Tag: gps car tracking system

10 Reasons To Give GPS Car Tracking A Chance

Many people have heard about GPS car tracking, but they don’t even consider seeking out more information on the topic.  They might be intimidated, thinking that you have to have tons of technical experience and knowledge in order to even get a device like this out of its packaging.  Another might dismiss the concept out of hand, thinking that they would never have a use for this ability.  Still others might think that setting up a GPS tracking system for their car will cost an arm and leg, putting them in the poor house by just considering the option.  Well, for those people I would invite you to read on as I consider 10 reasons why you might want to get over your immediate rejections and give GPS car tracking chance.

1.  Car tracking  is cheaper than you think.

Sure, there is some forms of car tracking that are going to cost you an arm and a leg.  The portable GPS tracking device is going to cost you $100s and you will have to pay a significant tracking fee each month if you want to use the device to its full potential.  This is the situation that most people think about when they think about tracking a car and it is expensive.

But there are cheaper alternatives.  Cell phones make great tracking devices.  For under $50 you could get a cell phone, install some of the free GPS tracking software on it (see our list of free GPS tracking cell phone applications and software for providers), and your phone is now a car tracker.  You still have to pay a monthly subscription, but at least you get to make phone calls now too.  You can even hardwire the phone so that you have power to your phone at all times giving you real time, 24/7 tracking.

2.  Teens benefit from having a tracking device installed in the car.

Teens are crappy drivers.  They speed, take unnecessary risks, and make stupid decisions about how to drive.  But when we are in the car with them, they make great decisions and drive like angels.  By putting a GPS tracking device in their car you will be letting you teen know that you are there with them even if you aren’t in the passenger seat.

This way, if they break the driving rules you can crack down on them and help them take driving safely seriously.  More teens die every year from car accidents than any other cause, so ensuring that our children drive safely is a top priority of parents across the nation.

3.  GPS car tracking keeps spouses honest about their whereabouts.

Cheating sucks, and secrecy only lets cheating go on indefinitely.  With GPS car tracking you can ensure that your actions and the actions of your spouse are made clear to the other.  All actions must be accounted for and this will make communication between spouses open, honest, and verifiable.

GPS tracking for cars should never be used as a substitute for good communication or marriage counseling, but it can really help some people who suffer from serious trust issues.  Obviously if their trust issues are big enough there is no amount of GPS that is going to fix that, so make sure the whole marriage or relationship is being looked at as well.

4.  GPS tracking is great to have in case of an emergency.

We recently wrote an article about how using GPS vehicle tracking can save lives and this really is true.  Imagine how useful it would be to have an exact location to give emergency personnel who are responding to your husband’s heart attach  as he sits on the site of the Interstate.  Or imagine how easy it would be to help your frantic, lost spouse find their way to a familiar place if you could see their exact location on a Google Map.  This is the power of car GPS tracking and it makes a lot of sense to have something set up for a circumstance just like this.  Onstar is the commercial product for this, but you can easily make your own Onstar system with a cell phone.

5.  GPS tracking devices double as a theft recovery devices.

If a car gets stolen when it has a real time tracker installed you can use it as a theft recovery GPS.  All you do it find out the location of the vehicle and hand that over to authorities.  Heck, you could even give them your login information so that they can track the vehicle themselves.  Then, a few hours later you can be happy to know that the thief is in custody and your car will be returned to you shortly.  Now that is peace of mind.

6.  They are fun.

If you are a geek (like me) you will find having the ability to look at where you have driven on a map incredibly fun and satisfying.  All that data is just waiting to played with and all you have to do is log into your account and you have access to it all.  But the fun doesn’t end there.  There is also GPS art or GPS tracking for pets that can occupy your time as well if you feel up to the challenge.

7.  A GPS tracking system is educational and can be used to teach kids important information.

Math.  Space.  Electronics.  These are all things that a GPS can do to help children learn about the world around them.  While in order to teach kids these things through your GPS car tracking system, it is probably good information for you to know as well.  Simple things like trilateration, geosynchronous orbit, and chip technology are all words and concepts that people of all ages and education levels can and should learn about.

8.  They are really convenient.

We have already seen how these device can be the difference between life and death, but they can also help provide us with all sorts of convenient information as well.  If you have a question like, “I wonder where my wife is at with her errands today?” all you would have to do is log onto your online GPS tracking account and see exactly where she is.  The same is true of fathers coming home from work, or teens traveling to a friends house, or a family member taking a long road trip to visit.  The information isn’t necessary, its just convenient to know and can be easily accessed from a computer.

9.  GPS can help you fight a speeding ticket.

Police are out to get speeder because it increases city revenue and that is part of the police’s duty.  But we also know that the methods police use to identify speeder is shoddy at best.  Car GPS tracking systems are, on the other hand, not shoddy at all and provide very accurate speed information. If you can take your tracking information to court with you from your GPS tracking system then you are almost certainly going to be able to successfully fight your speeding ticket.

10.  They can make you better drivers.

If you are serious about analyzing your driving habits then you can use your GPS tracking system for cars to improve your driving habits.  Do you take the best route to get to your destination?  How is your speed up and slow down times?  Do you make good use of coasting to conserve fuel?  These are all questions that a GPS car tracking device can help you answer.

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How about you, what are some reasons that you can think of to give GPS car tracking a chance?

GPS Tracking Systems For All Facets of Life

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

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

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

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

GPS Car Tracking System

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GPS Child Tracking System

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

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

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

GPS Fitness Tracking System

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

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

GPS Dog Tracking System

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

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

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

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