Month: August 2009

When To Use GPS Tracking Sticks

GPS tracking sticks are extremely small and portable GPS tracking devices.  They resemble a USB memory sticks in appearance and generally have a male USB connection built into the device.  These devices are data loggers, meaning that they passively record their GPS coordinates at set intervals and store the data on the device’s memory.  In order for the owner of the device to be able to access this information they need to recover the tracking stick and download its contents onto their computer.

As I am sure you have already inferred, these devices are made for certain types of GPS tracking.  These devices excel at helping you know where someone or something has been and are very good at being concealed discretely because of their size.  It works great for a runner who wants to accurately measure their daily runs and cannot afford a more expensive GPS running watch.  Parents can use it to track a child or a teenager to make sure they have been where they say they have been.  These devices can also be used by different type of R/C hobbyists who would like to know things like the height traveled by a rocket or plane, or the distance traveled by their car or boat.  This device can even be used by employers to make sure that employees are making appropriate use of company property.

In essences, these work great for tracking anything that you don’t need to know its position right away.  If you can track it and then get it later, a GPS tracking stick can be a cheap alternative.

But these sticks are certainly not going to be very useful in some types of tracking applications.  Here is a quick list of some of the types of tracking this device is NOT really that good for:

  • GPS fleet tracking – Fleets need to have real time information on the location of their fleet if they are going to be able to route vehicles and monitor their activity efficiently.  Getting all the data after the fact is not going to provide the performance that a business in this situation is going to require.
  • Friend tracking – There are a lot of friend tracking application for the cell phone, many of them free, but you can’t run any of them on a GPS tracking stick.  You are certainly able to tell where a friend has been with one of these devices.  This, however, does not help you when you want to see which one of your friends is at the same mall as you or if they are at the same party.
  • Teen driver tracking (in some applications) – Some parents are going to want to be able to check on the status of their teen in real time.  A tracking stick will not let you do this.  It will help you monitor your teen while they drive the car and give you the tools you need to enforce your family driving rules – you just can’t do it in real time.
  • Real time spouse tracking – If you are interested in following your cheating spouse to the scene of the cheat then you don’t want to use a tracking stick.  GPS tracking cell phones would work great in this application, just not tracking sticks.
  • Property recovery GPS – If you want to recover stolen property then a data logger is definitely not the GPS tracking device that you want to go with.  While the property is in the hands of the thief there is no way for you to access the GPS information being gathered by the device – making it useless as a property recovery GPS.

As you can see, GPS tracking sticks are useful and powerful data loggers and should not be used for real time tracking.  As far as GPS tracking devices go, tracking sticks are among the smallest and most easily concealed of all the trackers.  They take up just a few inches and could easily be mistaken for a USB memory stick if they were to be “discovered” while being employed as a covert tracking device.  If you don’t need immediate access to your tracking data and need a small device that will get you solid GPS data then a GPS tracking stick is certainly going to meet your needs.

Is Free Cell Phone Tracking Really Free?

We are all aware of the many different free GPS tracking software applications that are available for cell phones. The different developers and tracking companies who provide this software have done so out of the goodness of their hearts and the hope that the advertising in the application or the up sell market is going to make them some money. Even if they do not monetize these tracking systems they are at least hoping that the reputation they establish will benefit them in some other way in the future.

Either way, you have a market today where there are dozens of 100% free to use cell phone GPS tracking systems. But the question is, are these free cell phone tracking systems really free?

I think that as we look deeper into this issue we are going to find that the answer is that it depends on a person’s particular circumstances. But in order for any of the discussion of cost to make sense to us we first need to establish a basic understanding of how free cell phone tracking actually works.

How Free Cell Phone Tracking Works

When coming to this question we need to divide our understanding into two distinct parts. The first is how does the cell phone determine where it is in the world. The second is how does the cell phone communicate that information to outside parties. Once we understand these things we will see just how free free GPS tracking really is.

For the first part we need to look at the principle of trilateration. This geometric rule says that if you know your distance from three or more known points you can determine your exact location. Cell phones that can be tracked tap into this geometric principle via GPS. The way this works is like this:

iPhone GPS Tracking
iPhones are extremely popular and can be used as GPS tracking devices.

Certain phones (iPhones, Blackberries, and other smartphones) have a GPS receiver installed in them when they are made. Once the phone is bought and activated by a user the full functionality of the GPS can come alive, all it needs is for the cell phone to be turned on (some GPS functionality, like GPS tracking, will also require that the cell phone be receiving a signal, but more on that later). If you do not have a GPS-enabled cell phone then you cannot take advantage of the free cell phone tracking available for download on the Internet.

The second part we need to understand about GPS tracking with cell phones is how these devices transmit the position information that they gather from the GPS. For this, cell phones are going to need to have access to one of two things: the Internet or GPRS. Once the cell phone has its location from the GPS receiver it will then process filter it through the free cell phone tracking software. This software will package the information in such a way that it can be made available online for the for the users friends or family to view.

If the free online GPS cell phone tracking software is a real time tracker, this information is going to be sent in a nearly continuous basis for as long as the program is running on the phone and the phone is receiving a signal from a cell phone tower. If either of these items is lost, so is the real time tracking ability of the software.

