Rocky Mountain Tracking

Daily GPS News

Raytheon Develops Security Software Using GPS, Social Media

March 27th, 2013

The Raytheon Company is one of the top five defense contractors in the United States. Ever since 9/11/2001, the U.S. government has been working hard to increase national security. Ironically, this has resulted in many U.S. citizens feeling the need for protection from the prying eyes of big brother. At the same time, millions of Americans are online every day, voluntarily posting information about their lives. The latest security software uses social media activity as well as GPS tracking developed by Raytheon is called Riot, which stands for Rapid Information Overlay Technology.

This security software tries to cover all bases of accessible information. The goal is to prevent threats to our national security. It’s no secret that the government monitors its citizens. In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last ten years, I’ll briefly explain. Communication is passively monitored with security software, like Riot, for certain “red flag” words and phrases. As you might expect, these words are typically violent or threatening to national security, such as “bomb”. When someone is determined to be some level of threat, they are put on a watch list.

In the name of national security, the government can access just about any recordable information on a citizen, including phone calls, texts, instant messages, emails and basically anything posted online. Riot collects all social media and GPS tracking data available for a specified individual, documenting status updates on Facebook, tweets on Twitter and check-ins on Foursquare. The information is used to track where the person is or was and what he or she might be planning.

By tracking the movements of people considered national threats, police can move in that much quicker if the threat becomes more imminent. With months or years of location information about an individual, police can better determine where that person will be in the future. The ACLU will continue to push back against security software like Riot, but feelings are quite mixed on the need for privacy in the modern age. The old sentiment of “if you don’t do anything wrong, you don’t have anything to hide” is still very popular among many Americans.

Social GPS Tracking: Connecting Users Online and Outside

March 14th, 2013

GPS tracking has come a long way from being used solely for military purposes; everyday civilians are growing ever more familiar with the technology as they utilize various devices in their day to day living. With tools which offer turn-by-turn directions for travel, built-in search engines for attaining directions to virtually anywhere, and even wearable GPS tracking implements for tracing individual persons, this modern world is quickly changing into a planet that knows where it’s at.

But it’s not enough to just be aware of location; oh, no. From handwritten letters to long-distance phone calls, humanity has long been reaching to puzzle out the means of connecting lives from one to another. And then came social networking.

From the early chat rooms of the 1990s to the interactive user profile websites of today, social networking has gone from novel idea to worldwide phenomenon in seemingly the blink of an eye. Complaints have been made that this so-called “social” networking has not been fulfilling its proposed purpose of bringing people together in communities, but rather driving them to feel “informed” as opposed to “connected”. It seems that we may soon be saying gone are those days, however; now, not only do social networkers share and connect over mutual interests and occupations, but also through location sharing via mobile applications. GPS tracking has gone social.

Since the invention and success of the Smartphone and its applications, many app developers have seen the potential to increase social network popularity and usability through mobile devices. GPS tracking and navigation technology was a natural fit as a mobile application, and multiple companies have jumped on this opportunity to compete for the best GPS navigation and location sharing app. Google, with its Latitude feature for Google Maps, and Garmin’s Navigon, which teamed up with Foursquare and Glympse to create the Foursquare app, are just two examples of these.

The uses of social location sharing technology are quite varied. Some specific examples of uses are for tracking local events, finding details on travel destinations, coordinating schedules with colleagues, or determining times to meet up with friends at favorite hangouts. And with explicit privacy settings wherein users must give full consent to “opt-in” to public location sharing, users can rest easier knowing that they can keep their inner circles safe. Coupled with GPS tracking technology, it seems that social networking may soon be reaching its goal of connecting people, after all.

GPS Dating Apps: Helpful Tracked Facts?

February 10th, 2013

As GPS tracker services have expanded to include location-specific dating services and up-to-the-moment activity updates, many legitimate concerns have been expressed. With the emotional instability of many singles that turn to technology to find an ideal soul mate, the apps using a GPS tracker can create potentially dangerous or hurtful circumstances. Feelings of loneliness and isolation in a crowded café could lead to foolish, spur-of-the-moment decisions that a dating service GPS tracker could facilitate.

