Tag: car gps

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.

GPS Car Tracking, GPS Blockers, and Stalkers

There is more news coming out of Wisconsin related to the world of GPS tracking.  A La Crosse man was convicted of stalking his estranged wife with a GPS tracking device installed in her car.  Apparently, the man was just keeping tabs on her because of some custody issues that they were working out.  If a police complaint about the convict is true, he used the GPS device to track his wife as far as Iowa, harassing his her with his presence.

He entered an Alford plea to the charge, which means he thinks he is ‘Not Guilty’ but still thinks a jury will convict him, and will suffer two years of probation and six months of local confinement – meaning that the person who once used GPS tracking to stalk will now have his location tracked with GPS.  How ironic.

But this particular case is not of necessarily of interest because of this irony but because of two other things that have happened in the past couple of  months.  The first is that police in Wisconsin can GPS track cars without warrants according to a Wisconsin VI District Court of Appeals decision issued in March of 2009.  This means that police can place a tracking device on any person’s vehicle that they feel like could be a suspect in a case without any warrant.  If they thought that you were somehow a part of the mafia they could place one in your vehicle without you knowing and expect you to like it.

What makes this interesting is that apparently this same ability doesn’t transfer over to private citizens, or at least private citizens with restraining orders on them.  This is great news for all of us that might fear a neighbour or complete stranger might be stalking us and be well within their rights.  Apparently, only the police can stalk people without getting in trouble with the police …

But this leads to a related thing that is kind of interesting about this whole story – that GPS tracking blockers can be pretty useful devices.  If you are having someone stalking you with a real-time tracking device installed in your car then there is no better way of getting them off your back than installing one of these devices (Update 4/16/2012:  GPS jammers are illegal and should not be used).  This isn’t something that most people are going to need and certainly isn’t something I would recommend having just in case – but if you are being harassed or stalked by someone with even the littlest bit of technical knowhow or if they seem to be showing up in places they shouldn’t know about then getting a GPS tracking blocker may be a good, safe thing to do.

The other thing that made this particularly interesting is just how widely available GPS tracking is.  Even a stalkers in Wisconsin can get their hands on it.  Just a few years ago GPS navigation units were over $500 – well outside the range of most people both then and now.  Today, however, you can make your own real-time tracking device for $40 upfront and a $30 monthly fee with a cell phone and some free GPS tracking software.  These types of tracking devices are very easy to set up and take very little skill to do.

But even without cheating and using a cell phone, some covert GPS tracking devices are fairly reasonably priced these days.  An effective real-time tracking device can be purchased for well under $200, with some GPS loggers coming in at under $100.  A GPS logger isn’t going to need a monthly subscription either, making it very easy to purchase and use extensively (but probably not by a stalker – so you are probably going to be good).

GPS is just going to become more prevelant as the years roll on and we are going to have to deal with GPS tracking on a much higher level than ever before.  I can forsee in the future a time when letting someone GPS track your location is a sign that you are in a serious relationship with them, much like giving them acess to your email account might be today.  Teens will track their boyfriends and girlfriends for the one day that they are a couple, only having to find a way to cleanly break such intimate knowledge.  This may seem funny now, but in five years I really think that this is going to be a reality.

It may seem a little scary, but GPS tracking is going to be the norm rather than the exception.

How To Create Your Very Own GPS Tracking System For Your Car

Creating your very own GPS system for cars is really a lot easier than you think.  In days long past you would to have had a hell of a lot of technical experience, a great understanding of how to create software, and a lot of money to get something like real-time GPS tracking to work for yourself.  You would have had to buy a ton of equipment that you would never normally use and spend countless hours coding software and making firmaware so that your devices could interact with your software.  This process would be both time and money intensive and very few of us would be able to get through it.

Today, it is a totally different story.  All you need to create an awesome, real-time GPS tracking system for your car is a navigational GPS that has bluetooth capabilities and a cell phone that can run a free GPS tracking application called 3dtracking.  It will also help to have a good cell phone plan with your provider that has plenty of data sending capabilities.  That is it.

The Equipment Needed

The GPS

The very first thing that you are going to need is going to be a GPS navigation unit.  This is because the 3dtracking software must have access to coordinates generated by a GPS device in order to provide real-time GPS tracking information.  Without some form of GPS information to feed your cell phone that is loaded up with this free GPS tracking software you are not going to be able to get yoru desired results.

While I don’t personally have a navigational GPS, I have heard some good things about the following devices that have Bluetooth capabilities:

If these prices are still to high for you personally then you might want to consider trying to find a refurbished GPS.  A refurbished device can sometimes come at a very steep discount (from 20%-50% in some cases) and it should work just as well as a ‘new’ device.

In some cases you won’t even need to own a stand alone car navigation GPS for this system to work. If you own a phone with GPS tracking capabilities already installed into the phone then you don’t need to connect to an external GPS device via Bluetooth.  Everything that you are going to need is going to be inside the case of that cell phone.

