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By Greg Bartlett

When a New York City virtuoso violinist accidently forgot a borrowed violin – worth $500,000 – in a taxi cab, he had reason to be upset and concerned. Exhausted, the twenty-two-year-old violinist had not thought of the instrument when his taxi cab driver brought him to his apartment on the night of Sunday, August 16, 2009. Tired, the young man absentmindedly left this valued instrument behind in the taxi. How on earth could such a precious instrument ever be recovered? GPS tracking would help.

The United States’ Global Positioning System is the only global navigation satellite system in full-operation as of 2009. GPS uses a network of satellites to calculate the precise navigational coordinates of a GPS receiver. This GPS receiver can be fastened to anyone or anything, allowing any person, animal, or object — including a motor vehicle — to be precisely located anywhere on earth. This system dates back to the 1940’s, during World War II. Available for civilian use since the 1980’s, GPS has been used for both GPS navigation and GPS tracking. Law enforcement officers, conservationists, extreme sports athletes, boat racing enthusiasts, vehicle leasing companies, and others have enjoyed the benefits of GPS tracking.

When this violinist realized his mistake, he phoned his teacher, the owner of the violin, Itzhak Perlman, and then called the police. An experienced, highly-qualified investigator was put on the case. By contacting the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, the investigator was able to quickly identify the violinist’s taxi cab driver by having the commission enter the violinist’s apartment address into their GPS tracking record. Thankfully, the young violinist had been the taxi cab driver’s last stop for the night. The valuable violin, which had been made by the Italian violin maker Giovanni Francesco Pressenda (1777-1854), was quickly returned to the young, grateful violinist, who – to express his gratitude – gladly serenaded his case investigators with Frederic Chopin and Fritz Keisler. Thanks to GPS tracking what was lost was quickly found, bringing music to people’s ears.