Tag: kids gps

Geomate Jr: A Kids GPS For An Active Child

Geocaching is a great way for kids to ditch their video games and TV for an active outdoor adventure.  Kids need some type of excuse to get outside and play in the great outdoors. A life of video games and TV has led to high levels of obesity in America when combined with a steady diet of processed food. Our children need to exercise if they are to break the cycle, so finding interesting and compelling reasons to get them out the door is something that parents are going to be looking for at every opportunity.

Geocaching combines our children’s love for technology with their need to get outside and DO something.  It is like a real life video game, kids must use an electronic device to find a hidden treasure located somewhere around them.  The device guides them to their location and helps them navigate the world around them.  The can run, or bike, or even walk on their search – all of theses activities are recommended by government orginizations as great ways to improve your child’s health.

But there is one catch with geocaching, the GPS devices traditionally used for it are anything but cheap.  Devices like the Garmin GPS 60CSx Handheld GPS Navigator and the Garmin eTrex Vista HCx Color High-Sensitivity Mapping Handheld GPS run somewhere above $200 a piece. Sure, they are great devices that can be used for way more than just geocaching, but do you really want to bed dropping that much money on a device that will help your kids play?

Savy to this issue, a company and product was create to solve this issue: Geomate.jr.  The product is significantly cheaper than the more traditional geocaching alternatives provide by Garmin and other GPS manufacturers.  Right now, you can get it for about $70 at REI. The only thing that even really comes close to this in terms of price is the Garmin eTrex H Handheld GPS Navigator, which is being sold four about $85.

The Garmin eTrex has received some pretty high praise from its users as a geocaching GPS.  Here is one that I though was particularly telling:

This is my primary Geocaching GPS. The high sensitivity chip has the same strong processing power, and thus signal sensitivity and position resolution, as any of the more expensive units. It gives me excellent accuracy in areas where my older GPS units just give up, even dense forest cover.

If you’re only interested in point to point navigation (geocaching, trail tracks or just finding your way back to the car or the ski chalet), then this unit will do a great job for a no-regrets price.

In my opinion, this is going to be the product that you are going to want to compare the Geomate.jr up against if you begin to seriously consider it as a geocaching tool for your child since the price difference is only about $15.

So, what are the Geomate.jr’s features?

  • Comes preloaded with about 250,000 geocache locations covering all 50 U.S. states
  • Turn the unit on and it will load up the closest geocaching location stored in memory; to find another location simply press the next button and the GPS device will automatically load the next closest cahce
  • Not only does the location of the nearest cache appear, but other important details also are displayed, such as the Geocaching.com ID code, the terrain, difficulty rating, and the size of the cache
  • Has a “Home” waypoint that will assist you in returning to your point of origin
  • Displays compass heading, latitude and longitude
  • You can keep a log of all the caches that you have visted so far so that you don’t do the same cache twice if you don’t want to
  • The ability to add more caches at a point in the future (at an additional cost)
  • Powered for 12 hours on AAA batteries

The features that seem the nicest about the Geomate.jr is that the loading of the geocaches is automatic.  You don’t need to input the coordinates into your device yourself since they already exist within the memory.  This seems idealy suited to kids who might not be familiar with how to input some information into a handhelf GPS navigation device like the Garmin eTrex H Handheld GPS Navigator.

But I also think that this feature is also the biggest drawback to this device.  Without the ability to add your own caches to the device you run the risk of the Geomate.jr running out of caches for your child to go and find.  Do you really want to fork out money for cache updates that you could do for free on the more traditional handheld GPS?  I don’t think I would as long as my child was wise enough to be able to input coordinates into the GPS device themselves.

It is also pretty important to note that none of these devices are going to let you be able to track your kids with GPS.  Instead, they are just there for enterainment purposes.

What do you think, is the Geomate.jr worth buying or would you rather go with the Garmin eTrex H Handheld GPS Navigator?

GPS Tracking Watches

GPS tracking watches combine the power of GPS tracking technology with the usefulness of personal time pieces. They are small, highly portable, and extremely useful in several different applications. In many cases, these watches can be a bit bulky – but they are still usually lightweight and agile. Some of the latest devices produced by Garmin are the same size as a “normal” sport or fitness watch, even with the GPS device built in.

When you step back and get the big picture about GPS tracking watches you will find the most GPS watches fall within one of two main categories: kids watches and fitness watches.

Contents:

GPS Tracking Watches for Kids

GPS tracking watches for kids are all about one thing: safety. These devices are meant to connect parents to their children in such a way that parents are continually aware of their child’s location and in the unlikely event of an abduction or kidnapping the parent will have enough information to locate their child quickly with the help of the police or other law enforcement agency.

These devices are extremely difficult to find, but there are some available at online retailers. Brickhouse Security, as an example, does have a GPS tracking watch designed for kids that is featured in the picture to the left. This little device is extremely powerful – not only does it provide very precise location information, but it also has a distress Alarm and a built-in cellular speakerphone that will allow your child to contact you, the police, or emergency personnel if the need ever arose.

Not many companies have created such fine watches. One reason why these devices are so difficult to come by is that for them to work effectively at making the GPS information available to parents is that they must find a way to transmit the signal out to a data processing center. The watch must be a data pusher rather than just a data logger (like fitness GPS tracking watches).

Turning a watch into a data pusher is no small feat. The best devices for this are GPS tracking cell phones – mainly because they already have cell phone technology built in and can leverage it to transmit position information to a central processing station (the does use cell phone technology in their wrist watch to push location data out). What would a cell phone look like if it was attached to your wrist? Pretty bulky, my friend. Pretty bulky.