So now that we have a cursory understanding of how free cell phone tracking services work I hope that it is fairly clear how this can be less than free for some people. The main points of cost are in the cell phone itself and in the data plan that you must have in order to make use of the tracking software.

The Costs: GPS Enabled Cell Phones

The free, online GPS cell phone tracking software ceases to be free when you have to upgrade your phone to one that is compatible with the software and that has GPS installed in it. Some of these phones can be pretty pricey. An iPhone 3G will run you $99 and a Blackberry Curve can run you $129. This is certainly not free. Now if you already owned one of these mobile phones then downloading the free GPS tracking software onto your mobile phone isn’t going to cost you anything extra.

This is why up above I mentioned that the answer to the question posed in the title of this article was, “It depends.”

The Costs: The Data Plan

The second cost that is going to be associated with GPS cell phone tracking is going to be that data plan on your phone. I recently looked to see if this was something that my wife and I should get on our cell phone plan. She was about to get a free upgrade for her old phone and some Blackberries were available. But in looking at the data plans her carrier offered it would cost an additional $30 a month. Since we wouldn’t have gotten the data plan otherwise this seemed like a lot of money to us.

As a result, she went with another phone instead (the LG Envy) because there was no use in getting the Blackberry since we weren’t going to pony up the cash for the data plan. Paying $30 a month will quickly turn into $360 over the course of one year. That is a lot to be paying for a “free” GPS cell phone tracking service.

Can GPS Tracking Truly Be Free

But this leads us to another important point – GPS tracking is probably never going to be free in my lifetime. There are too many powers that be that have a vested interest in making me pay for this type of information. If it is not the GPS manufacturers, it is going to be the cell phone companies that I would be using to send my position information wireless to my wife who would be sitting at a computer, checking out where I am online. At almost every point in the system there is someone to pay. So, if you are already paying all those people then you can say that your cell phone tracking is free – but it is not truly free.

GPS Tracking Systems For All Facets of Life

If you have ended up going out and buying your own personal GPS tracking device you are going to come to a point when you are going to begin to need to get your tracking house in order. You will be flooded with a mountain of data about the location of the person, pet, or asset that you are tracking and you are going to need to turn all that data into meaningful information. Your device is going to need to fit inside of a meaningful system of interpretation.

Fortunately, most GPS tracking devices already come with a built in system that will help you analyze the raw data captured by your GPS. A car tracking system will put the data on a GoogleMap like interface and so will a covert personal tracking system. If you are using a fitness GPS tracking system like the Garmin Forerunner 405 or Edge 705 then this too will come with software that will help you turn the raw data of your workout into something that you can actually do something with.

And this brings us to a very interesting thing about GPS tracking, there is a system for tracking almost every aspect of our lives. You can track yourself when you are driving, working out, playing with your pets, or working and you can do the same for any other person that you love including your spouse or your children. With all this GPS tracking going on, it is no wonder that we have a hard time keeping it all straight in our heads.

So in order to help us all get a better understanding of the GPS tracking systems out there here is a list of the different types of systems:

GPS Car Tracking System

There are two different types of GPS car tracking systems. One system works in real time and transfers information from the tracking device via GPRS to a server where you can access the information once it has been filtered through a GPS tracking software package. The second type of car tracking system involves the device simply recording the location data. The user will then have to retrieve the device and manually download the coordinates from the device to a personal computer that has GPS tracking software installed.

Each system is going to have its benefits and draw backs. For starters, real time GPS vehicle tracking systems are extremely powerful and can provide actionable information for a person tracking a car or other type of vehicle. If you need to know where something is right now so that you can route a company vehicle or to get your teenager help then you need real time tracking. But there is a serious drawback with this type of tracking system – it costs a lot of money.

Not only do you have to buy the hardware for this system, which can be pretty expensive as far as GPS devices go, but you also have to pay for a tracking software and data transfer system. This can be as little as a monthly cell phone bill to hundreds of dollars per month. But for the people that need this type of tracking service is there is nothing better.

Another potential drawback to this system is that the battery life of these devices can be severely impaired by constant communication with the tracking servers. Sending messages via GPRS while constantly computing position information from the GPS satellites orbiting the earth is not conducive to long battery life. Even devices that transmit data every 5-10 seconds can only last several hours under these conditions.

The data logging GPS tracking system is different. It often can provide continuous GPS tracking for long periods of time, dwarfing the battery life of a real time tracking device. These devices are also relatively inexpensive – costing under $200 for some makes and models. This makes GPS tracking an option for many more people who could benefit from this type of service. It is also great for tracking something covertly since you won’t have to go and replace the batteries in the device very often.

The downsides of this device is that you have to wait until you recover the device to get any of the information recorded by it. If you are trying to monitor a teen driver this simply won’t be a practical car GPS tracking system for you. You might wait weeks before finding out that they went 60 mph in a 35 mph zone and that type of activity has to be punished immediately.

However, there are plenty of applications for both GPS car tracking systems that will inevitably make them both viable candidates for a variety of tasks involving tracking with GPS.

