GPS Tracking Blog
GPS Tracker Selection – Ten Quick Tips
7 Mar 2013
Our 10 Tips For Selecting A GPS Tracker:
1. Identify what you are tracking. A vehicle, person, equipment, powered asset, etc.
2. If you don’t have an internal power source, like a vehicle’s battery – you’ll need a battery powered device.
3. Hardwired/Vehicle powered trackers, also known as black boxes, are usually installed under the dash of the vehicle, out of sight. There are even gps trackers that can be plugged into your vehicle’s on board diagnostic port – usually located on the driver’s side compartment of the vehicle. The greatest benefit of a hardwired gps tracker is that they require no maintenance – once properly installed operation is automatic, this is probably where the the term Automatic Vehicle Locate or AVL was born.
4. Battery powered tracking devices will at some point and time require you to retrieve the device and recharge the battery. Advantages to a battery powered gps device are that they can be deployed quickly. They also work well when people tracking, like having a tracker in your child’s backpack.
GPS Tracking Blog
Police departments in the US utilize advanced GPS tracking “darts” in high-speed chases.
Most people are no stranger to the high-speed car chases in various locations throughout the US. These high-pursuit car chases are often extremely dangerous to pedestrians, other vehicles, and the police involved in the chase. Many chases involve injuries or death of innocent bystanders. For all of these reasons, there’s an increased need for alternative methods to circumvent these dangerous car chases; and GPS tracking technology is one such alternative.
In the past, high-speed chases weren’t always stopped until the car ran out of gas, hit someone or something that slowed them down, or the police would attempt to side-swipe the vehicle to cause the vehicle to spin and eventually stop. However, with the help of GPS tracking technology, there is now a safer and more effective way to track and stop the car involved in the chase.
How the GPS Tracking Dart Works
Not unlike the futurist gadgets used in the James Bond movies, a GPS tracking dart is being tested by the Los Angeles and Austin police departments, to name a few, where a good majority of high-speed chases happen. The tracking dart is shot via a gun-like device onto the suspect’s vehicle, not so dissimilar as to shooting a bullet out of a gun. The police officer has a laser pointer equipped compressed air-launcher that helps him aim the dart so it can be targeted on a “good spot” (where it will stick and remain intact) on the vehicle where it will stick and remain intact.
GPS Tracking Blog
Both China and Australia are investigating advanced technology of broadcasting global positioning signals from the ground, rather than, or in addition to, employing orbiting GPS satellites, which is currently used for GPS tracking and navigation. A ground-based location positioning system stands to not only save time and money, but pinpoint locations with more accuracy.
Satellite navigation systems are a global operation. Countries throughout the world are developing and utilizing the technology, including Russia with the GLONASS, China with the COMPASS, Japan with the Quasi Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) and India with the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS), and of course the United States with the Global Positioning Satellite System (GPS).
It goes without saying that satellites provide a wealth of possibilities to the countries using them, but with advanced technology comes more time and money for developing, testing, building, and implementing them. For instance, funding for the U.S. GPS systems ran approximately $1.5 billion or more for developments, testing, and launching in 2012 alone.
Surely, there’s a less inexpensive solution, which is why several countries are experimenting with ground-based location positioning.
GPS Tracking Blog
Government officials in California are attempting to pass a bill that will penalize parolees released from prison with a felony offense if they cut off their GPS tracking devices.
Law enforcement agencies around the country are beginning to attach GPS tracking devices to released sex offenders. The devices are helping to monitor the actions of various parolees, mostly sex offenders in the Sacramento area.
GPS Tracking Blog
Taxi’s on patrol, fighting crime with GPS trackers installed in cabs.
The taxi company Yellow Cab has teamed up with several cities in the US to help fight crime with GPS trackers and the “Taxis on Patrol” program.
The Taxis on Patrol (T.O.P.) program will introduce taxi driver enrollees to a comprehensive training program that educates them on identifying and reporting crimes, teaches them which crimes to report, enlightens them on earn law enforcement terminology, and instructs them to give accurate descriptions of the criminals, crimes, and locations they witness.
GPS trackers are installed in the taxi cabs of drivers who enroll in the program. This allows 911 operators inform police of the crime so that they can arrive on the scene quickly.