This tendency for immediate gratification, however, is not new to our current culture. While the GPS tracker method may provide an easy, let-me-introduce-myself route for the introverts of society, there are always venues for desperate, lonely singles to seek companionship. When compared to some of these or when employed carefully, GPS tracker services may even end up protecting some savvy, sober-minded singles instead.

What You See Is What You Get

In face-to-face conversations or even in electronic communications, each person has the ability to adjust his or her image in ways that seem to be more pleasing to the person he or she is trying to impress. With information collected, recorded, and shared by a GPS tracker, an image is established before much interaction takes place. Although there is always the possibility that the information used to create this image may be false, an astute analyzer will still be able to perceive a general impression of what individual users are initially intending to communicate about themselves merely by what they have recorded and shared. Clearly conflicting or even subtly suspicious responses or different personalities and image-creating statements that emerge during the time when specific communication begins could provide sufficient warning and revelation of concerning characters. Face-to-face interaction is always important in establishing and maintaining a relationship, but may not always be the best way to start one.

Can’t Cover Your Tracks

As GPS tracking data on any dating service profile builds up, users will have a harder time of covering their tracks. Even the information on social networking sites can be easily forgotten by users, but successfully uncovered by anyone really intent on fully exploring a profile. When users are communicating with multiple people at one time, which is common for those involved in dating services, the ability and time to edit their profile information for specific designs becomes even less of a possibility. While the ever-present threat of con artists infiltrates every aspect of society, including GPS tracker dating service apps, many deceivers or simply undesirable suitors could actually be easily identified through the wise use of GPS apps.

Locata: Attempting to Enhance GPS To Improve The Smartphone Experience

January 14th, 2013

If you have ever used a GPS app on your smartphone in a big city to find your way, then you know how difficult it is to achieve an accurate GPS fix. The large buildings all around you are typically the first thing you blame. This assumption is correct, as the buildings either block or reflect the GPS satellite signals. Australian company Locata to the rescue, promising a solution to this problem.

Locata, on first glance, appears to be the same as your average, everyday GPS system. However, it relies on radio transmitter ground stations rather than orbiting satellites to locate you. This adds up to more reliable, precise GPS location, as well as functionality indoors, according to Paul Benshoof, global business development manager for Locata.

“GPS is like Swiss cheese. It’s really good, but it has holes,” said Benshoof. “It doesn’t work indoors, where there’s interference. It doesn’t work in urban canyons, where there’s obscuration of satellites by buildings. It doesn’t work in dense foliage. We can plug those holes.”

Locata devices were tested in Sydney, and it was discovered they could pinpoint GPS location with precision of less than 2 inches. Not bad when you consider GPS devices offer precision of 10 to 25 feet (unless relying on various augmentation technologies, which can give you a precision of inches.)

Locata has been in the GPS systems business for 17 years, using this method for precise GPS location on drilling equipment used at the Newmont Boddington Gold Mine in Australia. Recently, the company announced it was awarded a contract from the US Air Force, who will rely on Locata to accurately track aircraft at its White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Currently, Locata’s technology is contained within a receiver measuring 5 inches by 5 inches by 1 inch, and sells for around $10,000. They are working to decrease both size and cost soon. The cost of implementing the system is quite high – about $200,000 – and is why Locata users are currently military or government entities. Benshoof sees people realizing the importance of the technology though, and adopting it for themselves.

“I think that when governments start adopting it as backup to their critical infrastructure, others will be able to catch on,” said Benshoof.

The transmitters send signals over the 2.4GHz radio channel, which is used by baby monitors, Wi-Fi, and other technology. Once a surveyor locates each transmitter, the transmitters begin broadcasting GPS location so that a device can rely on it to locate itself.

It should be noted that the Locata devices are not a replacement for GPS. It is designed to supplement GPS. If GPS all of a sudden stops working on your device, Locata instantly takes over.