GPS Child Tracking System

Almost all useful GPS child tracking systems are going to be in real time or, at the very least, on demand. These might be a kids GPS watch, a piece of clothing that has a GPS device installed, or a stand alone device like the AmberAlert GPS. The way these work is that you install the device on your child. The tracking company then makes the devices location available via the Internet of mobile phone.

If you are at work you can check up on your child’s location. If your child doesn’t come home from school on time you can check on their location. Pretty much anytime that you are interested in know where your child is or you are concerned about their safety you can check up on them.

Many child tracking systems are going to employ GPRS. GPRS is a cell phone technology that allows for the transmission of information wirelessly. Some devices will even use GPRS to determine the devices location, making it a GPRS tracking system.

GPS Fitness Tracking System

Still another tracking system that can be used by a person is a fitness GPS tracking system. One might use a specialized fitness device like a Garmin Forerunner 405 to gather information on a workout or training session. The GPS, often in conjunction with a heart rate monitor, will record all sorts of useful things and then once it is downloaded onto a computer turn that hard data into something extremely useful for serious athletes. They will be able to see graphs, charts, and maps of their workouts – interacting with their bodies in a way that they never would have been able to without a GPS.

The vast majority of fitness GPS devices are not real time trackers. Instead, they are simply data loggers. If you think about, there is really very little reason for a fitness device to provide tracking in real time since the person wanting to see the information would be outside doing the exercise. It would kind of defeat the purpose of the tracking.

GPS Dog Tracking System

The final system that we are going to cover today is going to be dog GPS tracking systems. If you were unaware that you can track a pet with GPS then now you know that it is possible. In fact, Zoombak, a prominent dealer in personal GPS tracking devices, has re-purposed their device for the express purpose of serving as a dog tracker.

When you think about this, it makes a lot of sense. Dogs tend to wander around, and if you live on a lot of land or in an area without a lot of private fences then your dog can really wander far away. This can be very alarming for children and people who have a dear attachment to their pet. Companies have realized this and made pet GPS tracking systems a reality.

There is nothing particularly special about these devices other than you can do everything that you could do with a person with a pet. Almost all pet trackers are real time GPS tracking device since it really doesn’t do you much good to know where a pet has been once you know where they are right now.

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GPS tracking systems are only going to be expanding in our lives. It is time we got used to the idea of using GPS for all of these various activities and got along trying to figure out what is the best use this tracking capabilities and how we can make society better with them in place.

Different Types of Portable GPS Devices

Being able to find a portable GPS solution for your GPS tracking needs is going to be very easy. There are literally hundreds of units available to the person who is willing to keep their options open. You can find old GPS units that are not as powerful but are much, much cheaper or you can go with the top of the line in the GPS category of your choice and get the latest in functionality, but you are going to have to pay a premium for it.

Your search for a portable GPS might leave you a little bewildered when it comes to all the different choices available to you. Which unit should you buy? Will it meet your needs? Is there a better or a cheaper or a more useful GPS out there? Hopefully this article will provide information to help the person searching for the right GPS for them find it. Below is a list of a variety of different GPS devices that can be very portable and easy to use:

Navigation GPS

Garmin Nuvi 760 Portable GPS

Most people know about GPS because of the navigation models that have flooded the market. The earliest models were once hundreds of dollars, but now you can buy a navigation GPS for under $50. This type of device is going to be used mainly inside of a car, truck, or van and is going to be used to help a person get from point A to point B. Modern portable navigation GPS have a variety of different features including Bluetooth compatibility, real time traffic updates, weather announcements, text-to-speech turn-by-turn directions, and a few others. These add a little bit to the experience of users, but when it comes down to it these GPS devices are really just beautiful portable maps.

Marine GPS

Marine GPS, as you might have guessed, are meant to be used on the water. They provide fisherman, boaters, and other aquatic aficionados access to important location information that we once turned to the stars to establish. With a good chart plotter you can find your way back to your favorite ocean fishing spot, a really nice beach, or a hidden island somewhere off the coast. These devices are surprisingly affordable and if you already own a boat you are probably going to be rich enough to buy one of these portable GPS units.

The maps on these units is much like a navigation GPS except they might not have the same types of features as these navigational cousins have. What traffic is there on the open seas? What good is Bluetooth going to do you out on the ocean? That is why these devices generally ignore these features. But what you will get is a great GPS that is going to help you move about the water with confidence that you are heading toward your destination.

Geocaching GPS

Garmin eTrex Geocaching Portable GPSGeocaching is a sport, or a hobby depending on who you talk to, that is very similar to a treasure hunt. How it works is that a person hides an object somewhere in the world. They then post the GPS coordinates of where they hid the item on a website like http://www.geocaching.com. Any person can then go on this website and jot down the coordinates of the treasure, or cache as it is called in the geocaching world. The person then goes to that cache using portable, hand-held GPS device like the Garmin eTrex H. Once they find it they take whatever treasure was hidden inside and then replace it with a treasure of their own.

Geocaching is great for kids, hikers, and people who need a little motivation to get outside and get moving. Most caches are going to require that you use your brains and muscles together, making this a great sport for people who like to be active but also enjoy a mental challenge as well.

