Rocky Mountain Tracking » When We Need Help

GPS in Partnership with 911

Hillary Mayfield — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:00:11 +0000

“This is 911. Please state your emergency.” Familiar words to every American, but if you have ever actually had to make a call to 911, you know the urgency of wanting responders to get to you as soon as possible. GPS technology, based on actual satellite longitude and latitude coordinates, has made getting emergency vehicles to a scene easier and more efficient. However, that GPS data must be linked to 911 address records.

In Wilkes County, North Carolina, commissioners agreed in 2009 to implement a GPS-based 911 addressing system, such as was made the universal standard in 1995, throughout its cities; however, officials hit a snag when they discovered that 300 roads in the county had no name connected to 911 records. GPS coordinates were established for existing addresses in 2010, but what to do with those 300 roads poses a problem for the county. The system that commissioners and emergency personnel hoped would be up and running in 2012 may not be used at all.

Although the commission had already signed a $145,000 contract with Kimball to establish the GPS coordinates for the county, officials believe the benefits of connecting them to the 911 address system would be far too costly. They argue that because the state requires each road to be named through individual public hearings and because there is a $30,000-$40,000 cost for providing new road signs, the GPS-based 911 addressing system is not justified.

Advocates of the system argue that the ability to get to a precise location in less time more than pays for the system. Also, the system would be funded by a 911 surcharge of $0.80 placed on each wireless and land line user; telecommunications providers collect the fees and send them on to the county for distribution. Since over one-third of all 911 calls are from wireless callers and since the FCC already mandates that wireless carriers provide coordinates of latitude and longitude for wireless calls coming into the 911 call centers, it seems logical to link GPS technology to 911 address records. Lack of this technology not only hinders emergency officials, but it also keeps emergency services from utilizing certain software applications that are designed to be used in conjunction with the GPS-based system.

With more than 240 million 911 calls a year, using modern GPS technology to aid emergency personnel only makes sense. EMS, police, and fire departments all need a trustworthy system in place to do their job effectively. If they are hindered by wrong directions or lack of an address, lives could be lost. Who can put a price on a life saved?

GPS Tracking Device Ensures Rescue for Boat Accident Survivors

Lynetta Bowen — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:00:32 +0000

GPS tracking devices have been responsible for scores of happy endings, from lost dogs being returned to their owners, to stolen possessions being recovered, to Alzheimer’s patients being found after wandering away from home. Perhaps one of the most exciting of these stories occurred off the coast of Sydney, Australia when a GPS-equipped EPIRB beacon saved the lives of four people after their fishing boat sank.

Two boys and their dads were out on a fishing excursion when, for unknown reasons, the boat was compromised and began sinking rapidly. In less than a minute, the four passengers were left floating in icy water, kept afloat by their life jackets and a cooler. Scott Smiles, one of the dads, also grabbed an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) which alerted rescuers that they needed help. The beacon sent a signal to the NSW Police marine area personnel, pinpointing the group’s location and ensuring their rescue in less than an hour.

EPIRB beacons are safety beacons which, when activated, broadcast the beacon’s location to search and rescue teams. They are commonly installed on boats, with many countries requiring commercial ships to carry them. Owners of pleasure boats and yachts often take advantage of the safety reassurance offered by the devices as well. While not all EPIRBs have GPS tracking devices installed, those that do can broadcast an exact location to a network of search and rescue satellites, enabling rescuers to identify the position of the beacon and send help immediately. This information often proves vital in reducing the amount of time needed to find survivors and increasing the chances of survival. Without the technology, a rescue such as the one near the Australian coastline could take days.

Search and rescue teams credit GPS-equipped EPIRBs for enabling them to perform their jobs more efficiently. By pinpointing the location of the carrier, the beacon can give rescuers the information they need to save lives while reducing search time by hours or days.

The remarkable rescue in Australia can be attributed both to the forethought of the boat owner in equipping the craft with the safety beacon and the quick thinking of Mr. Smiles in grabbing and activating the beacon before the boat went down. With the aid of the EPIRB, a story that could have ended tragically resulted in another happy ending that can be added to the accomplishments of GPS tracking devices.