So the technological problem of turning a watch into a cellphone-like device is one major hurdle that GPS manufacturers have had to overcome; and they have done so with very limited success.

Another main reason why GPS tracking watches for kids have not taken off and become extremely popular is that they suffer from some serious detection flaws. What I am talking about here is not GPS signal detection, but bad man detection.

Will someone taking your child really ignore the bulky device on their wrist? Will the locking mechanism really keep the watch from being removed? Won’t someone evil enough to steal a child also be evil enough to remove a hand to remove the watch that will get them caught?

It is nearly impossible for a child to hide the watch, especially if it is locked on to their wrist. This creates some serious safety issues and can essentially negate any benefit that GPS tracking might provide in this terrible situation.

These are the two main issues with kids GPS watches. These issues can be solved by creating smaller, “normal” looking devices that still have all the power of GPS tracking and a cell phone.

GPS Tracking Watches for Fitness

Fitness is a huge industry in the United States where billions of dollars are spent annually on fitness equipment, clothing, gym memberships, and fitness accessories. One small portion of this very big pie are GPS tracking watches.

In order to get a piece of this pie, several major players have arisen in the GPS watch market. There is one GPS manufacturer that has taken their product and converted it into GPS tracking watches as well as a few watch companies that have incorporated GPS in their design. The major players are Garmin, Suunto, Timex, and Polar.

There are two major methods of translating GPS tracking into fitness watched: integrating the GPS directly into the watch or using a GPS pod to collect that location data.

Garmin and Suunto have watch models that integrate the GPS receiver directly into the watch. The most recent Garmin model is the GARMIN Forerunner 405 Black GPS Enabled Sports Watch/ HRM. This is a fully integrated GPS watch that also sports a heart rate monitor (HRM). Many reviews of this device have been particularly favorable as it has a sleek, “normal” design that actually looks like a wrist watch might (unlike some of the previous Garmin Forerunner models). It is relatively lightweight at 2.1 ounces, making it easy to use during a long run or other outdoor activity.

The heart rate monitor is another great benefit to using a fitness GPS tracking watch like the Garmin Forerunner 405. This small add on will give you immediate feedback on how hard your body is working and if you are getting a good workout while you are on your run. But the benefit doesn’t end there. Once you are home you will be able to sit down in front of your computer and get a bird’s eye view of your workout, giving you a better understanding of what you need to work on to continue to improve your fitness level.

The other way that companies have made GPS available or fitness watches is via a GPS pod that you attach to your shoe or waist. These devices then capture the GPS signal and transmit it up to the watch which then takes the information and stores and displays it to you, the user. Many of these watches also come with a heart rate monitor.

Here is a robust list of fitness GPS tracking watches found at Amazon.com divided up by their brand:

Buy A GPS Tracking Watch

Buying a GPS tracking watch is certainly not a necessary purchase – not for child safety nor for physical fitness. However, these devices can be extremely fun and enjoyable if you want to know more precise information about your fitness routine or you feel a need to know your child’s location on demand. Make sure you consider all your options carefully before buying a GPS tracking watch.

GPS Tracking For Kids

Check out one of the smallest and most powerful GPS trackers for children: AmberAlert GPS

If you have ever found yourself wishing that you knew at any moment where your child was with an accuracy of up to 3 meters, then GPS tracking for kids might be something that you want to take a look at.  GPS has been around since the 80s when it was released for public use (before the Global Positioning Satellite system had been reserved solely for the military), but has only recently been made available for use by private persons for the tracking of the people closest to them – their children.

Before GPS tracking devices were simply too bulky to be of much use on a child – they were either too heavy to be safely and continuously carried, too large to be of much use for covert, safety oriented tracking, or they were too inaccurate to be of much help to consumers or their kids.  All this has changed in the last 5-10 years as technology has become increasingly smaller and more efficient.

Let me explain this with a similar bit of technological breakthrough that we have had in the same amount of time – namely that of computer storage. 10 years ago it would have a pipe dream to have a desktop computer with 160 GB of storage space – now iPods come with that much memory.  In the same way that computer technology in general has advanced so rapidly, GPS tracking technology has made leaps and bounds as well – becoming increasingly smaller, more power, more efficient, and more accurate.

All of these changes have been good for parents looking to keep tabs on their children with a technological solution.  But this begs the question, why should any child be tracked with GPS?

Reasons to Choose GPS Tracking For Kids

As far as I can tell, there are three main reasons to use GPS tracking for your kids: safety concerns, behavior problems, and paranoia.

Safety is probably the main reason most parents are going to want to use GPS to keep tabs on their children.  They want something that will quickly and accurately locate their child at a moments notice.  Is the child supposed to be at home but hasn’t been heard from in over an hour?  Are they supposed to be at Tim’s house to hang out after school and do some homework but a call to Tim’s parents reveals that your child never arrived?  Do you worry that something could happen to your child as they wait for you after baseball practice in the park by the canyon?  If any of these situations have happened to you then you know that you wish there was some way to find out where you child is right away.  GPS tracking for kids can provide accurate and reliable information for you in a way that is actionable and useful.

Take a moment and imagine that your child did not come home on time like you were expecting, fear is gripping you as you wait by the window for their arrival.  It could be that they simply hung around too long after school playing tether ball with their friends or took too long in the park as they cut across it on their way home.  You want to find out where your daughter is right now.  You run to your computer and you log in to your child’s GPS tracking watch provider to get a look at their position.  Your heart breathes a sigh of relief as you see that they are on their way home traveling at 2 mph about 2 blocks from home – they must have lingered too long at the park.

Now imagine that same situation where you find that your child is traveling 65 mph on a major highway heading away from home?  You’d dial 911 in an instant and you could be able to give the police some seriously useful information that would likely lead to the recovery of your child – all thanks to a GPS tracking device in your child’s backpack.