Golf GPS

A golf GPS is a portable GPS device that is going to help golfers get a better understanding of where they are on a golf course at any given point in time.  They act as expert caddies that know the distance from any spot on the course to the hole, and with GPS helping out they are even more accurate than the best golfer around.  These devices can be pretty expensive, but a golf GPS is a must have for a golfer who has trouble choosing the right club for the shot or who is constantly traveling to new courses.  The Garmin Approach G5 is probably the best golf tracking GPS out there, but there are a few free applications available for the iPhone and Blackberry mobile phones.  All of these are extremely portable and extremely useful for the golfer.

Fitness GPS

Garmin Forerunner 310 xt Portable Fitness GPSFitness GPS are meant to be portable by their very nature.  What good is a fitness GPS going to be if you can’t take it out with you and a run or on a bike ride?  Not very much.  As a result manufacturers make these devices small and highly mobile.  Some of the best fitness GPS equipment comes in the form of a wrist watch, the Garmin Forerunner series.  There are also GPS devices for cyclists, kayakers, and swimmers – giving them all a very technical look at their workouts.

These devices are really great because they help athletes improve their performance by being able to gather accurate and robust data on their workouts.  They can then use this data to improve their routines and concentrate on parts of them where they need the most work.

While not everyone is going to need to buy a fitness GPS watch, everyone would benefit from these powerful training aids.

Covert GPS Tracking

Another form of portable GPS devices are covert GPS tracking devices.  These units are designed to provide tracking information on a person or asset.  They are often installed covertly so that the person or assets doesn’t know about their presence.  These are often installed on cars to track them, but they can also be installed in boxes, bags, backpacks, or even clothes.  They can even be small enough to be comparable to a a USB memory stick!

The thing about covert GPS tracking device is that they are not going to be cheap, especially if you get one that has real time tracking capabilities.  If you just want a plain old vanilla data logger then you can find one for under $200.  If you want a real time tracker that has any type of battery life then you are going to have to drop a pretty hefty sum on it.  In addition to that you are going to need to pay for the tracking service and access to the GPS tracking software, which is probably going to run your anywhere from $15-$50 a month.

Car Tracking GPS

Car GPS tracking is a lot like covert tracking except that you don’t care if the person driving the car knows you are tracking them.  This is great for helping a teen driver drive safely or for recovering a stolen vehicle.  If you are going to be using the portable car tracking device to help your teen drive better than it is highly recommended that you discuss this with them and give them all the help and information they need to know to be a good driver.  No amount of GPS tracking is going to be able to make them a good driver unless they know some of the basic skills that make up a good driver.  For that they need a parent.

Theft recover GPS tracking is another use of car tracking GPS.  While these devices can easily be blocked using a GPS tracking blocker, these devices are still relatively useful in because they do have a very high recovery rate.  If your car gets stolen all you need to do is log on to your GPS tracking software service and you will be shown the exact location of your car in real time.  This makes it very easy for the police to use to find your vehicle and make an arrest.

Fleet Tracking GPS

Finally, the last category of portable GPS devices is the fleet tracking GPS.  These units are made specifically for businesses that need a better way to manage, dispatch, and protect their vehicle fleets.  Most consumers are not going to need this level of tracking so you probably won’t need to know too much about this type of tracking service.  What you do need to know is that these devices are extremely expensive but often have wonderful results for businesses that employ them.

I mean, just think about how useful it would be to be able to route, give directions, and monitor your vehicles with the assistance of portable GPS devices.  The ease of it would be ridiculous.  Generally speaking, small businesses have more success with the use of fleet tracking GPS than larger fleets – but almost universally there is an improvement when this technology is employed.

Which Portable GPS Do You Need?

As you can clearly see from the above analysis, there are three different types of portable GPS units. There is the unit that works like a mobile map. This GPS device is going to use the data it gathers from the Global Positioning System in conjunction with some mapping data already installed on the device. The coordinates that the GPS calculates via trilateration are placed somewhere on the mapping application and then displayed for the user to see. The navigation, marine, golf, and geocaching GPS all fall into this category.

They generally have rich displays that provide a lot of information to their users. Usability and intuitive interfaces are among the top priority for these devices, and that means they need to have a reliable connection to a GPS signal, bright, readable screens, and an easy way to navigate about the menus. Major names in these niches include Garmin, TomTom, Magellan, Lowrance, and Navigon.

The second category of portable GPS devices that we see in the list above is passive GPS tracking devices. This is the type of unit that does not have a digital map display but instead keeps a log of the GPS coordinates of where the device has been. This log is taken passively and is to be downloaded later for interaction with a secondary GPS software package. This software will interpret the information gathered by the tracking device and then spit it all back out in a way that is useful and makes sense to the user.

This type of device can be found in the fitness GPS and covert GPS tracking categories. Items like the Garmin Forerunner 405, Garmin Edge 705, and the TrackStick all fall inside this grouping. While both the Forerunner 405 and Edge 705 have a graphic display, this serves more of a fitness function than a GPS function. Things like speed and distance traveled are displayed rather than their position in the grander scheme of things. In order to get that type of information you have to download your workout history and run it through a GPS software to see where your workout took you.