The Cell Phone

3dtracking published a list of compatible cell phones for their system.  If you do not own one of these phones then you will not be able to use this system as I am describing it.  Here is a list of the cell phones that is currently compatible with this software:

  • Lenovo P930
  • LG KS10
  • Nokia 3230
  • Nokia 3250
  • Nokia 5320
  • Nokia 5500
  • Nokia 5700
  • Nokia 6110
  • Nokia 6120
  • Nokia 6121
  • Nokia 6210
  • Nokia 6220
  • Nokia 6260
  • Nokia 6290
  • Nokia 6600
  • Nokia 6620
  • Nokia 6630
  • Nokia 6670
  • Nokia 6680
  • Nokia 6681
  • Nokia 6682
  • Nokia 7610
  • Nokia E50
  • Nokia E51
  • Nokia E60
  • Nokia E61
  • Nokia E61i
  • Nokia E62
  • Nokia E63
  • Nokia E65
  • Nokia E66
  • Nokia E70
  • Nokia E71
  • Nokia E90
  • Nokia N70
  • Nokia N71
  • Nokia N72
  • Nokia N73
  • Nokia N75
  • Nokia N76
  • Nokia N77
  • Nokia N78
  • Nokia N79
  • Nokia N80
  • Nokia N81
  • Nokia N81 8GB
  • Nokia N82
  • Nokia N85
  • Nokia N90
  • Nokia N91
  • Nokia N92
  • Nokia N93
  • Nokia N93i
  • Nokia N95
  • Nokia N95 8GB
  • Nokia N96
  • Panasonic X700
  • Panasonic X800
  • Samsung SGH-D720
  • Samsung SGH-D730
  • Samsung SGH-i400
  • Samsung SGH-i520
  • Samsung SGH-Z600

(Be sure to check the compatible cell phone list over at 3dtracking’s website in case this list has become out of date)

Some of these phones are rather inexpensive (some can be found for under $20) while others will cost over $200.  Which phone you choose will depend largely on your needs for the cell phone and whether or not you want to use it for more than just GPS tracking.

Once you have one of these phones you are going to want to make sure that you have a good data plan for your phone.  This way you can send data to the 3dtracking servers without incurring exorbitant fees.  Right now, AT&T wireless is offering a unlimited data plan for its phones for $35 a month.  This would put your access to real-time GPS tracking information for your car at roughly $1.17 per day.

3dtracking software

In order to download the free 3dtracking software simply go here.  There are onpage instructions for what to do depending on whether or not you have a Windows-based PDA or a smart phone.  Once you have downloaded the application and installed it on your phone or PDA you will do a brief 3 step application process and will be ready to begin tracking with your cell phone right away.

Total Cost to You

The startup cost of this GPS tracking system for cars can be pretty steep, coming in at over $400 if you buy some of the higher end equipment.  With a $35 unlimited data plan that would bring the first year total out of pocket expense to somewhere between $800 and $900.  The second year of operation would be $420.  While this certainly isn’t cheap, if you already have the GPS navigation unit and the compatible cell phone you won’t need to spend any money out of pocket so your expense will probably be $0 unless you have to upgrade the data plan on your phone to handle the load.  Free GPS tracking is certainly better than not free GPS tracking.

What Will You Track?

From where I sit there are two main applications for this type of GPS tracking system for cars.  They are tracking a teen driver and snooping on a spouse suspected of cheating.  For the former you should be completely up front and honest with your teen about what you are doing to their phone and why you are doing it.  They should know that you are concerned about their safety and that you want to make their driving experience as safe as possible.  Then you should work on some sensible rewards and punishments for your teen drivers.  Making sure they they buy into your GPS tracking system is key if it is going to be useful to them and to you.

IF you are tracking a spouse that you suspect of cheating you should not let them know that you are tracking them.  To do this, you might have to buy a special phone that you put in their car for them so that they don’t realize what is going on.  You will have to leave the phone on and recharge the battery often, but the ability to know if they are cheating or not can certainly be worth the price.

But this set-up, especially one where your phone has GPS capabilities built in, can be used in many more applicaitons.  A few of them are to:

There are practically as many things that you can do with this technology as you can dream up, so sit down, grab a beer, and dream.  This GPS tracking system for cars is definitely going to blow your mind if you let it.

GPS Tracking For Cars

Before we jump into the ins and outs, ups and downs of GPS tracking for cars let’s take a second to put this type of GPS application into perspective.  Let’s look at a real life example of how this technology is actually being used with great effectiveness today. This will help us better understand how we can use GPS tracking to better monitor the activity of our teen driver, our cheating spouse, a company vehicle, an employee, or even our own activity. This technology is here and is only going to become more pervasive as it continues to tumble in price and more and more companies get in on the car tracking action. The following is a brief excerpt from a news article that ran in the Washington Post:

Someone was attacking women in Fairfax County and Alexandria, grabbing them from behind and sometimes punching and molesting them before running away. After logging 11 cases in six months, police finally identified a suspect.

David Lee Foltz Jr., who had served 17 years in prison for rape, lived near the crime scenes. To figure out if Foltz was the assailant, police pulled out their secret weapon: They put a Global Positioning System device on Foltz’s van, which allowed them to track his movements.

Police said they soon caught Foltz dragging a woman into a wooded area in Falls Church. After his arrest on Feb. 6, the string of assaults suddenly stopped. The break in the case relied largely on a crime-fighting tool they would rather not discuss.

If GPS tracking can help the police get a felon off the streets, making them safer, what do you think it can do for you?