Singles: Beware of Dangers Finding Dates Using GPS Apps

December 7th, 2012

Technology has provided so many ways for singles to find that special someone. A complaint I’ve heard from many single friends: using an online dating site makes it hard to find someone in your area. A lot of them find wonderful people, but they’re too far away to make it really work. GPS device to the rescue, taking looking for love and bringing it to a local level. However, Jacksonville, FL’s Channel 4 Crime and Safety Expert Ken Jefferson sees potential hazards with these new GPS apps.

“Singles Around Me,” one such app relying on your smartphone’s GPS device, reports that roughly 20,000 singles are installing the app each week. Another app, “Okcupid,” claims that one million of its three million users activate the GPS features. “How About We” says that about one in four of its users are turning to location-based dating in the hopes of finding that special someone.

“It’s revolutionizing the way people are using their phones in order to meet people in the real world,” said “How About We” co-founder Aaron Schildkrout.

How do the apps work? It varies. With some, upon check-in, the app publishes your profile and location to other singles nearby who are using the app. They can message you to arrange a meet. Some apps are less precise, publishing a general GPS location, while others pinpoint your location down to the intersection you are standing in. This type of GPS location bothers Jefferson, formerly a sex crimes detective for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

“It can be an open invitation to stalkers. It can be an open invitation to sexual offenders, pretending to be someone else for the sake of meeting other people,” Jefferson said.

One GPS dating app user recounted an experience of a man pretending to be a woman who attempted to lure him to meet up. “I could very, you know, very easily have been in danger,” he said.

Alan Rosenthal, author of “Safer Online Dating”, said, “One of the biggest problems with GPS dating is the immediacy of it.” Using traditional online dating methods there is much conversation, whether instant message or email, where you get the chance to know each other prior to meeting. With GPS on the other hand, this face to face contact can occur in minutes. Rosenthal said, “You have no time to vet them or even to think about what your actions, your interactions, or the ramifications are going to be.”

This year, there have been three separate cases of teens in Ohio, California, and Wisconsin who were sexually assaulted when they met men on the GPS app “Skout” who were posing as teens. Jefferson said, “I would advice women to just meet people the old fashioned way versus the new technology that’s out right now.”

He adds that if you do rely on your GPS device to date, set up meets in a public place, and always tell someone where you are going. Also, meeting via GPS device doesn’t mean you have to meet up right away. You can set up another day to meet, or even get to know each other through email or phone conversations before committing to a face-to-face meeting.

Should GPS Be Part of Dating?

November 16th, 2012

You have to wonder sometimes if the designers of the GPS network ever imagined that it would serve some of the purposes that it does today. From pinpointing small targets and giving officers greater control over troop placement, GPS has progressed to finding stolen iPads and ensuring that professional dog walkers are taking the correct routes during walks.

Now, GPS is ready to enter the dating game. Not as a client, but as a middleman, changing the way people meet each other. There are obvious advantages and very obvious disadvantages to this change; if you are single and looking for a way to meet that special someone, it is up to you to decide if you want GPS as your wingman.

Numerous new dating sites center their services on GPS-provided location data. Each user of one of these services allows their location to be accessed through their smartphone, and he can view the locations of other users as well. In the ideal situation, you can pull up a map, see who is in the same building as you are, decide whether they look like a good prospect, and meet them face to face. Think of it as a friend saying, “This person is right around the corner; these are her interests and this is what she looks like. Want to meet her?”.

Of course, there are many non-ideal situations as well. These would include an unwanted admirer walking up to you, leaving you no chance to pretend you’re not interesting in dating and forcing you into a conversation that you wish you weren’t involved in. Even worse, you could find that the person you meet up with is a dangerous person who has misrepresented himself on the dating site. Just as GPS makes it easier and quicker for legitimate couples to meet, it also makes it easier and quicker for criminals to find targets near them.

Using any dating service requires caution and common sense. Adding GPS technology to the mix just makes those requirements more important. If you feel comfortable with other singles seeing your location while you’re in line at the bank or watching a movie in the theater, these services could add some excitement to your dating life. If you enjoy retaining some control over when and where you meet a potential date, however, a GPS device may not be the best wingman for you.