The TrackStick has no graphic display whatsoever and is purely a passive tracking device. All you do with this GPS tracker is turn it on, place it where you want it to be, and let it do the tracking for you. When the battery runs out or when you no longer want to track that particular person or object you just remove the device and download the data. Your GPS tracking software will then interpret the data and put it on a map for you – but this map is going to be on your personal computer rather than on the portable GPS tracking device itself.

And finally, the last category of portable GPS devices are real time GPS tracking units. This set of devices differs from passive GPS trackers in that the information gathered by the device is communicated in real time to the GPS tracking software. You don’t have to wait to download the tracking log from the device as it sends out the data actively at set intervals.

These real time GPS tracking devices use a system know as GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) that is part of modern cell phone networks. It is the means by which this information is communicated to the GPS tracking software. If the GPS is unable to connect to a network where it can transmit the data you cannot get real time tracking with these devices.

As you can clearly see, the number of portable GPS units is astounding. Depending upon what GPS niche you are looking to get a device in will impact your level of choice significantly. There are some brand names that span many different categories, which the GPS giant Garmin being the dominate force in many categories, but there is no one clear leader in all fields of GPS devices. Be sure to read up and get informed about any particular device you are thinking about buying. While all of them are going to be using GPS to do what they do, not all portable GPS devices are equal.

4 Types of Tracking Devices Explained

When you think about tracking devices these days your mind will automatically go to toward thinking about GPS. Our culture has enough exposure through experience, news shows like 60 Minutes, and crime show dramas that GPS tracking can be incredibly useful for law enforcement purposes. But we are also beginning to realize that the ability to have tracking devices on our person at all times is also a desirable condition. We think of how useful it would be to attach a GPS watch to an Alzheimer’s patient so that if they wander off they can be easily located by their family. Or we might see how beneficial it might be to be able to monitor our teen’s driving while they are out on the road using the family car. We may even see how easily a tracking unit could help us make a decision about whether or not a spouse is cheating on us, the location information provided by a data logging GPS confirming our suspicions about their fidelity.

With all this utility staring us in the face it is no wonder that we are becoming a GPS-centric society. New devices and new ways to track things are being introduced at an ever increasing pace. Tracking technology still has a long way to go, and as our ability to make more powerful satellites, more accurate time pieces, and more sensitive GPS receivers continues to grow our ability to do more with tracking devices will increase. As this happens, more and more of our tracking dreams will become a reality.

In the mean time, lets take a look at the current state of tracking devices to help us get an idea of what is possible and where things might end up going to.

Cell Phone Tracking Devices

iPhone GPS Tracking

The first tracking device that most people are going to recognize is the cell phone. This is probably the most widely used tracking device today but very few people actually realize that there cell phone can be used to track their movements. All a cell phone needs is a signal from a cell phone tower and to be turned on for it to be one of the most powerful tracking devices on the market.

The way this particular device works is going to depend on your cell phone make and on the provider that you use, but you can summarize how each works by bringing up the principle of trilateration. How this works is that the cell phone does some fancy math to determine its location based upon the know location of either a cell phone tower or a GPS satellite, telling the mobile phone exactly where it is at any given moment in time. (I have explained this concept in my post about how GPS tracking watches work, so you can see that article if you want a more in depth explanation.)

This has obvious implications as a personal tracking device. Since most people use cell phones in some capacity almost everyone is going to be able to be tracked in this way. Now some phones and phone service providers like to make the tracking function of their phones widely know – for example the iPhone, Blackberry, and other smartphones will shout this information from the top of their lungs – but there are a lot of other phones that offer this functionality that can be used as tracking devices on a consumer level. The reason that I say on the consumer level is that the police and other first responders have the ability to track cell phones of all varieties, thanks in part to a 2005 law requiring this functionality for emergency response purposes.

Some mobile providers will offer consumer grade tracking on their phones as part of a family tracking plan. I have seen rates for this starting at $5 a month – which is really inexpensive for those who already have the data plan that these programs often require. But there are also ways to get GPS tracking on your cell phone for free. I have compiled a list of free GPS applications for cell phones, but these services are generally restricted to certain phones and require that you have a robust data plan to take full advantage of their functionality. They are extremely powerful and cheap, but even cheap GPS tracking can be expensive if you can’t afford a data plan for your phone.

Vehicle Tracking Devices

Another type of tracking device that people are going to think about are vehicle tracking devices. These are really commercial grade trackers that offer a whole host of important fleet management features for businesses and corporations. Some of the better devices can do much more than simply track the movements of a vehicle. They can:

  • Give directions to a driver, making routing and other business related activities much easier and much more efficient.
  • Monitor important vehicle metrics like speed and direction as well as other vehicle performance indicators like the ease of stops and starts.
  • Cute an idling engine that has been running too long.
  • Turn off vehicle lights that have been left on by a driver.
  • Give GPS coordinates to the authorities in case of a theft or medical emergency.
  • Serve as an electronic and positional time card, helping workers work harder while on the clock.

The thing about vehicle tracking systems is that they are anything but cheap. The tracking device itself will run you several hundred dollars depending on the level of functionality that you want the device to have.  GPS bus tracking devices are going to be different than GPS fleet tracking devices because they will do different things. They will therefore have different costs associated with them.