  1. GPS Tracking, Teens, and Cars
  2. Catch a Cheater By GPS Tracking Their Car
  3. Improve Fleet Performance with GPS Tracking For Cars
  4. Analyze Driving Habits With GPS Car Tracking
  5. Buy GPS Tracking Devices For Cars
  6. GPS Car Tracking In The News

GPS Tracking, Teens, and Cars

Teens are notoriously bad drivers.  They speed; the perform jack rabbit starts and sudden stops; they take turns too quickly; they change lanes without signaling; they text while driving – this is all dangerous activity that could end up getting them and their fellow drivers killed.

The strange part about all this is that this is generally not how they drive when you are with them.  When you are sitting in the car right next to them the last thing on their mind is answering a friends text message.  Instead, they drive with both hands on the steering wheel, eyes are fixed on the road, and they are well within the speed limit.  Teens drive recklessly and dangerously when parents are not around.

So how can parents concerned about their teen’s driving habits be with a teen, watching their driving habits, even when they are not in the vehicle with them – through GPS tracking for cars.

I am a firm proponent of telling your teen that you are tracking there car if you do decide to do so.  My reasons for feeling this way are three fold: 1) the device will not act as a deterrent of bad driving practices if they don’t know it is there, 2) it is much easier and most effective to discipline your child when they are fully aware of the consequences of their actions, and 3) you won’t be violating the trust of your teen by doing something “sneaky” to them.

Tracking As Deterrent

Your teen won’t act like you are in the car with them if they think that you don’t know how they are driving.  The whole point of the tracking device is to prevent your teen from getting into a car wreck because they were doing something stupid behind the wheel.  The reasoning behind this will go something like this:

Premise 1: Your teen drives safely when you are in the car with them.

Premise 2: Your teen, at times, drives unsafely when you are not in the car with them.

Premise 3: Having GPS tracking for cars in your teen’s vehicle is like having you in the car.

Conclusion: Your teen will drive like you are in the car with them if they know that the GPS tracking device for cars in the vehicle.

This is a rather simple logic expression where the premises seem to be mostly true.  The only one that will have any difficulty being true is Premise 3.  Just because the teen knows that you are tracking their every move in the car does not mean that they are always going to act like you are tracking them in the car.  They will forget about it, or get caught up in a moment, or take a risk that you won’t check the logs for that specific moment.  It is in these instances where we as concerned parents must use discipline in conjunction with the car tracking device.

Tracking and Discipline

One hallmark of good parenting is laying an effective foundation for discipline by making sensible, enforceable, and fair rules.  This one of the most important components of using GPS tracking to effectively monitor your teen’s driving behaviors.

Here’s why: you have installed your GPS tracking device in the car, set up good rules that are sensible and fair – the punishment is commensurate with the specific bad driving behavior, but your teen still ends up going 85 mph in a 65 mph zone.  You see, they simply forgot that you know what they do when they drive.  The music they were listening too or the conversation they were having on the phone overwhelmed their developing brain and they were unable to remember to keep the speed in check.

Luckily, nothing terrible happened to them or to another driver – but how can a teen realize that they are being tracked?  One way to do so is to punish bad behavior.  Because they broke the speed limit rules that your family put in place they are required to pay the penalty for doing so.  Get creative in the rules that you have for certain offenses and only use the suspension of driving privileges for especially grievous offenses.

I think we all pretty much understand how to punish poor driving, but have you considered the other side of the coin?  How are you rewarding your teen for safe driving?  Rewards are often much better at motivating a teen toward right action than punishment, since punishment is primarily backward looking while reward is forward thinking.

In almost all cases, a mixture of reward and punishment is most effective at training a person to behave a certain way while driving.  You can get creative with what you pick and be sure to spend time thinking about what is going to work best for you, your teen, and the safety of other drivers on the road.

Tracking and Trust

Here is a quick video about how the use of secret GPS tracking on your teens car can lead to bad reactions from teens (it is one of our the featured GPS tracking videos):

In my opinion, these parents were well within their responsibilities to attach a secret GPS tracking to their teen’s truck – it is their property (the truck, not the teen) and they do have a responsibility to raise their teen in a safe way – but I just don’t think it is a very effective way to be a responsible parent.

The reactions of this teenage boy are classic.  He denies wrong doing, shows signs of anger, and generally feels that his parents violated his rights.  They didn’t violate them, but he sure feels like they did.  It is my opinion that he is really just upset that his parents tracked him without his knowledge.  He was surprised when he found out that they knew his secret (driving over 95 mph!) when he didn’t know they had a way of knowing that.  His expectations were wrong and he responded with anger.

Now imagine this situation if the parents had told their teenage son that they were going to track his car to ensure his safety, recover their vehicle if it was stolen, and help them enforce some of the family’s expected driving habits.  Sure, he might have put up a fuss at having that conversation and expressed his desire not to have the device installed, but once it was installed he would have know that any unsafe driving practices would be recorded.

He probably would not have driven 95 mph in the first place, and if he did he would have know that his parents were going to find out and punish him according to the rules of the family.  This might have been unpleasant, but at least he would have know it was coming!