Geolocate With Caution

November 3rd, 2012

Sharing real-time location data with friends is a lot of fun. Nearly anyone who has just bought a smartphone or iPhone knows how tempting it can be to spend hours uploading photos of himself and looking up photos of acquaintances to see where they have been or where they are at that very moment. But, like most things that are really fun, geolocation is best when restricted by a few careful guidelines.

Consider for a moment just what you are doing when you post a photo of yourself on Facebook with geolocation tags attached. You are proclaiming to everyone with access to that photo exactly where you are at that moment. If you repeat the process often, you give those people a simple way to identify your daily patterns, workplace, favorite restaurants, family members’ homes, kids’ school…and the list goes on. Is that really information that you want to make so readily available to a very large group of people?

The issues become even murkier when those posting the photos are teenagers or even young children. Predation has become even more dangerous with the coming of the digital age, and it is possible that one of a young person’s Facebook followers could be a criminal instead of a friend. This is a brand new problem for parents to grapple with–it’s never before been possible for a young person to widely broadcast, sometimes on an hourly basis, exactly where they are and what they are doing.

Information gathering by companies is yet another area of concern. In the best case scenario, generous geolocation can cause you to become buried under targeted advertisements from annoying, but legitimate, businesses. But are you willing to bet that there aren’t a few hackers and scammers also picking up that information? You might not find out for sure until identity theft has already occurred.

How can we combat these dangers? Remember that you never have to submit geolocation data. You can always turn off the GPS function on your phone or device, activating it only when you need it. It can be easy to forget that your phone is logging your location constantly, but taking the initiative to control that activity will set your mind at ease–and get you back at least a little of the privacy that is becoming ever rarer.

Planning the Ultimate Outdoor Adventure?

October 19th, 2012

Not ten years ago, the essential computing device in the average American home was an Internet-enabled personal computer. Most of the time, it sat on a desk in the den. Other times, laptops added a level of convenience and portability that users enjoyed. Neato gadgets like the Palm III handheld computer were fun and kind of functional–at the time, they were even seen as game changers–but were still quirky devices, often relegated to executives, gadget freaks, and yuppies who just needed one more device to play Tetris on.

Then the iPhone ushered in the smart phone era. The first truly functional, extremely fun, consumer friendly handheld computer, it raised the bar (to say the least) on handheld computing.

Now smart phones are expected to go everywhere and do everything. Apps utilize GPS tracking for insane tasks, from telling your Facebook friends you’re at a restaurant to hailing a taxicab. Bringing that iPhone or Android on those extreme outdoor adventures, though, has never been this real thanks to a new app called ViewRanger.

Meet ViewRanger

ViewRanger is designed to transform your smart phone into your technological companion for those extreme outdoor adventures, whether it’s a ski trip in Colorado or climbing K-2. It’s a hyper-accurate, in some cases crowd-sourced GPS map of remote adventure locations. Users can connect their phone’s GPS–which often still works, thanks to its satellite connection, when a cellular connection does not–to ViewRanger and enjoy route mapping, GPS location of their friends, etc. Social media features allow you to post your location on Mt. Everest for your Facebook friends. The app promises to add a level of safety to your adventure that a printed map would not.

Can a Smart Phone Really Do It All?

Does the ViewRanger app replace the power and accuracy of a good handheld outdoor GPS? Yes and no. While it’s accurate, the user is limited by their phone. GPS trackers in cell phones are often far less powerful than handheld GPS devices. Phones are designed to make phone calls at the end of the day; often the body design of the phone obscures the GPS signal. In addition, the battery on the smart phone is limiting: There are no smart phone charges on Mount St. Helen’s. however, ViewRanger is a great app for short term hikes and/or outdoor adventures.

Yelp Weighs in on GPS vs. Wi-Fi Positioning

October 16th, 2012

When it comes to accurate positioning when on your smartphone, which is better: Wi-Fi positioning, using wireless access points to determine position, or GPS, relying on the GPS satellites to calculate position? Yelp recently gave their two cents on the subject, and then some, in a report recently released. Who better than the company with millions upon millions of check-in location data to sift through? The verdict: GPS wins.

