Email

Everyday uses for GPS Tracking
By Jackie Gately

Since I began writing about GPS Tracking Systems, everything I do has become inspiration for articles. I know GPS tracking for consumers has been available for a decade or more (see my last blog, A GPS Primer), but I hadn’t really considered the need for these devices in my personal life before taking on this assignment.

The funny thing is if you know me personally, you know I lose everything. The good news is that whatever it is never goes missing for long. But, I admit, I waste a lot of time searching for things I’ve misplaced.

The most obvious thing I lose – to my neighbors, at least – is my dog Buddy. Buddy is a clone of the yellow lab in the recent box-office hit, Marley & Me. He took off yesterday after finagling out of his collar, and bounded off into the distance, despite two-foot high mounds of freshly fallen snow. Temperatures were below freezing and I was worried for him. Thankfully, a few hours later he returned (with an icicle hanging off his lip — no kidding!), but I was wishing he had a tracking collar fit snuggly around his neck.

The other thing I wish I had, particularly when I lose my car in the parking lot, is a GPS locator for my car. It seems that I am so distracted by my shopping plans that I forget to make a mental note of my parking location. Duh.

Better yet would be a small tracking device for my keys. A few months back, my locked car was parked in the driveway — with my keys inside, or so I thought. Even though it was 10:00 at night, the nice man from the service station came out to unlock my car with his “magic” tool. Only, the keys weren’t in the car. They were on my kitchen counter. A tracking device on the keys would have surely saved some embarrassment.

Sadly, the list of things I regularly lose is long: my sunglasses; my checkbook; my son (although never far), my shoes (one at a time), the spatula; the screwdriver that fits toy batteries; my daughter’s homework (okay, that’s not really me, but she says so); and the most cursed of all losses for a writer: every writing utensil in my house with the exception of broken crayons and that dried up marker.

I can’t tell you how many times in the day I find myself now saying, “I wish I had a Tracking Device on THAT!” So, I’m looking forward to the day when I can peel a small, disposable tracking device from a sheet of paper and stick it on all the details of my personal life that I seem to lose. In fact, I wonder if someone is already working on that technology? If not, it’s high on my wish-list!

Jackie Gately is a freelance writer (and is not nearly as disorganized in her business life). She can be reached at jackiegately.wordpress.com