Devices to Track A Teens Car

One device that will could be considered top of the line for this type of tracking is the LiveWire Unlimited™ Fleet/Car GPS Tracker.  It is a permanent solution that is installed inside your car and can be customized to fit you needs.

Another avenue that you could try is tracking your teen’s cell phone.  Since most teens carry their cell phone with them everywhere this can be a cheap and cost effective way to get a grasp on your teen’s driving habits.

Both of these option can be very effective at monitor your teens driving habits.

Catch a Cheater By GPS Tracking Their Car

It is never okay to cheat on a significant other, never. So when you suspect your lover of cheating I am of the opinion that the one who is being cheated on has a lot of leverage when it comes to being able to verify if their suspicions are true or not. They can monitor all electronic communications (including cell phone call logs, text messages, emails, and instant messages), track their car with GPS, talk with their friends, make unannounced visits, inspect their clothes, and even install cameras around the house or in a vehicle to help monitor their activity.

Knowing where there car is is particularly important in catching a cheating spouse, but only if the cheating goes on at locations where the individual does not normally attend. If, for example, they are cheating at work while they should be at work then a spouse who is GPS tracking their car will have no way of using this information to catch them cheating.

But if they are going to a hotel, or their lover’s apartment, or they say that they are going one place to hang out with their buddies and then they go somewhere else and you have a GPS device installed in their car then you are going to know about their indiscretion and be able to catch them in their lying, cheating ways. And, since GPS technology is becoming even more reliable than it already was, you will have a very solid case when you go to confront them with the issue, divorce them or go to the location of their trysts.

With GPS tracking for cars you get back into the driver seat of your relationship and take back the power and the trust that your partner tried to steal from you by cheating on you.

If you decide to track their car, I would recommend going with some sort of covert GPS tracking device.  One that works particularly well is the T-Trac XS Internet GPS Car Tracking System.

Improve Fleet Performance with GPS Tracking For Cars

A good way to improve the performance of a fleet of vehicles is to install some GPS tracking devices in them.  This will have a positive impact on several of your fleet’s performance metrics over the course of 2 years, according to an Aberdeen group study on the impact of GPS fleet tracking on small businesses.  Among the most impressive metrics to increase over the two year test period was the number of service calls logged by company employees and a marked increase in a drivers ability to make on time service calls and deliveries.

According to the study, small business (defined as vehicle fleets that consisted of 1 to 10 cars, trucks, or vans) increased the number of work orders that they were able to complete by an astonishing 25%.  How would you like to make a $500 initial investment with some reoccurring fees to get 25% more out your work force?  I think most employers would love this arrangement.

But how does GPS tracking for cars improve this critical fleet performance metric so drastically?  I think the main two reasons that it works so well is that it keeps workers honest and it helps streamline transit times.

It should be obvious to everyone that workers do not really work for 8 full hours even when they punch that in on their time card.  Sometimes they take breaks when they aren’t supposed to, push lunch 15 minutes longer than they should, or end work early because they “won’t” be able to finish a job before their shift is over.  When all is said and done, most workers (according to a 2007 survey at Salary.com) waste around 20% of their day doing no work related activities while they are on the clock.  That is a staggering statistic and seems to explain a lot of the increased productivity that GPS tracking devices engender in small fleets.  Workers simply stop wasting time when they know that the boss is watching.

The additional 5% increase in worker productivity is probably related to the fact that workers are able to find the most efficient, time-effective route when traveling to work locations or delivery destinations.

If this is your cup o’ Joe, then you might want to consider the T-Trac XS Internet GPS Car Tracking System.

Analyze Driving Habits With GPS Car Tracking

Another use of GPS tracking for cars is for personal efficiency.  This is probably not the most cost-effective thing for an individual to do, but if you want real-time GPS tracking of your own movement there are probably devices that will work out great for you.

One subset of people that might find this interesting are off-roaders and street racers – people whose activities take them off beaten paths or who want to be able to relive past experiences that they have had out on the road or off in the middle of nowhere.  Real-time tracking is also useful for these individuals if something where to happen to them on a ride and they needed immediate medical attention – all it would take is a quick look at the GPS information provided by the tracking device and help would be on the way.

Again, this isn’t going to be a cost effective way of getting this information – but for some it might be appealing.

Buy GPS Tracking Devices For Cars

The following is a selection of some of the different tracking devices made exclusively for cars:

T-Trac XS Internet GPS Car Tracking System

Update May 2009: It appears that the T Trac XS GPS Car Tracking System is not longer available from Brickhouse Security.

This GPS tracking system is very popular – with over 200,000 devices in use in 18 countries being serviced by Brickhouse security. The reason for this is because it is the  #1 GPS tracking system utilized by the police and private investigators all over the country.  Some of the reasons for its popularity with these individuals is the device has a 3 months battery life when you have 4 AA batteries installed.  Another key feature is its small size – 5.78″ x 2.99″ x 1.44″ – and light weight – 7 ounces with 4 AA Alkaline Batteries – making it highly concealable on the outside or inside of a car.  This device is excellent for covert GPS tracking, keeping tabs on a spouse suspected of cheating, or secretly monitoring an employees activity.