Another important reason to use GPS tracking for kids in some circumstance is behavioral problems or mental disabilities.  A child that is prone to wander because they suffer from some sort of behavioral or mental disorder is someone that you want to find and find quickly.  Short trips to the supermarket, or family vacations, or even simple trips to the park can become living nightmares as you search frantically for the child that has wandered off and slipped out of your site.  Child locators, a certain type of GPS tracking device, work great in this situation where quick feedback without the use of computer is necessary.  They are not always the best solution for families since they do have some issues and cell phones are becoming internet capable in a big way – making the obstacle of internet access to use location information much smaller.

And the final reason to get a GPS device to track your child is because you are paranoid and need to find someway to calm your own fears just a little bit.  The fact is that the vast majority of children have no need for GPS tracking.  They will go through their lives and never need the safety of always having their location just a moment away from being known by their parent.  Running a little late, being alone at a park after baseball practice, and playing hooky with a friend instead of being where they are supposed to be are all  normal activities for kids to be doing at some point in their life.  You probably did the same thing and your parents didn’t need a GPS device to keep tabs on you.

However, if you are person who works in Mexico City or some other place that routinely has kidnappings then it might be a good idea to get a GPS tracking device for your children so that when Man on Fire happens to you and your family, your Denzel Washington will be able to kick the crap out of the bad kidnappers who stole your Dakota Fanning.

Now that we have established three legitimate reasons to go out and purchase some sort of GPS tracking device for your child, it  begs the question, “What devices can I get that will provide GPS tracking for kids?”

Device That Use GPS Tracking For Kids

There are three main devices that you are going to find around the web and in stores that will assist you in keeping tabs on your child: gps tracking watches, covert GPS trackers, and kids GPS phones.

GPS tracking watches are a small, reliable, and kid friendly option for parents seeking to use GPS tracking with their children.  These devices are exactly what their name sounds like – they are a GPS tracking device that fits on the wrist of your child.  There are a couple of different brands available, but none of them are household names (certainly not Garmin, TomTom, or Magellan if that is what you were hoping for – though Garmin does offer a fitness GPS watch).  Some of the watches look a little funky, but in general they do provide you with what you are expecting.

In general, a GPS watch for kids is going to look a little bulky on their wrist, have some extravagantly ugly colors, and will probably throw up warning signals to any would be villain to get rid of the watch ASAP.  These devices are probably not as easy at GPS phones to get your child to use, but being attached at the wrist may make them less likely to be randomly lost.

The next option for parents to consider is covert GPS tracking for kids.  Again, there are a variety of different implementations to consider when going the covert route.  Do I go with a GPS in the shoe, teddy bear, coat, or backpack?  Do I go with a build in device or do I find something that I sew or attach myself?  How you answer these questions will determine what product you purchase.

The amount of information that you are going to get with a more covert approach to tracking is the same as what you would find with a a tracking watch, but the idea is that these covert trackers will escape detection for a very significant period of time.  If the device is hidden well enough in a “necessary” piece of equipment or apparel then you are almost certain that you will be able to find your child in any and all circumstances.

And finally, we have kids GPS phones.  These are kids cell phones that have integrated GPS technology so that they can get an accurate read on the phones position under almost any circumstance provided that the phone is on.

This combination of cell phone and GPS technology is very powerful.  A GPS signal will be able to give position information if the phone cannot use cell towers to establish a location, and cell towers can establish a location when a direct line of site with the sky has been obstructed by a car trunk, cement wall, or mound of dirt.  The cell phones power is in its usability in almost every circumstance.

This power is also its greatest weakness when considering it as a GPS tracking device for kids.  Everyone and there mother knows that cell phones can be used to communicate position information to the authorities.  This means that it is often the first thing to go if your child is in an emergency situation.  Kids GPS cell phones must be kept quiet and used very wisely by your child if it is to be effective at recovering them from something horrible.

In most normal conditions, kids GPS phones are great because they also let you talk directly with your child.  If they are late coming home, simply call them and ask them where they are – if what they tell you is different from what you computer is saying then you can deal with your child as you see fit.  The power to do so is now in your hands.

A Final Word On GPS Tracking For Kids

One thing that I haven’t mentioned yet but is very pertinent to our discussion here is the GPS tracking for kids costs money.  You are going to have to go in up front for a tracking device (whether it is a GPS tracking watch, covert GPS tracking device, or a kids GPS phone) and you are probably going to be hit with a reoccurring service charge every month to be able to use the tracking capability on the device.  This can add up to big money for a family already strapped for cash.

My advice is to think very carefully about using GPS tracking for kids and to only use it if it makes real sense given your family’s unique set of circumstances.

Child Locators

Child locators are devices that contain GPS or radio technology that can communicate a child’s location to their parent.  Generally speaking, devices that work over short distances use radio technology while devices that work over long distances make use of GPS.  The short range tracking devices often have a receiver that will provide the parent with instant feedback on their child’s location while the longer range devices often require some sort of interface to access the GPS tracking information.

There are obvious pros and cons to each device type that parents should consider before deciding which one will best fit their child’s needs.

Short Range Child Locators

Brickhouse Security Child LocatorShort range child locators are excellent because they provide instant feedback for parents.  The device to the right is from Brickhouse Security, the company featured in a Duracell commercial found on cable television.  This child tracker provides parents holding the unit in the center with the general direction and distance of their son or daughter who is equipped with the device pictured on the left.

These devices can be great for use at parks or other very public, very crowded locations where kids of all ages can easily get lost in the mass of people. All it takes is a split second for you to get distracted and your child to step through a crowd and be out of view. Most times children are simply looking at something interesting, but the feeling in your chest is one of complete panic.