Another things about vehicle tracking that is going to raise the price a bit is paying for the tracking service with your provider. This can range from tens of dollars per unit to hundreds of dollars per unit. Most companies are going to give you a reduced price for each unit you track, but there is little you can do to reduce costs here expect for try and find a free GPS tracking software package. These do exist, but instead of money you will have to invest time to get the system to work just like you want it. For some individuals it is just going to better to go with a paid tracking service.

Car Tracking Devices

Very similar to vehicle tracking devices, car tracking devices are used track a car or vehicle but they often lack some of the functionality that the more commercial grade vehicle trackers might have. For example, a car tracker usually doesn’t have the ability to lock and unlock doors, cut the engine, or notify a driver if they are idling too long. A vehicle tracker does this because that is the market it is catered to (businesses with fleets of vehicles it wants to monitor) while car trackers appeal to individuals who want to see where their car is or to recover a stolen vehicle. In the world of GPS car tracking, there are two main uses: to monitor an individual’s activity or to recover a stolen vehicle.

There are a few different reasons why a person might want to install a GPS tracking device inside of a car for the purpose of people monitoring. One reason is that the person might be a suspect in an ongoing police investigation and the police want to monitor their activity without the cost associated with physical surveillance. Using GPS is a lot more cost effective, and as long as a warrant has been obtained, they can track an individual for as long as the court deems appropriate.

Zoombak GPS Tracker

Another reason might be to keep track of a teen’s driving habits. By installing a GPS device in their car you can get a lot of information about how they drive, where they drive, and when they drive. This can be used to enforce family driving rules and create a safe environment for them to drive in. Teen drivers have one of the highest incidents of fatal car crashes of the age groups recorded by insurance companies, so finding a way to help them drive safely should be the top priority of any parent. For some, this means using a GPS tracking device as an aid.

Still another reason to install a car tracking device would be to see if a spouse is cheating on you. While most of the time a tracking device is only going to tell you where your spouse has been, this knowledge can be extremely useful in determining the truth about their actions. If they said they are going to a friends house but their car ends up somewhere else then you know that something might be going on with them. You can call them very innocently and ask them how so-and-so’s house is going and if they tell you that everything there is fine even though they are not there you might know that something is up with them and that you should maybe investigate things further.

For each of these uses you will notice that being able to do a lot of the stuff that GPS vehicle tracking can do is superfluous. What a person in this situation needs to do is be able to track the movements of a person – and not always in real time either. While it is nice to be able to track a teen in real time or to see if a spouse is cheating as it happens, a data logger will generally do just as a good.

However, when it comes to being able to recover a stolen vehicle having a real time GPS tracking device is going to be a good idea. That way, when the criminal takes away your vehicle the police can have real time tracking information that will lead them right to your property. That way the criminal can be caught and your property can be returned to you. One of the major theft recovery GPS tracking devices is LoJack and it has been around for years. It is very effective at helping police find stolen property.

GPS Tracking Watches

Finally, the last tracking device that we should talk about are <link>GPS tracking watches</link>. A GPS watch is exactly what it sounds like – a watch that has all the functionality of a GPS device. When you take a look at it, there are two main types of GPS tracking watches and each type has a corresponding use. There are watches that act as data loggers and there are watches that act as real time trackers.

Garmin 405 GPS Tracking Watch

A data logger might be something like the Garmin Forerunner 405. This is a fitness GPS tracking watch that is the top of the line and has tons of really cool features. It is great for serious athletes who want to take their training to the next level and is even better for multi-sport athletes. When paired with a heart rate monitor it provides some of the best workout metrics of any device on the market. It is also a stereotypical example of what a data logging GPS tracking watch is good for. The device logs workout information like speed, altitude, direction, total time working out, and heart rate. This watch is just a data logger marketed toward runners and is the ultimate fitness tracking device.

GuardianLion LEO GPS Tracking Watch

A real time tracker might look something more like the GuardianLion Leo. This is a full featured GPS tracking device that fits on your wrist. It combines the best of cell phone technology with the power of GPS location data to create the ultimate safety device for kids and those suffering from Alzheimer’s. It allows parents or caretakers to have a real time knowledge about the location of their charge and even allows them to get into contact with that individual through the watch itself! This is extremely powerful technology and until recently these watches were so bulky as to be comical. Apparently, the GuardianLion Leo is small enough to fit comfortably on a writs and actually looks something like a normal watch.

The Future of Tracking Devices

The future is going to be portable, personal tracking devices. As we can already see with the GPS tracking watches and cell phones, the technology is making great strides toward becoming more and more consumer friendly. It is being packaged and delivered in a way that is very palatable for consumers and this means that tracking devices are going to be here for a very long time and in many different forms. If I had to put money on one become dominate it would have to be the cell phone, but the future is by no means certain. We will just have to wait and see what happens – but I know this for sure, GPS is going to be a big part of my childrens’ lives and an even bigger part of their childrens’ lives.

