customer’s knowledge as well as provide evidence to support your charges if the case goes to court. Read the rest of this entry »

A company in South Africa puts a stop to gravestone robberies with GPS tracking.

Of all the things GPS tracking is being used for, stolen gravestones may be the most surprising. But in South Africa, where gravestone robberies are becoming a problem, it is now a necessity.

In Johannesburg, there are 36 cemeteries and approximately 20 marble and granite tombstones are stolen from these cemeteries every month. The gravestone material is sold on the black market, typically to dishonest stonemasons.

The GPS transmitting system is called Memorial Alert, and includes a transmitter that is placed inside the headstone. It can detect anyone tampering with the gravestone, setting off the internal sensor. Not only is the owner of the memorial and local authorities alerted through text message by this sensor, but an alarm sounds to deter the attempted thief. Read the rest of this entry »

Navigation has come a long way since its early days of providing services to military services before civilians had access to it. Most modern systems use satellite navigation, which provides positioning and coverage through satellites. These satellites send signals to electronic receivers, and are used in multiple types of navigation systems, including GPS and GLONASS. Here are some main differences and similarities between the two systems.

GPS

Global positioning system (GPS) is the USA’s satellite navigation system. It has very high accuracy, able to get up-to-date information regardless of the current weather condition. It is one of the oldest navigation systems, originally being introduced in 1973. Until it became public in the 2000s, GPS was used primarily for the U.S. Department of Defense.

GLONASS

Russia also has a satellite navigation system, called GLONASS, or Global Navigation Satellite System. It is also a space-based system, similar to GPS, and operated by the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces. GLONASS was developed just two years after GPS and went through a large restoration in the 2000s. As of 2010, it became the Russian Federal Space Agency’s most expensive program. Read the rest of this entry »

Rescue teams plan to use GPS tracking to help find and rescue entangled whales in Monterey Bay, California.

For the second time in less than a week’s time, a humpback whale has been caught in a crab fisherman’s net out in the waters of Monterey Bay. The search teams spotted this second whale and returned to the area in order to continue their search efforts.

After spotting the whale, it looked like the whale was in bad shape. It was wrapped around commercial fishing line at the Moss Landing coastline. The fishing line appeared to be so tight that the whale’s rib cage was visible. Read the rest of this entry »