Short range child locators are designed specifically to help parents find their children in this type of circumstance. The child is within a few hundred feet of the parent, they are in some way obstructed from view by terrain or crowds, and the chances of being separated from your child for a long period of time is relatively low – all of which lends itself to quick location information that points you in the right direction immediately.

These types of child locators do have some drawbacks. Most of these kid tracking devices are limited in range. According to the specifications on the child locator mentioned above provided by BrickHouse Security, the child tracking device is only effective up to ranges of 600 feet outdoors and 250 indoors. While this is more than sufficient for a wandering child who slips out of sight momentarily, it is frighteningly insufficient for tracking your child while you are at work or while they are at a friends house.

Another potential drawback is the fact that you need to keep the monitor with you at all times if you want to check in with your kid’s location. This probably will not bother too many parents, but you already have a camera, a phone, keys, a wallet, a purse, etc. carrying an extra thing around can be a little inconvenient.

When it comes down to it though short range child locators do a great job at giving concerned parents a quick and accurate vector on their child’s location.

Long Range Child Locators

When you think of a long range child locator it is best to think of GPS. This is not always the case (see kids GPS phones), but in these instances the child locator acts just like it had GPS technology in it in the sense that you can estimate the location of your son or daughter to within a few meters.

Long range child locators provide exactly what you might expect from them – the ability to track your kid from one end of town to the next.  By using GPS or cell phone technology these devices provide very accurate and very useful information to parents such as the direction of your child.  They can also allow parents to track a teen while driving (this is good for making sure the teen’s driving habits  are good and that they don’t speed).  This could be the key in determining if your child is as safe as you would want them to be.

These type of locators generally work the following way –

  1. The GPS unit receives signals from the Global Positioning Satellites orbit the sky over head
  2. The device then takes that information and “pushes” it out via radio signals to a central processing station (this is why these devices are called data pushers)
  3. The central processing station interprets this data and makes it available to you through some sort of application – usually an online interface (a website where you can get the information)

The benefit to this type of system is that you can access the information anywhere you have access to the internet.  Your home, office, local library, a coffee shop, or any place you can get cell reception if you have a cell phone with internet access can provide you information on your child’s location.

This is particularly powerful in those emergency situations that no parent ever wants to find themselves in.  If something terrible were to happened at your kid’s school, or a natural disaster strike while your child is at a friends house, or your teen doesn’t show up to the house at curfew all you would need to do is get to a internet enable device and you could see exactly where they are in the time it takes to get on the internet.  In some cases, that lightening quick information could be the difference between life and death.

It is also one of the biggest drawbacks of these long range devices.

Situations where the short range child locators flourish are terribly impractical for the longer range counterparts.  A kids GPS cell phone or even a GPS kids watch simply will not do at a crowded amusement park if you have to go back to the hotel room to get on the internet.  You want to find your child and you want to find them now.

It seems hard to imagine loosing sight of your child in a crowded place and taking out your cell phone, getting on the internet, entering your login credentials for your child locator subscription, finding out that your child is somewhere at Disneyland, trying to find out exactly where at Disneyland they are, and then heading off in that direction to hope to find them.  What you need in that instance is to know exactly which direction to start looking right away.

Child Locators in Summary

As you can see, there are different uses for and different benefits received from child locator devices.  Here is a quick reference chart of the various pros and cons associated with each type of device:

ProsCons
Short Range Child Locator
  • Great for public, open spaces
  • Instant feedback on child’s location
  • One time purchase fee
  • Limited Range
  • Another device to carry around
  • Most require batteries
Long Range Child Locator
  • Excellent for long range, from a distance tracking
  • Tracking information accessible from anywhere with an internet connection
  • Monthly fee in the range of a cell phone subscription
  • Inefficient for quick, short range information

It is important to note that one device isn’t necessarily better than the other – it all depends on the way you want to use the locator.  In some family circumstances, a long range, GPS device is going to best fit the needs of parent and child.  In others the shorter range child locator is going to be what is best for everyone.

In the end, only you can make the decision on what type of chid locator works best for your family.

Kids GPS Phone: A Brief Introduction

We all know cell phones are here to stay. You can’t walk 10 feet in any public place without seeing some parent, child, or teen talking on their cell phone. You can even go to ‘poor’ countries and find that many people have access to this type of wireless communication. But have you ever heard of a kids GPS phone that is designed specifically to help parents keep tabs on their children?

A few years ago, cellular phone companies found out that busy parents needed a solution to their business problem. With the pressures of work and the need to get things done around the house, get kids to their activities, make dinner, and be sure that they have money for their future parents realized that they weren’t giving their children the time that they deserved. As a result of this they developed types of cell phones that have been labeled ‘kid phones’ for the functionality made specific for children of a young age.

Kids GPS Cell PhoneThese phones generally have certain features that make them particularly useful for small children.  One of them is that they often have the regular number pad removed.  This is replaced by a speed dial pad.  This helps your child on two levels:

  1. They do not have to memorize telephone numbers at all. While most children are very good at memorization as early as the age of 4, so you are not having them memorize your cell phone number because they are not able too. But in the heat of an emergency a child’s brain might not be able to hand the recalling the seven digits that make up your phone number. By reducing it to a simple speed dial you are giving your child’s mind the ability to remember that “One equals Mommy” or that “The red button equals the police man.”
  2. By keeping your child’s phone to the simple speed dial options you reduce the risk of them using the cellular device for non-necessary reasons. You don’t your child to have access to all the internet, text messaging, and camera features that a regular cell phone might have. They simply don’t need all of that. You want them to be able to give you call in case of an emergency or if they need to be picked up from school. That is all.