The service provided by Brickhouse Security is top notch and the device comes with a 1 year warranty.  You can find out more about this device or make a purchase here: T-Trac XS Internet GPS Car Tracking System

LiveWire Unlimited™ Fleet/Car GPS Tracker

LiveWire Unlimited™ Fleet/Car GPS Tracker

Unlike the T-Trac, the LiveWire tracker hooks directly into the vehicle.  This means that as long as the car has power – so does your GPS tracking unit.  You will never need to change the devices batteries, which is a great plus for long-term tracking applications like teen driver monitoring and company car tracking.

One particularly useful feature of the LiveWire is that it comes with Skype integration.  This means that on the tracking interface on your web browser that lets you see vehicle activity all you need to do to call the driver of the vehicle through your Skype account is click on their vehicle  – you will automatically be patched in to the driver’s cell phone.  This is a very powerful for those who would use this device for business purposes.

To learn more about the LiveWire tracker or to make an inquiry about a purchase of the device, you should contact the manufacturer of the LiveWire Unlimited™ Fleet/Car GPS Tracker.

GPS Car Tracking In The News

In May of 2009, two very important cases came before appellate courts in Wisconsin and New York that had a direct effect on the use of this type of GPS tracking by law enforcement officials. The first ruling to be issued came from Wisconsin where judges ruled unanimously that police could use GPS tracking on cars without a warrant.

Just a few weeks later, another appellate court in New York ruled the exact opposite – law enforcement in New York must get a warrant before GPS tracking a suspect.

The difference in the rulings by the two courts points to the fact that this new technology is making waves in the legal world and the courts and legislatures must create new guidelines to help protect the right of citizens while allowing police to make use of technology in a way that saves money and helps them put more criminals behind bars.

The use of GPS tracking for cars has a lot of potential both infringe on perceived rights and improve law enforcement – but making sure that later is accomplished while the former is avoided is a pretty tough task.

Covert GPS Tracking: A Short Story

“Blue Dodger, this is Home Base.  Do you read me!? Over.”  The radio gives a slight crackle as the voice of Home Base abruptly ends with a click.  You slowly touch the radio button on your vest and respond to Home Base, “Home Base, this is Blue Dodger.  I copy.  Over.”  You feel a slight tickle of excitement course through your veins as you await the message.  You know that Home Base is going to be giving you something good.   You have installed a covert GPS tracking device on a target vehicle and Home Base is going to be giving you the coordinates for you to track it down and discover what they are up to.

“Blue Dodger, we have the vehicle parked outside 13141 West Palm Avenue.  Head on over and report back your findings.”  This is your very first covert op and you feel a surge of adrenaline wash over you like a shore breaking wave, smoothly rattling the content of your chest.  The drive to the location isn’t long and you soon find yourself on a normally quiet residential street with cars lined up bumper to bumper on both sides of the street.  You find the 1995 Teal Corolla that you attached your covert GPS tracking device to parked exactly where Home Base said it was, but the car is empty.

“Home Base, this is Blue Dodger.  I’ve found the vehicle, but its clean.  I’ll park and see if I can get a visual. Over.”

“That’s a Roger, Blue Dodger.  Report in when you have a visual.”

You get out of the car and park.  Your palms begin to sweet as you slowly walk through the lamp lit street, keeping a low profile while trying to observe as much as you can.  As you make your way back to the Corolla you notice the sound of loud, thumping music coming from the other end of the street.  Without any sign of activity at 13141 West Palm Avenue you make your way toward the music.

As you draw closer you begin to hear the din of voices, laughing and the steady thumping of base.  It looks like the driver of the Corolla may be at this party.  Unfortunately, you don’t have your party threads on and the age of the crowd is significantly below your own – but you press on anyway knowing that you need to find the driver of the Corolla before it is too late.  You radio back to Home Base, “This is Blue Dodger, I’m going in.”

The music inside the house is deafening and it is all you can do to hug a wall and work your way around the interior of the house.  There is no communication with Home Base now.  You scan the crowd looking for the driver you were tracking but they are nowhere to be found.  Then, all of a sudden, you see in the other room a the long blond hair of the driver you have been trying to covertly track.  She is standing talking to a man several years her elder, his face stubbled with  a healthy five o’clock shadow.

You make your move on the target.

But before you do, you need to create a diversion to get her away from Mr. Five O’Clock.  You pull out your trusty cell phone that has been relaying your position to Home Base via GPS.  You send a simple text message, using your full qwerty keyboard because that is how you roll, with the message,

create diversion. call target. test time

In just a moment you see Long Blond Hair reach into her bag and pull out a glowing, vibrating cell phone.  She looks up at Mr. Five O’Clock shadow and seems to say something.  He smiles and waves as she leaves the room.  She walks past you in a hurry, but you are still holding the wall tight and she doesn’t notice.  You had anticipated that since the room is dark except for the constant flashing of mutli-colored lights.

Long Blond Hair leaves the house at a run and is soon 50 feet away from the house when she puts the still glowing and vibrating cell phone to her ear.  “Hello,” her voice sounds strong and confident.  She pauses for just a second, then with an oune of frustration in her voice she says, “What do you want?  I’m watching a movie at Katie’s house.”  You walk up behind her and tap her on the shoulder.

She turns around with a sudden look of horror on her face.  “Dad,” she says with a little fear in her voice, “What are you doing here?”