Picking Your GPS Vehicle Tracking System

Like with most other forms of GPS tracking, when it comes to vehicle tracking using GPS there are two main types: real-time tracking and passive, logging tracking.  Depending on why you want to track a certain vehicle will determine which method of tracking you employ.  However, it is important to note that GPS vehicle tracking is more viable today than it has ever been in the history of GPS or vehicle tracking so there are going to be a lot of different options for the person serious about finding an option that works best for them.

There is also going to be a distinction between those who want to track a vehicle with GPS for personal use and those that want to employ vehicle tracking for a business.  The equipment and the systems used will differ in quality and design, but not necessarily in how they work – they will be using GPS tracking technology to find, record, and report the location of a vehicle to someone.  As we will see, it is how these devices do this that matters.

Real Time GPS Vehicle Tracking

When most people think about GPS based vehicle tracking they think of tracking that occurs in real time.  If a vehicle is at 101 North Main Street then a person is going to want to be able to look at a computer running some GPS tracking software and be able to tell that.  If the vehicle then turns left down Michigan Street they want to be able to tell that this has occurred within a reasonable amount of time – say 5 seconds.  This is the power of real time GPS tracking.

But there are several things that you have to realize if you are going to choose this type of GPS vehicle tracking system:

  1. Tracking devices that offer updates in real time are often anything but cheap.  It can run you hundreds of dollars just for the hardware that gets the tracking off the ground.  On top of the hardware purchase there is going to be a service fee of some amount depending on the company that you choose to service your GPS tracking plan.  Different companies will work with different hardware and some companies will charge you more than others for access to your real-time tracking information.  Most companies are going to make your tracking data available through a GoogleMaps-like interface, so it should come down to who is going to offer you the best price for the services that you really need.
  2. Not all GPS tracking devices are created equal.  The more modern the device the more likely it is going to have the latest technology in terms of GPS receptiveness and communication technology.  For example, the newer SiRFstarIII chipset is widely accepted as being superior to other previous GPS chips.  It acquires a signal much faster and can even get a GPS signal where many other older GPS chipsets cannot.  You are also going to want to make sure that your GPS has access to GPRS, a system that will allow your GPS tracking device to transmit the data it gathers on the vehicle to the software that will display it for you on your computer screen.
  3. In addition to the paid services you can get some GPS tracking for free.  Probably the best vehicle trackers are cell phones, especially since there are tons of free GPS tracking applications for them.  While you won’t get a lot out of this type of free service, if you put some thought and work into you can use a free tracking program to do all sorts of cool stuff.  It normally doesn’t scale too well, so this type of tracking is only really going to work for an individual, a family, or a small business that want to track their vehicles with GPS.

Most people who choose to use real time GPS vehicle tracking fall into one of two categories, they want to use it for GPS fleet tracking or they want to track a single person.  The reasons that business would choose to track their vehicles with GPS are obvious.  Most small businesses that employ some form of GPS tracking generally see an increase in the number of services orders that their fleet fulfills in just two years time.  The average increase they see is around 25%, making GPS tracking a very useful tool in the chest of a business owner.

If used appropriately, real time fleet tracking can improve worker productivity, create a positive work environment, improve vehicle routing, streamline fleet maintenance, and encourage efficient work habits.  This can be a win-win for employees and employers alike if deployed with tact.

Then there is using real time GPS tracking for personal use.  Here is a list of some of the reasons that a person may choose to use a personal GPS vehicle tracking system:

  • Track a teen with GPS while they drive.
  • Catch a cheating spouse in the act.
  • Know when a spouse with an erratic schedule is on their way home.
  • Keep connected with family members while on a long road trip.

This list is by no means exhaustive and is simply supposed to be a small indication of the different things that a person can do with this type of technology.  The possibilities are really limited by our imagination and ingenuity.

GPS Vehicle Tracking Loggers

Data loggers are a completely different beast.  While they do work off the same basic GPS principles that real time trackers work off of, they do not have the all important real time capabilities that GPRS gives a real time tracker.  Loggers are mostly used in covert GPS vehicle tracking done by police or by private parties to help them get a better understanding of a person’s activities.  For example, there was a GPS vehicle tracking logger at the center of the warantless GPS tracking case.  This device was used by police, who had a warrant by the way, to track down the activity of a suspected stalker.  They installed it on his car and waited about two weeks.  The evidence was then downloaded on the police computers where they were able to place the suspect at the scene of a stalking incident that happened during the time when the GPS tracking was active.

The GPS vehicle tracking equipment used in this type of tracking is often much cheaper than other their real time tracking counterparts.  You can generally get one of these devices for under $200 and they can provide location information for months since they track vehicles passively.  Also, you won’t have to worry about an expensive service fee because these devices have no such fee.  They don’t use GPRS nor do they need to communicate with a third party.  All GPS tracking software is going to be installed locally on one of your own computers so no one else has to know about the data that you gather.

Also, data loggers (like GPS tracking sticks) generally have a much longer active battery life than do real time GPS trackers.  This is because transmitting data via GPRS can be very taxing on a units power supply.  Without constant power it can be difficult to get real time information on a target that you want to track in secret and going back to the scene of the tracker could lead to having it found out by the person you want to track covertly.