The speed dial feature on kids phone seems to be the focal point of most the phone design.  The screens are often just big enough to display who you are calling and if the call is connecting or not.  Then there is the are the ‘send’ and ‘end’ buttons.  These are generally large and obvious for your child.

For many years these types of devices have been being utilized by parents to help ‘keep in touch’ with their children while parents go about their busy lives.  During this same period of time, we have also seen an explosion in GPS technology in consumer electronics.  The trickle down effect has finally made its way into cell phones and specifically created a new class of phone: the kids GPS phone.

Understanding Kids GPS Phones

Cell phones and GPS technology are very similar in nature.  With GPS, a signal containing relevant position information is transmitted from a satellite in geosynchronous orbit. As more and more signals reach a GPS receiver, the computer inside the device is able to calculate the position of the receiver using the information provided by the satellites and a mathematical process called trilateration. (For more information see our article on how GPS tracking watches work.)

Cell phones are very similar. They receive signals from cell towers that often dot the urban landscape in a type honeycomb pattern. These signals tell the cell phone that they are in service, how strong that cellular service is (i.e. how many ‘bars’ do you have?), and whether or not you are accepting calls at the moment (is the phone on or off?). When you talk with your phone, it is really acting like a very complex walkie-talkie where what you hear is being transmitted to you on one channel while what you say is being broadcast over another channel.

One interesting side effect that this has is that phones can be used as a tracking device even if they don’t have GPS enabled. This is because the cell towers can measure how long it takes to get a response back from your cell phone between the different towers in your area. Once it has this information, it can use it in conjunction with the known position of all the cell towers to find your general location. Now this is probably not as accurate as a GPS phone, but it is still pretty accurate.

This similarity between the workings of GPS and cell phones made them obvious candidates for integration into a single device: thus the GPS phone was born.  The most common application of this type of phone is found in the ubiquitously necessary navigation system.  Turn by turn direction and road maps seem to be all the rave these days and cell phone companies saw a market that they wanted to tap into.  This was definitely the first use of GPS in cell phones.  (Though it is important to note that not all phones with navigation capabilities have GPS enabled on them – the simply might have it available because of the location information available from cell towers.)

Eventually some executive or engineer decided to implement the GPS feature on the kids phones that they were already developing.  Perhaps it could be a good way to upsell some parents and get them to subscribe to more services while offering them an improved experience and more functionality.  Either way, parents might want it and cell phone providers were going to give them kids GPS phones.

These devices take advantage of both the cell phone and GPS technology that their small plastic cases contain.   Unlike a kids GPS tracking watch, kids GPS phones are able to penetrate areas that can often be hidden from the watchful eye of the Global Positioning Satellites orbiting overhead.  These areas often have some type of obstructed view of the sky overhead – such as a heavily wooded area or building – but can have access to a cell signal.  While the location information is significantly less accurate when based on information provided from the cell portion of the kids GPS cell phone, it is still better than nothing all.

Another key feature of these GPS devices is that they are also cell phones.  While some GPS watches for children also have this capability as well, many child locators do not.  There is something powerful in knowing that you can reach out and call your child whenever you are concerned about their whereabouts or safety.  It is also nice to know that they can turn around and call you as well if ever they are worried or concerned.  You are never more than a phone call away.

Plans and prices for the kids GPS cell phone are fairly reasonable if you are serious about having this type of capability in something that you already have your child using anyway.  You probably will not have to use it very often (most parents never need to), but if you feel like it will give you some peace of mind and supplement the safety of your family there is certainly some quality providers out there who can provide a kids GPS phone to meet your needs.

Parents also have the option of leveraging current cell phones and turning them into tracking devices for free. Just download one of the many cell phone trackers out on the market and you can instantly turn a normal cell phone into a power tracking device. Just be sure that you have the data plan to cover it since this type of activity can be data heavy. But if you are already paying for a data plan why not make the most of it and install a tracker on your kids cell phone?

GPS Kids Watch

Have you ever thought what you would have done with a GPS kids watch when you were growing up?  I know I have.  It probably would have been on of the coolest things in the world to be able to know that your parents could know at any minute exactly where you were, all thanks to that wonderful GPS kids watch on your wrist.

I remember that when I was in Kindergarten being at church one Sunday with my spiffy Thunder Cats kids watch.  I thought it had this special power that when I pushed a certain button it would call my brothers and we could chat with each other during Sunday School.  I even tried it a few times believing that I could actually hear them and talk back.  We were having our own little secret communications.

Well, those childhood thoughts are now a present reality.  A kids GPS watch is able to do exactly what my childhood mind fantasized about.  At the click of a button, a parent or child will be able to communicate with the other through the modern marvel of GPS cell phone technology.  All I wanted to do with my Thunder Cats kids watch was to talk with my brothers, but now in the case of an emergency a parent can activate the watch and communicate directly with their child.  The peace of mind that this can afford a parent is pretty fantastic.

They will know that if there ever were an earthquake, hurricane, tornado, flood, or other natural disaster while they were at work and the child at school that they would be no more than a click of a kids GPS watch away from talking to their child – providing the calming voice of reason that a parent should be. Sure, this type of peace of mind could be available on a cell phone, but chances are younger children could be irresponsible with a cell phone or it could be lost or not on their person when the emergency strikes.

If they are out on the playground, their kids GPS phone won’t do them much good when it is in the classroom in their backpack. The children won’t be able to return to get their backpacks and will be taken directly to the safest place for them to be – either in the multipurpose room or the playground away from buildings. With a GPS for kids watch you won’t run into this problem as the device that allows you both to contact your child and to let them know that everything is going to be okay will always be attached to their wrist.