“I think the question is, honey, what are you doing here?”

~~~

You don’t have to be a spy or a member of the FBI to be able to use covert GPS tracking.  With GPS in cell phones and other personal devices a parent, spouse, concerned citizen, or private investigator can track a wide aray of items or assets with GPS.  You can install GPS trackers in cars or use them to monitor a teen’s driving habits.

If you want to go with traditionally covert GPS devices then you are going to need to fork out some significant cash.  Round the clock monitoring and real-time tracking capabilities do not come cheap – so expect to shell out $100s just for the device itself.  Then you are also going to need to pay up for a service fee as well so you can get access to your tracking information.  You might be able to build your own system out of one of the open source GPS tracking devices that have skematics on the Internet, but then you need some high quality GPS tracking software as well to make sure that your data is getting stored and displayed properly.  There is open source software for this too, but you will have to trade some of your precious time to learn how to use it.

In the end analysis, almost anyone with enough money is going to have access to tracking with GPS – and you don’t even need that much money anymore to get some really cool, cover GPS tracking devices.

How to Reward and Punish Your Teens Driving Habits

Teen’s are terrible drivers.  Their unique combination of inexperience and raging hormones make them them the most likely among all age ranges to get into fatal car crashes.  As concerned parents we want to get our teens to drive safely and to obey the rules of the road, especially when driving home at night or when their friends are with them in the car.  These are the times that we wish that the beneficial effect that we have on our teen’s driving would be felt the most, but these are often the times when our child is the least likely to drive like we are right there with them.

Teen Car Crash
You never want to receiver that call from the police that your teen has been in a a car crash. Using GPS tracking in their car is a great way to help them drive like you are there with them.

I have already talked extensively about how GPS tracking can put you in the car with your teen, so I am not going to rehash that discussion here in full.  Instead, I thought it might be a good idea to discuss some of the different parenting techniques that we can employ once we have installed the GPS tracking device inside out teen’s car. We will begin with a discussion of the teen’s rewards and follow that up with a discussion of the punishments associated with bad driving practices.

But before we do, we should look at some of these important teen tracking tips:

  • Tell your teen about the tracker – You cannot make the punishment and reward system for safe driving work for your family if your teen is unaware that the GPS tracking device exists.  Tell them about your plan in such a way that they will get on board with your desire to monitor their driving activity.  Even if they don’t like the idea at first, they will warm up to it after you lay out some effective rewards and punishment.
  • Be very clear about the rewards – Communicating clear and worthwhile rewards to your teen is going to make this whole process a lot easy.  They need to know the answer to the question “What’s in it for me?” question right away.   If you can’t communicate that to the in 5 minutes then you need to rethink your reward system communication.
  • Be even clearer about the punishments – You are probably going to need to punish your teen driver at one point in time.  The best way to do so is to communicate the consequences of their actions very, very clearly.  They need to know exactly what is going to happen to them when they do something wrong so that there is no room for them wiggle out of the consequences of the action that the GPS tracker caught them doing.
  • Make it fun and safe – Teen’s love the idea of “fun” and, as a parent, if you can make something that you want them do be fun then you are well on your way to getting them to successfully accomplish that which you want them to.  It can be very satisfying as a parent to watch your teen act safely because they value it and think it is “fun” – you know that all your hard work is really paying off!

How To Reward Your Teen

Rewarding your teen should be more about character than about materialistic things.  What I mean by this is that you want to reward your teen with added responsibility and freedom than with cool toys and nice clothes.  You want your teen to grow up and experience what life is like for themselves, not treat them like a little child who is motivated by empty and shallow things.  So in order to do that you need to sit down and think about what ways you can reward your child’s good driving habits that will enable them to mature and grow into the full person that they are meant to be.

An example reward might be something like an extended curfew or additional car use privledges.  By extending their curfew you are communicating to your teen that their driving habits are safe and that they are worthy to be trusted.  The more personal freedom that you give your teen, the more that you teach them being wise and safe is a good thing to do, the more you will teach your teen to be an upstanding member of society and a good person.

Another similar example of this is by giving your teen additional car use privledges.  You could let them drive the car to a friends house or to the mall.  You might even begin to trust them with driving their siblings to after school activities or sporting events.  Either way, your teen will learn that their behavior is being rewarded by giving them greater access to the family vehicle.

So that covers the actual rewards that one might think of giving their teen, but what about the things that the teen will be rewarded for? You obviously want to reward them for good driving habits, but what exactly are the habits that you most want to reward?

Here is a list of some of the more important driving practices:

  • Obeying the speed limit – This is very easy to monitor using a GPS tracking device for cars.  Since they take constant measurements of the vehicles position all they need to do to calucluate speed is take the distance traveled and divide it by the time elapsed.  Most GPS devices can monitor speed even if they aren’t a GPS tracking device, so it is pretty easy for parents to monitor this aspect of their teen’s driving.  (This is also very important for saving money on gas costs!)
  • Taking turns at appropriate speeds – Because you can monitor their speed it is easy enough to find their speed when taking turns.  Taking a turn too fast can signify inexperience on the part of your teen or that they pulled out in front of oncoming traffic, both things that you want to try and avoid if possible.
