The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) get smart and use a pig carcass with GPS tracking to try and find missing persons in the nearby river, as reported by CTV News Saskatoon.

It is not uncommon for police forces to use global positioning software (GPS) for tracking living animals to learn about their daily habits, movements, and location, but this is one of the first times an animal not living has been tracked.

In this case, it is to help the Royal Canadian Mounted Police find missing persons.

A 180-pound pig carcass had a GPS tracking device strapped to it and was pushed into the South Saskatchewan River located in Saskatoon, Canada. With the GPS tracking software, the Saskatoon Historical Case Unit (HCU) can track its location down the river, including looking at data about how fast it goes, when it stops, and its general direction.

The mission of this project is to help the RCMP learn more about how bodies move in the river when they are dumped there. In the future, they hope that it aid them in a more efficient search for bodies in the river. Read the rest of this entry »

Researchers in Kenya stop ivory poachers with GPS tracking technology for their rapidly declining population of elephants.

In Nairobi, Kenya and surrounding areas, the elephant population is dwindling at a rapid pace. Much of this is due to poachers that harm the elephants for the ivory tusks of the animals, similar to poachers who slaughter rhinos for their horns, which are used for medicinal and narcotics purposes.

Locals have called it a “rapidly escalating environmental crime wave” and researchers in the area are hoping to put a stop to it with modern technology.

Two organizations – the United Nations Environmental Program and Interpol – are working together on a project to put a stop to this and other environmental crimes. These crimes not only put the environment and its living creatures at risk, but cost up to billions of dollars every year. Five hundred researchers and other experts and law enforcement agencies in Nairobi are working diligently on this problem.

The killing of elephants and rhinos in Africa has escalated in the last few years, reaching 17,000 elephants in 2011 alone and 35,000 in 2012. The threat to elephant extinction is so real that President Obama recently announced an executive order ban the commercial sale of ivory. Read the rest of this entry »

DC News FOX 5 DC WTTG

Shopaholics get help curbing their spending with a new GPS-tracking handbag.

Whether a shopper is suffering from an actual addiction to shopping or simply can’t pass up a good deal, there’s a new “smart bag” that stands to offer benefits to anyone with a shopping problem.

On the outside, the new bag looks just like a regular handbag. But on the inside, modern technology takes over by using a GPS tracker.

Using global positioning software (GPS) for more than just navigational purposes isn’t new, but this is the first of its kind using GPS to thwart excessive spending. Not only does the hi-tech bag have tracking capabilities, but it also includes a radio sensor and has the ability to “lock down,” which prevents the owner of the bag opening it to retrieve money or credit cards.

The creator of the iBag is an Australian credit card service, called Credit Card Finder (creditcardfinder.com.au). As a company providing credit card comparison services to its visitors, it knows a lot about credit card spending. Their primary goal is to help people put a stop to excessive spending, particularly with credit cards. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s no doubt GPS fleet tracking technology improves business costs by reducing how much is spent to operate a fleet of vehicles. But now we also know that fleet operators are also highly satisfied with their use of GPS fleet management systems, according to a new study conducted by C.J. Driscoll & Associates, a GPS and wireless products marketing consultant and research firm.

C.J. Driscoll & Associates has compiled data for a new research study to identify the satisfaction level of fleet owners and managers utilizing GPS fleet tracking technology.

The survey, called the 2013-14 Survey of Fleet Operator Interest in MRM Systems and Services, compiled data from more than 500 fleet businesses throughout the United States, looking at those that were using this advanced technology in the fleets, particularly mobile resource management (MRM) systems (which includes GPS fleet management, GPS asset management, location-based services (LBS), and consumer telematics.) Read the rest of this entry »

Researchers use GPS technology to warn people of severe storms before they occur.

The current winter season is proving to be a record-breaking one with harsh winds, severe snowstorms and ice storms, and possibly more to come. This is just another reason to add to the existing reasons of why advanced technology like GPS tracking is so important.

Researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography recently announced how they are using modern technology for predicting severe weather patterns before they occur.

The method researchers are using is through piggybacking of technology. They are accessing GPS satellite stations that are located in various spots in Southern California, and using these networks to gather information for upcoming winter storms. This is possible because at many satellite stations, they have the ability to measure tectonic plates with sensors for seismic and meteorological uses. The same technology can be used for potentially hazardous events and perils, like a severe snowstorm. Read the rest of this entry »