Bulky GPS Kids Watch May Draw Unwanted Attention From Other KidsThere is some potential danger when it comes to this type of kids GPS device – namely ridicule.  GPS kids watches can be a little bulky and offer some useful but cumbersome wrist lockdown technology that will prevent your child from taking off the watch (or in the worst case scenario, a predator from taking off the watch).  Both of these combined may make the GPS tracking watch stick out with your child’s classmates.  Any problems with this can easily be avoided if you take some very proactive steps with your child.

The first step is to teach your child about GPS.  They need to know a little bit about how it works in order for it to make some sense in the way that they look at the world.  An older child can obviously handle a little more of the technical information, but a little child needs to know more about the basics and safety that they can feel when wearing it.

Let your kid know that their watch is like a child locator that lets mommy and daddy know exactly where they are if something were to happen.  Tell them that if they needed help all they would have to do it touch that button on their GPS kids watch and they could hear mommy’s or daddy’s voice that would be able to tell them exactly what they should do.  Also tell them that their GPS tracking watch can be used by you to know exactly where they were, so if they ever felt scared or lost they wouldn’t have to worry as long as they had their watch on because you could always see where they were because the watch knew how to tell mommy and daddy exactly where they are.

This will help let your child know that their kids GPS makes them safe.

Then you can embellish things a little and give them the fantasies that I had when I was a little kid and that you might have had too.

Build up the power and mystery of the watch and make it into this great peace of adventure that they can experience every day.  Let them know that the watch is like a small kids tracker that you have put on their wrist to always be able to tell exactly where they are.  This will help keep them safe as we have already discussed, but it is also about helping them have amazing adventures with their GPS .

One day, make a log of what activities they do when they are out in the world and you are at work.  After your child and you come home make it your goal to go over the map that you made using your child’s GPS kids watch with your child.  Let them know how much you love them and have a ton of fun talking with your child, giggling, asking them questions about their day, and making them feel so special to you.  Your child needs you before they need any GPS for kids.

After they feel special because you are giving them your time and effort, reinforce the GPS tracking watch that they wear by letting them know that you were able to record their adventures today like you did because of that watch.  Tell them that that child locator has the power to tell mommy and daddy exactly where they are every single day while they are at school and on the playground and in the lunch room and on the bus home from school.  Let them know that the watch provides GPS tracking for kids to mommy and daddy and that mommy and daddy like this very much.

This will help make your child like to wear the GPS kids watch and if they like thier GPS kids watch they will be able to deflect any criticism that might come their way at school.  If they don’t like it and someone makes a joke about it they will be less able to deal with the emotional problem this brings up.  They will feel ashamed and not like wearing their kids tracking device.

But if they like it, when someone makes a joke about it they can respond with confidence and assert just how great their watch really is.  GPS is nothing to be ashamed about, especially because of the safety and peace of mind that it provides.  No school yard teasing should come in the way of that.

If you are interested in more ideas on how to help your child appreciate their GPS kids watch we have two articles on this subject at GPS For Today.  The first is Getting Your Child To Wear Their Kids GPS Tracking Watch – The Power of Fun and it is about one way to draw your child in to loving their GPS tracking watch. The second is GPS Kid Tracking Tip – Adventure is King which explores the potential that tapping into your child’s love for adventure can do for getting them to wear their GPS kids watch.

Image by Matt Honan

GPS Kid Tracking Tip – Adventure is King

Kids have a flare for adventure, especially boys. Put any boy in a room with a variety of toys they will eventually find themselves turning something into a weapon of some kind or imagining they are one of their favorite heroes from a book, TV show, or movie. Boys are born for adventure. For the wise parent, this often misunderstood quality can be harnessed into you most important asset in keeping your child safe. It is also a great way to get them to wear their GPS tracking device. The trick is to work with their adventuring spirit rather than try to snuff it out and turn them into little girls.

Cultivating the Adventurer Within

Boys want to be special. They want to be seen as strong and courageous. There is something deep within them that longs to be filled with adventure. As a parent, you can lovingly guide them toward this in a safe and controlled way by utilizing a GPS kids device. After all, you want them to be safer in the event that the unthinkable would occur.

The best way to get your child to buy into using their GPS tracking device is to associate it with adventure. You can do this in any number of ways, depending on what particular flavor of adventurer your child likes. Do they love Indiana Jones? Any good modern day archaeologist uses GPS extensively, often employing multiple devices get measurements within 5 cm. Are they a fan of the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers? No good Ranger goes without a locater so the rest of squad knows exactly where he is and can run to his aid when a foe approaches. Transformers, Bob the Builder, even Dora the Explorer all ‘use’ GPS for their needs. By associating the GPS with their favorite adventurer and offering them a chance to do the same you are using a built in incentive to using the device – getting to be like their hero.

GPS Kids Devices Are Made For Adventure

Now that you have spoken with your child about the device and wowed them with the association you made with their favorite adventurer it is time to reinforce the relationship between their GPS device and fun/adventure. You can do this in any number of ways. Take your child on a walk around the park while you go on an “adventure with them.” Be sure to bring a GPS device of your own with you. It can be your GPS tracking watch or Blackberry. A Blackberry or other internet enabled cell phone might be a better choice because that way you can access your tracking service associated with your child’s device.

On your adventure stop at some point and make a reference to ‘needing’ to find exactly where you are at – to call in reinforcements, or to log the location of a valuable item, or to mark you way home. Take out your phone and access your real-time tracking service, displaying a map of your location. Show this to you child and let them know that you will be able to get this information at any time as long as they have their GPS device with them. You can do this a few more times if it will make your adventure together more interesting and fun for the both of you.