Never heard of Yelp? It’s an app you can use on either iPhone, Android, or BlackBerry platform to see which services and businesses are frequented by those in your community, find events in your area, leave a review for a business you frequent, or chat with fellow Yelpers. In Q2 of 2012 alone, Yelp had a whopping average of 78 million monthly unique visitors. The company’s purpose, as stated on their website: “To connect people with great local businesses.”

How They Did It

They started by gathering and analyzing all check-in data from June 2012, and then further broke it down by type of device being located. As Yelp can also be installed on an iPod, this is important. Android and iPhone rely on GPS, cell tower triangulation, and Wi-Fi positioning to calculate precise location data, while the iPod can only use Wi-Fi positioning. They figured the best way to go about choosing the best method for location was to compare iPods to Androids and iPhones.

The data was compiled and analyzed, and it was determined first that iPhones do the best job in terms of check-in location vs. actual distance, with about 58 percent of check-ins being less than 0.1 miles from the actual business location. Androids provide location within 0.1 mile or less 40 percent of the time, and iPods about 30 percent.

After Adjusting for Accuracy

The Yelp app adjusts for accuracy, meaning when it displays the little blue dot representing your location, a bigger blue area confined by a circle is present. This circle is the “inaccuracy.” This way, if your location comes up as inaccurate, you can see nearby places to choose from (included within this circle) which allows you to check-in. It was shown that Android users should probably be thankful for this service, as they needed it to change their physical location, sometimes up to 2 miles off, most often. iPhone seemed yet again to do the best, while iPod fared the worst, giving an incorrect accuracy radius altogether (although the study concluded that 79 percent of iPod check-ins were accurate to within a mile from the actual location of the business.)

What It All Means

After the data was collected, it was determined that GPS provides the best location data, allowing users to share their favorite places in their community for fellow users to make decisions as to where to eat or get their hair cut. However, don’t expect Wi-Fi positioning to be done away with anytime soon. It still remains the easiest way to locate someone within a building, like a hospital or mall, where GPS signal may not be received by all devices.

Too Much Twitter Trumps Olympic Tracking Efforts

August 5th, 2012

The London Olympics biggest problem, clearly, is Twitter. The social networking site has forced many NBC executives to go gray before their time, as Olympic athletes and observers tweet event results before NBC airs the event. It has turned the televised spectacle into more of a “movie” style entertainment than a live one, with most viewers knowing that “spoilers” are a click, or a swipe, away. The 2012 Olympics are truly a benchmark time for the convergence of sports and technology, and have raised deep questions regarding how social media is changing not only how we observe sports, but how they affect our lives as an increasingly communal event. Twitter is truly fascinating to observe, its #olympics tags functioning as the world’s stream of consciousness, live streaming the world’s reactions to some of the most exciting events on earth.

But there’s one more affect that Twitter’s been having on the event, and it appears to be disruptive. According to the Olympic Committee, so many people were tweeting, texting and talking on their mobiles during the Olympics that GPS data used to track the events couldn’t get through to judges and commentators. It was reported that nearly ten million tweets were piped into the cloud during the Olympics’ opening ceremonies.

While social media has become a force to be reckoned with, GPS tracking has made its presence known. During men’s cycling, the bicycles used had GPS trackers mounted on them. Those GPS trackers are designed to pump hyper-accurate tracking data to judges and reporters, enabling fast judging and phenomenal commentary. Unfortunately, only so much data can be piped through the air at any one time: everyone’s tweets got in the way of the GPS data, and tracking was impossible. The committee had to request that individuals tweet “only when necessary” during the event.

This convergence of social media and GPS technology is a profound illustration of the impact the web is having on our lives, our utter dependence on maintaining a constant stream of data. How will we resolve this dependence, especially during key moments in world history like the Olympics? As our collective consciousness increasingly moves into the cloud, time will tell how the world changes, how we will continue to communicate, and how valuable we will perceive that such data is.