This makes it great for covert GPS tracking or for tracking a person in secret.  While real time tracking is certainly going to be more useful if you want to take action on data while something is actually happening, data logging can be just as useful for vehicle tracking.

Which GPS Tracking Solution Best Meets Your Needs?

When you come to the final analysis you will have to weigh your budget constraints with your tracking wishes.  I don’t think that there are many people who would prefer a data logger over a real time tracker, but money is a serious limitation for some people and they simply cannot afford the cost associated with live tracking capabilities.  No matter which option you go with you can be certain that there is a GPS vehicle tracking device out there for you, your needs, and your budget.

Golf GPS Tracking

Knowing where you are at at any given moment on a golf course can be huge for your game.  Today, you can know the distance from ball to hole with a simple simple handheld device – a golf GPS tracking device.  This can be a stand along GPS, like the Garmin golf GPS Approach G5, or it could a mobile phone that has one of the golf GPS software upgrades installed on it.  Either way, you are going to get  some important improvement for your golf game by being able to make an appropriate club selection for your next stroke.

Handheld Golf GPS Units

There are several stand alone golf GPS units out on the market today.  These units are small enough to fit comfortably inside the pocket of your pants and can certainly fit inside your golf bag to be pulled out at a time convenient for you.  Here are several different GPS models designed specifically with golfers in mind:

Golf GPS Review: Garmin Approach G5

The Garmin Approach G5 is the cream of the crop in terms of personal golf GPS tracking units. The case is durable so it can jostled around a bit in your golf bag. It also is waterproof, so if you accidentally throw your golf clubs into the drink you won’t have to worry about destroying your investment (but we don’t recommend throwing anything into the water – its is just bad form). This GPS has a touch screen and comes preloaded with thousands of golf courses preloaded on the device. This device uses some of the latest GPS receiver technology to give golfers of all skill levels personalized and accurate distances to help users improve their club selection and their scores.

One of the great parts about the Approach G5 is that you get to look at the golf course you are on with a lot of detail. And since you can know your position on the course to within a couple of yards thanks to this Garmin’s high-powered GPS tracking receiver you can make full use of this detail. You don’t need to eye a hole and think that it is 100 yards away – you can get the full power of a constellation of 20+ global positioning satellites to give you your location in real time. This means that you can use the Approach at your buddies ball and then at your own in a matter of minutes without you both having to buy one of these devices.

The Approach G5 also will let you touch a spot on the course map so that you can get a picture of how far away your next shot is. If there is a bend in the hole that you want to get to but you don’t have the skills to bend your shot so that you can safely land in the fairway with every shot you simple touch the point you want your ball to land and pick the appropriate club for the task. You won’t have to guess anymore and your game will be more about being able to hit the ball well instead of about how well you judge distances.

If you are serious about keeping your game above board you don’t have to worry about breaking one of the USGA rules about golf GPS units – the Approach G5 meets all the golf GPS tracking rules that this organization has set.

One of the cool features that the Approach G5 has is that is can act as a digital score card for your foursome golf party. Keeping track of one of those pencils and score cards can be a real pain, especially if you are walking the course. You want every second of your time out on the greens to be about making the next shot, not about where you put that pencil.

Golf GPS Review: GolfLogix GPS

A little lower down the chain of quality golf GPS units is the GolfLogix GPS. This device is also made by Garmin, but doesn’t offer the awesome eye candy and functionality that the G5 does. It is still a very solid GPS for golf enthusiasts and comes at a significantly lower price than the G5.

This GPS will recognize the course that you are playing on automatically and will give you distances from the front, middle and back of the greens. It is light weight (5.3 oz) and incredibly durable. If you are thinking about getting a stand alone GPS tracking device for your golfing needs this is certainly going to be one that you have to at least consider.

It doesn’t provide the touch screen capabilities of the G5, but for users who just want to know distances to the green this unit will do just fine. It is one of the most well known golf course GPS units on the market today and comes with great support from the GolfLogix.

Golf GPS Tracking Applications For Mobile Phones

But if getting a dedicated golf GPS systems is not up your alley then you might want to consider turning your smart phone into one. We have already listed several different free GPS tracking software packages that let you turn your smart phone into a GPS tracking machine, but there is also a golf GPS program that can be downloaded for free as well.

If you have an iPhone or a Blackberry and want to us it as a golf GPS you should head over to the GolfLogix website. In addition to being the operators of the dedicated golf GPS unit mentioned above, they also offer free GPS applications for the iPhone and Blackberry mobile phones. This means that in addition to being able to install a regular GPS tracking software on your phone to let you know where you are or to let your loved ones know where you are you can also use it a golf GPS. In fact, you can even use your iPhone or Blackberry for both GPS functions at the same time!

If you are in the market for a golf GPS range finder but you don’t want to fork out hundreds of dollars and already have a smartphone then then you might want to consider getting one of these free applications. I don’t even think you need a good data plan for it because it doesn’t send data out of the phone like a normal GPS tracking application might. All you are doing is using your mobile phone’s computer to use the GPS information gathered from your phone to run against the mapping software produced by GolfLogix.

If you have any experience with any of the golf GPS tracking solutions let us know about it in the comments below.