By now your child should have had a good experience with you and their GPS kids device. If you want to, and you probably will because it was so much fun, you can always re-create this type of adventure scenario to acclimate your child to their device. This will help the child think positively about GPS technology and will help them be more aware of their device, thus reducing the risk of them losing it.

Some Additional Kids GPS Considerations

In addition to using the a GPS tracking device, teach your child regular safety information. All the GPS training will do little good if they don’t know the basics. Avoid using fear as motivation for you child. It will turn out badly for them and for you. Instead, use positive thoughts, images, and incentives to achieve the behavior you are desiring. Your child will be healthier emotionally and they will probably do a better job meeting your expectations than if you used fear based tactics.

Related Posts:
Getting Your Child To Wear Their Kids GPS Tracking Watch – The Power of Fun

Kids GPS Tracking Devices and School

GPS tracking devices have many applications in today’s society.  We use them to help us better manage massive fleets (like municipal bus systems and tractor trailers), packages and other assets, as well as to track our children.  GPS tracking devices are even beginning to make their way into the world of public schools.

Bryan Adams High School is currently testing out a pilot program to help keep students in school and off the streets through the use of a GPS tracking device. Faced with a truancy rate in excess of 15% the school was loosing many of its kids and the money associated with their attendance. Strapped for a solution to this problem the Dallas Independent School District’s (Dallas ISD), which has the seventh worst dropout rate among large school districts according to America’s Promise Alliance, has turned to GPS tracking devices to get the children into class.

These GPS devices, more like the devices used to monitor an individual on house arrest than a GPS tracking watch, were given to 6 students of the more than 300 who were sent to truancy court over the past year. The project cost the district $26,000, with the bulk of the money going to a case worker assigned to monitor and assist the children’s activities and to provide support to the families in keeping their child in school. This method is much more cost effective for the state when compared to detaining the chronically truant in a juvenile detention facility. Giving them a kids GPS can also provide some much need structure to a student’s life, increasing their ability to function in society.

There are additional benefits to using GPS tracking for kids that are truant. Most students who suffer from truancy issues also have other issues that they deal with. These issue can range from the extreme to the minor and include behavior involving drugs or alcohol, gang involvement, family life issues, or all of the above. Last year, the GPS tracking system for truant students was used to locate a member of the trial group on the verge of overdosing on illicit drugs. Also last year, the GPS system helped case workers discover that a student had ditched school because he was thinking about taking his own life. In both instances, a GPS tracking unit helped those concerned with the well being of the students to track them down and provide the assistance that they so desperately needed.

But not every one is enamored with idea of kids GPS used in schools. According to a New York Times article, one Texas state senator is opposed to the idea because the “ankle cuffs used in an earlier version were reminiscent of slave chains” (source). This could be a comment based solely on the political aspirations of a politician since the ethnic make up of Bryan Adams High School is predominately non-European. The majority of students are Hispanic American (53%), with African Americans representing the next largest contingent (32%). In addition to ethnic diversity, the school is economically disadvantaged, with 62% being classified as such. These demographic statistics could be at the heart of the senator’s comments or it could really be that the school district is out to reintroduce and perpetuate slavery through GPS.

In all, the Bryan Adams High School and Dallas ISD should be applauded for their efforts in utilizing GPS tracking devices to help students to maintain their attendance, pass school, and get quality jobs that can help alleviate the poverty in the community. The use of GPS tracking technology to improve current systems needs to be further explored and tested in real life situations if we are to fully develop and utilize this powerful technology.

Kids GPS Tracking Watch for Children – The Power of Fun

Getting your child to wear their GPS tracking watch can be a bit of a hassle. They can be bulky and uncomfortable, giving your child every reason in the world not to wear it. This can defeat the purpose of getting the kids GPS device in the first place. What is even worse is that children often lose items that are not attached to their bodies, resulting in the device’s potential theft or, at the very least, the inconvenience of having to track it down in some out of the way place. Concerned parent, do not fret, there are real solutions to this child tracking problem.

Associate the GPS Tracking Watch With Warm, Fuzzy Map Feelings

GPS is built with maps in mind, often integrating seamlessly with various mapping applications. By teaching your child to enjoy looking at maps you can easily motivate them to wear their GPS kids device. For example, to introduce your child to wearing a GPS tracking watch you take them on a fun trip to one of their favorite destinations.

Let’s say that your child loves Disneyland and you decide to try this method out there. Before you go on the trip you introduce to them the idea of GPS tracking and let them know that all the places you go today are going to be tracked, but instead of having them wear the watch you wear it. You go about your fun trip as you normally would. As you wait in line at various attractions remind the child about the watch by saying things like, “I wonder where the Tea Cups are on a map of the world” or “It will be so fun to see exactly where we saw Mickey when we look at the GPS tomorrow.” The key here is on building excitement and anticipation around the watch. Once you have had a fun day at Disneyland (or on a any trip/event your child would enjoy) it is time to relive the entire experience once you have time to sit down with the tracking information. During this time you try and highlight the funnest parts of the experience while reinforcing the fact that the GPS tracking watch is what made it all possible.

You might even consider using a tracking device that seamlessly integrates with digital photos – like the i-GotU. This way you can see all the wonderful memories and the location where you took them on a map afterward.

Now your child has some significantly positive feelings about the GPS kid tracker. For some children this will be enough to get them to wear it. But if you want to solidify your child’s positive feeling toward the watch you may want to take the next step and take your child on another adventure – but this time they wear the watch. You basically do the exact same things – have fun, remind them about the watch, build anticipation to see what the watch recorded, relive the trip’s moments later – as you did the first time, but now the child will be associating the fun and excitement with them wearing the watch. This type of association is key to getting your child to buy in to the GPS system.

