Protection is available for mentally disabled school children thanks to GPS tracking technology; parents can rest easy when they send their children to school.

The hardest thing for any parent when they send their child to school is knowing they’re safe. For mentally or physically disabled children, the concern is considerably higher. Parents want their children to have the same education other children their age get, but there is little they can do to ensure their safety during school hours. That is, until now.

GPS tracking technology has more uses than providing GPS fleet tracking for vehicles, auto theft recovery, or tracking teen drivers; it can also help keep track of your children while they are at school. That is exactly what the staff at Rhenish Church Grace School in Diamond Hill, Hong Kong, have started doing.

The main issue at Rhenish is that during outings the children become fascinated by nature and have an instinct to wander off and see what more there is to explore. But for school staff and parents, this is more than just worrisome. If this happens, they want to be able to find them quickly, before they get hurt. Read the rest of this entry »

Now that hurricane season is at a peak, its a good time to talk about the role GPS is playing in monitoring hurricanes. Hurricane season begins on June 1 each year and extends through November. Its official apex day is September 10th. Global Positioning Technology has been used for GPS navigation and GPS tracking for years, and now it is being used for hurricane warnings.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has partnered with NASA in order to develop a system for using GPS to hunt down hurricanes. The technology is using advanced measurements in order to map out hurricane wind speeds. So far it has been in the testing stage and is showing to be effective at determining the approximate speed and location of various hurricanes. The intent is to provide early warnings for hurricanes and hopefully give people enough time to find a safe location. Read the rest of this entry »

GPS technology being used to locate lost dementia and Alzheimer’s patients with the use of its internal tracking functions.

The British Medical Journal (BMH) released a study in June 2013 detailing the benefits of using GPS tracking technology to help medical personnel locate dementia patients who have gotten lost. While some specialists are debating the ethics of  tracking patient’s location with the devices, most expert agree it would do more good than harm.

The Statistics

In the UK and U.S., the amount of elderly persons with dementia continues to climb. There are expected to be 200,000 adults develop dementia in Britain in the next 8 years, which will bring the total to more than a million people.  In the U.S., over 5 million people have and live with Alzheimer’s disease, and it is the sixth leading cause of death. In the UK, dementia costs approximately $35 billion a year, which will increase as the baby boomer generation reaches their retirement age. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia and counts for up to 80 percent of the cases. Read the rest of this entry »

Operating a business today is expensive. Everywhere you turn, there are new expenses to pay. Insurance is one expense that most small business owners hate paying month after month. That is, until you find yourself in need of it. But, what if you could do something small and insignificant that helped you save money on insurance and other operational expenses? You can! All you need to do to begin lowering the cost of insurance for your fleet vehicles, by anywhere between 5 and 30 percent, is to install GPS fleet tracking system on your vehicles. Here’s why it helps you save.

Improves Odds of Vehicle Recovery from Theft

Theft is a big risk for insurance companies. The installation of real time GPS tracking systems on all fleet vehicles greatly improves the odds of vehicle recoveries following thefts. This reduces the risks the insurance takes on when insuring your vehicles and, as a result, lowers the fee they charge you for that protection. Depending on the specific fleet tracking software you purchase, it is possible to create alerts whenever vehicles leave certain geographic boundaries or are active at certain times of the day so that you’re aware of potential thefts sooner rather than later too. Read the rest of this entry »

In an attempt to block his employer from tracking his work truck, New Jersey resident is fined $32,000 for using an illegal GPS jammer.

GPS jammers are illegal in the United States because of their ability to block important communications. And for one New Jersey man, the cost was much higher than he anticipated.

Gary Bojczak first got the jammer to block his employer from tracking his whereabouts during his work shift. The company he works for installed GPS tracking devices on all work trucks, including the one he was driving. They did this in order to monitor the trucks’ location and other data, and be sure company time was being used wisely.

Unfortunately for Bojczak, using the signal jammer device also blocked a nearby GPS system that was being used for the airport. At Newark Liberty International Airport, they were attempting to test a new GPS system for their plane routes. As Bojczak pulled up next to the airport on his route, their GPS system was jammed, which alerted the airport’s security team.

Security was able to trace the issue back to the Ford pickup truck that Bojczak was driving. They investigated the matter further, along with one of the agents from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Read the rest of this entry »