  • Making smooth starts and stops – Brakes are expensive and engines like to opperate under gradual increases of speed.  A smart, safe driver will treat their car right and reduce the need for preventable maintenance on their vehicle.
  • No erratic driving patterns – Tracking units are very percise, with some models being able to tell which lane a vehicle is in!  If your teen is switching lanes wildly then you will know that they are not driving safely.  You can also be able to see that their vehicle changes lanes well or makes turns in an appropriate fashion.

If your teen meets your safe driving requirement then it is time to reward them, but if they don’t you need to dole out punishments.

How To Punish Your Teen

When punishing your teen for poor driving I would recommend going with character punishments.  A teenager must know that the consequences of bad driving are very real and very, very serious.  Lives are on the line every time you step behind the wheel and a teen should be able to feel that when they do something stupid with a car.

A character punish could be something as sever as a suspension of car driving privileges, but it can also be something not necessarily car related.  In my opinion, taking away a teen’s driving privileges should only be done in the most dire conditions.   This is mainly because a teen cannot learn to drive safely if they are not driving at all, but also because it can be very convenient for a family to have an additional driver in the house – especially if they help with some of the driving responsibilities that the family has.

Some more modest character punishment that you might consider could be:

  • Suspension of computer privileges
  • Limits on cell phone usage
  • Making them stay home when normally they would allowed to go out
  • Limiting their TV watching
  • Ending access to video game systems or computer games
  • Making their curfew earlier in the evening
  • Having them do some sort of task as “punishment” – like clear brush, pick up trash on the side of the highway, or visit accident victims in the hospital

All of these consequences for bad driving won’t work for every teen, but if you can find the right combination for your teen then you stand a good chance of getting them to drive safely with a solid combination of rewards and punishments.

How To Set Up The System

If your teen meets your driving requirements then it is time to give them some rewards.  I recommend that you set some type of quota based on the number of hours driven rather on a number of days or just deciding to reward your teen whenever you feel like it.  The more experience your teen gets behind the wheel the more likely they are to drive safely when they are out of the house and out on their own.

I definitely recommend starting small.  If they can last the first 100 hours of driving and drive in such a way that they honor your family’s good driving practices then they can get one of the minor character rewards set up in your system.  Maybe you grant them some additional free time for them to do with what they will or you begin asking them to drive a younger sibling to one of their practices once a week.

100 hours certainly isn’t a hard and fast rule, but when you think about 100 hours can add up really fast, especially if you live far away from a lot of things in your life.  A 15 minute drive to school in the morning and then another 15 minutes home turns into 100 hours in 200 days.  That is approximately one school year – and that is only if they drive to school. With all the time they spend heading out to the movies or over to a friends house the time is really going to add up fast.  Before you know, after 3 months they are going to be ready for their first reward if they have driven well.

I also recommend that when you punish a teen it is because of repeat offenses.  So you might knock their curfew back 15 minutes if they perform 3 sudden stops over a 3 month period.  Or you might suspend their cell phone use for violating the speed limit two times over a 6 month period.  Feel free to get creative with your own set of rules – just make sure that you live up to the same standard as your teen!

With GPS, Teen Drivers Can Be Safe Drivers

Teen Driver

If you work your system correctly and you know your teen driver then you can get them to drive safely even if you aren’t in the car with them.  By installing GPS tracking device in their car and by setting up a quality, well-communicated reward and punishment system you can make safe driving something that everyone in your family is able to do – even if they are inexperienced and raging with hormones.  It is important to note that is not going to be the solution for every family.  Some GPS tracking systems can cost hundreds of dollars on the outset and still have a reoccuring subscription fee equivalent to a cell phone plan.  But for those families that can afford something like this it can empower you as a parent to help make your teen a safe driver.

GPS Tracking Blockers

Update 4/16/2012:  GPS jammers are illegal and should not be used.  After several events in recent years the US government has really began to crack down on GPS jammers since they pose a significant risk to public safety and  national infrastructure.  Consumers should not buy these devices unless they are approved by the FCC.  Any jammer in use should be retired and an alternative method to ensure location privacy should be employed since penalties for jammer use could exceed $100,000 and include jail time.

With all this talk about how the police sometimes can and sometimes cannot use GPS tracking on your car I did a little research to see if there was something that a private citizen could do to prevent such activity from occurring.  There is – it is called a GPS tracking blocker.  What this device appears to be is a sort of signal scrambler that will confusing the tracking unit, making your vehicle “invisible” to the satellite eyes in the sky.

How Does  a GPS Blocker Work?

As stated above, the blocker will work by emitting a signal that interferes with the signals transmitted by the Global Positioning System that orbits the earth overhead.  The effectiveness of these blockers is only a few meters, so making sure that you place your device in such a way that it will be able to block a device placed in the front or back of your car is important.  If you are driving a large tractor trailer and there are tracking devices installed somewhere in the trailer section then your blocker is probably not going to work.  Also, if you have a particularly large SUV or truck be sure that your blocker is going to have a radius that will cover your entire vehicle.

The signal that the GPS tracking blocker emits is 1/1000 of the radiant energy that a cell phone transmits so you can be sure that these devices are much safer to have near you than a cell phone.  Speaking of which, it is important to note that these devices will block regular navigation GPS units from working properly but it will not block the signal from a cell phone.  What this means is that if you cell phone uses some form of alternative to GPS to get its position information you are going to need to buy a cell phone signal blocker if you don’t want people knowing where you are because of your cell phone.