Reinforce Your Kid’s Love for GPS

Now that your child has some very positive memories with the device it is time to get them wearing the watch as part of their daily routine. You won’t have to fight with them during these times when you really want them to wear it the most because you have already taken a little effort on the front end to make it special.

Keeping the watch special should now be the focus of your efforts. You can do this naturally by infusing your regular dialog with your child with references to the tracker. You could say things like, “I wonder where you played at lunch today, do you want to see?” Or you might say, “Yeah, class sounded really interesting today. Hey, that makes me wonder something. I wonder where Mrs. Robinson’s classroom is on a map. Let’s look!” These types of things will hopefully keep the fun of their device alive in their mind until the force of habit created by wearing the watch day after day becomes enough to keep them wearing it for some time.

GPS Can Work For Kids

As you can see, with a little effort it is possible to build positive feelings around these sometimes bulky and awkward tracking watches. Not only will you create some really nice family memories on your trips, but you will also give yourself the peace of mind you were looking for in getting the kids GPS tracker in the first place. Both are invaluable to you as a parent and both can help make the world a safer, more happy place. So give this kids GPS tracking watch tip whirl and see how it works out for you.

This article was included in the Carnival of Family Life found at Live from Waterloo

How Do GPS Tracking Watches Work?

All GPS tracking devices, including GPS tracking watches, work around a few basic geometric principles. These principles are described by the trilateration equation. Trilateration uses the know location of two or more points of reference (the more the better) and the measured distance between the subject and the reference points to give an exact location for the subject. To aid our understanding of this geo-speak, take a look at the two dimensional example below:

GPS Tracking Example

You are standing at point B in this picture (found where all three circles intersect). Let us imagine that you are standing out in the middle of nowhere and you want to find out where ‘here’ is. On your wrist is your GPS tracking watch, ready for instances just like this one. P1, P2, and P3 represent satellites in the NAVSTAR GPS constellation run by the US Government. There are twenty-four of these satellites orbiting approximately 12,600 miles (20,200 km) above the earth surface that are constantly transmitting microwave signals. At the same exact time, these satellites transmit a signal with information concerning their current location and the time that they were transmitted. The colored circles represent the path of the signal from the satellite at a specific time, let us say 8:45:03 AM, August 5, 1991.

Your GPS tracking device is designed to pick up these signals and record the time at which they arrive. Because the signals from the satellites travel at approximately the speed of light, knowing the difference between when the signal was generated and when your watch picks it up will let you know the distance between you and the broadcasting satellite. This is a very simple physics equation (speed x time = distance). When you combine this with the known location of each of the satellites (this information is contained in the signal that your watch picks up) your GPS tracking device has all the information it needs to give you an exact location for where you are.

GPS Tracking Is More Than Trilateration

Your GPS tracking watch will then do something with this new found information. If your watch is a data logger it will simply log your location in its memory and possibly give you a display of your longitude, latitude, and altitude. Data loggers are often simple devices that are used by bikers, hikers, and joggers to record their journeys, track the distances traveled for training purposes, or to build maps or guides if they are exploring new territory. This type of device has many useful applications, but unless you have a map with you in the middle of nowhere (Point B) this type of information will do you no good. If you are every stranded in some nondescript Point B I hope that you don’t have a data logger.

Instead, you want a tracking device that is going to be a data pusher. What these GPS devices do is they transmit their position information at specified intervals to a central database. This database can often be accessed through the internet, providing valuable information to the search party looking for you. Common applications of data pushers include tracking delivery vehicles, locating stolen property (LoJack), or keeping tabs on an object’s or individual’s location. Data pushers are extremely powerful because of the information they provide – but with this power also comes significant risk of abuse. The most common form of data pushing devices are used for GPS tracking are cell phones.

I hope that was a fairly straight forward explanation of how GPS tracking watches work. It was fairly simplified, so if you are interested in finding out more about the complex mechanics I would recommend checking out the following articles:

How To Teach Your Kids About How GPS Works

When teaching your child about their kids GPS, you are going to want to find a way to relate the information in a way that they can understand.  It doesn’t matter what type of GPS you are using with your child – it could be a short range child locator, a GPS tracking watch, or even a covert GPS tracking device – you just need to find a way to give your child a way to wrap their mind around the idea.

A basic understanding of math is always a good thing to have, but if your child is too young to fully grasp things like geometry they might be old enough to measure things.  If you are in this situation, this quick activity may help you out:

  1. Grab a couple of paper plates out of your pantry.
  2. Draw a few satellites in the center of each paper plate.  This will be a great time to explain what a satellite is and how they fly in the sky around the earth.  You can make sure that they know that satellites make up the Global Positioning System (GPS).
  3. Arrange the paper plates so that they resemble the picture found above.
  4. Take out a ruler and measure the distance between each ‘satellite.’ Take the time to explain how this is important for the child locator that they get to use every day.
  5. Now explain that the child locator knows exactly where the satellites are in the sky around the earth.  It can measure where the child is just like you did together with the ruler.
  6. Now take out your cell phone or your child’s GPS kids phone.  Explain that their GPS device for kids works in the same way the phone does – it talks through the air to another phone.  That is exactly what the kids GPS does – it talks through the air to someone else.
  7. And finally, tell them that the person that the GPS tracking watch talks to also talks to Mom and Dad.  That is how you know that the child locator works and why you got it for them.

Most importantly of all, you want your child to fell like they are safe with their GPS tracking watch and that it makes them valuable/special.  This will give them a better understanding of the world that they live in and will enable them to be productive little guys.