A Word On Criminals

Now I want to be clear, I don’t want any criminals to be buying cell phone blockers or GPS blockers so that they can go do some sort of illegal activity.  That is just wrong and I don’t want that to happen.   But I do know that there are going to be some law abiding citizens out there who don’t want the government to be able to tell them what they should and where they should be and who they should be associating with.  They want their private life to be their private life and they want to have it without the threat of the government knowing everything about them.

GPS blockers are for this type of person.  They obey the law, they just don’t want the law breathing down their necks.

Where Can I Buy A GPS Blocker

Amazon offers a pretty limited selection of GPS tracking blockers that can be found here:

These device are certainly not very cheap and range anywhere from $50-$150. They do seem very sturdy and able to withstand a lot of wear and tear, but anything with an antenna like the ones found on these devices needs the antenna to be in good working condition if it is to block the signals the way that you want it to. I personally have not tested any of these GPS tracking blockers myself, but they do seem like they should work. If you have one or try one out, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.

New York Requires Warrant To GPS Track Suspects

If you were one of the people scared out of your mind that some states like Wisconsin allow warrantless GPS tracking of cars then you can breath a sigh of relief in knowing that not all the courts in our nation agree.  New York, in a recent court decision, ruled that police in the state must have a warrant when placing a GPS tracking device on a suspects car – joining Washington and Oregon who already have rulings in places ensuring this.

The New York court differed from the Wisconsin one in one major way – the New York court seemed to think that GPS tracking was in fact different from physical surveillance or other technological forms of tracking (like a radio frequency emitter).  The court wrote:

Here, we are not presented with the use of a mere beeper to facilitate visual surveillance during a single trip. GPS is a vastly different and exponentially more sophisticated and powerful technology that is easily and cheaply deployed and has virtually unlimited and remarkably precise tracking capability. […]  Constant, relentless tracking of anything is now not merely possible but entirely practicable …. GPS is not a mere enhancement of human sensory capacity, it facilitates a new technological perception of the world in which the situation of any object may be followed and exhaustively recorded over …  a practically unlimited period. The potential for a similar capture of information or “seeing” by law enforcement would require, at a minimum, millions of additional police officers and cameras on every street lamp.

The majority opinion of the court is trying to make a distinction between the information gathered from physical surveillance of technologically assisted surveillance (the beeper from the 1983 Wisconsin case used as precedent in both this case the more recent Wisconsin case) and that made possible by a GPS tracking device.  The main thrust seems to be that in order to gather similar information on an individual you would need “millions of additional police.”

The court then goes on to discuss the privacy issues involved in GPS tracking cases:

One need only consider what the police may learn, practically effortlessly, from planting a single device. The whole of a person’s progress through the world, into both public and private spatial spheres, can be charted and recorded over lengthy periods …. Disclosed in the data retrieved from the transmitting unit, nearly instantaneously with the press of a button on the highly portable receiving unit, will be trips the indisputably private nature of which takes little imagination to conjure: trips to the psychiatrist, the plastic surgeon, the abortion clinic, the AIDS treatment center, the strip club, the criminal defense attorney, the by-the-hour motel, the union meeting, the mosque, synagogue or church, the gay bar and on and on. What the technology yields and records …  is a highly detailed profile … of where we go,  … of our associations — political, religious, amicable and amorous, to name only a few — and of the pattern of our professional and avocational pursuits. When multiple GPS devices are utilized, even more precisely resolved inferences about our activities are possible. And … it will be possible to tell from … who we are and are not with, when we are and are not with them, and what we do and do not carry on our persons — to mention just a few of the highly feasible empirical configurations.

This judgment reads to me that the court made its decision to deny warrantless GPS tracking because it would give the police a lot of information about a suspects activities and would be much, much cheaper than putting a “tail” on the suspect.

Personally, I can’t seem to make myself agree with the courts rulings.  I am not a lawyer nor am I trained in the law, but it seems to me like the information gather by a GPS tracking device attached to a car could be gather by a physical tail on a suspect – but just at a much greater cost.

A police officer could tell if a person drove their car to a mosque, or a church, or a bar, or a friends house, or to work, or to a soccer game, or to their child’s recital.  All this information would be easily accessible to any person capable of seeing and all of it would be occurring in public space – where people have no fundamental right to privacy.

Granted, GPS tracking a cell phone could provide police with a much larger amount of information that would track a person’s movement’s within completely private places – such as a doctors office, or a church building, or a private club – so perhaps the court’s decision is taking these into consideration as well.

However, I am concerned with the way their ruling could affect the police’s ability to easily and precisely put a tail on a suspects vehicle. GPS tracking for cars will only really track the movements of an individual’s car in public places – something that seems very reasonable for the police to be able to track with GPS.  It is much more cost effective and gives them an opportunity to utilize their skilled officers in other tasks.

In the end, whether or not GPS tracking for cars will require a warrant or not is going to be decided in cases like this all over the country by Appellate courts who are going to differ on what the nature of GPS tracking is and what that means for a person’s 4th Amendment rights.