Breadcrumb GPS Tracking Designed for Alzheimer’s Patients and Caretakers

Marisa O'Connor — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:00:36 +0000

GPS tracking technology has revolutionized several industries by allowing users to remotely track the location of valuable property. Missing smartphones and vehicles can be tracked from anywhere with internet access. Remote species of birds and solitary wildlife can be studied from a safe, unimposing distance. One of the more recent uses for GPS tracking has been developed for the wandering elderly population suffering from degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Dementia. The technology has already been used to track autistic children, who are also at high risk of wandering off and getting lost.

There are few things more stressful for caregivers, family and friends, than when a loved one goes missing. Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease often cause the sufferer to be confused and wonder off, sometimes searching for a childhood home. It is scary enough getting lost as an independent, capable adult, but when it happens to young children, the elderly or disabled people, it can be life threatening. The earlier the person is located, the better his or her chances of returning home safely. There is no way to guarantee that your loved one won’t wander off, but with GPS tracking, he or she can be found quickly and easily.

The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) and Breadcrumb L.L.C. announced earlier this month, that they have developed a GPS device and monitoring system for elderly patients and their caregivers. The GPS tracking device is called the BC300, and though it is not the first tracking devices designed for Alzheimer’s patients, it is the first to be offered through QVC, a leading multimedia retailer. The device comes with a charging station, adapter, rechargeable batteries, USB cable, attachment bands and instructional DVD. In addition to QVC’s online store, the tracking system will also be available at alzfdn.org (AFA’s online store) and breadcrumbgps.com (Breadcrumb’s store).

GPS Help for Alzheimer’s Patients

Hillary Mayfield — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:00:23 +0000

Approximately 125,000 Alzheimer’s patients are reported missing every year across the United States; missing because they have wandered from their caregivers or medical institutions. These are the critical wanderers, but there are many other wanderers who go missing for a short time and are quickly found by their caregivers. Now, modern technology may have an answer—GPS integrated shoes.

GTX Corp recently delivered its first shipment of these advanced tracking shoes to Aetrex, a shoe company that first came up with the idea of shoes imbedded with a tracking device after Elizabeth Smart went missing from her home in 2002. Originally designed to help missing children, many have seen the shoe’s potential in helping those suffering from Alzheimer’s dementia, a disease characterized by a tendency to wander and a desire to return to a childhood home.

Approximately 5 million Americans have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and the worldwide cost for caring for dementia patients is $604 billion. These are overwhelming statistics that can burden the caregivers trying to protect and nurture their loved ones. Certified by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), the GPS tracking system used in these shoes may help bring peace of mind to those caring for someone with dementia; more importantly, the shoes can help authorities locate a wanderer more quickly. Studies have shown that almost half of critical wanderers not found within 24 hours die.

In light of the alarming statistics and their anticipated growth rate with the aging population, $300 a pair seems a small price to pay for the safety of these patients who, through no fault of their own, are no longer able to care for themselves. The buyer is able to put the system in the heel of any pair of shoes and then set up the monitoring perimeters and an alert system so that when the wearer leaves a designated area, the caregiver is immediately notified and able to locate the person in a timely fashion. The shoes are probably most crucial to those in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, those who still live at home somewhat independently but are beginning to wander or get lost on routine errands; however, even those living in a long-term care facility are known to wander and escape.

The benefits of Aetrex’s GPS enabled shoes for Alzheimer’s patients are clearly seen, and the potential for recovering missing children cannot be underestimated. Some even advocate the use of such technology for prostitutes. In this day and age, it would be hard to comprehend anyone who could not benefit from the technology of GPS tracking.

GPS in Taxi Helps Australian Rape Victim’s Case

Khristen Foss — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:00:13 +0000

It is any woman’s worst nightmare. After a night of heavy drinking, a 24 year old woman jumped into a taxi and consequently passed out in the backseat. What she claims happened next is currently being debated in front of a jury, who must decide if the two men involved are guilty of the charges against them: sexual penetration without consent. This is indeed no easy task due to her incoherent condition, but the GPS tracking device installed inside the taxis taken by both men should make things much easier.

Prosecutor Janelle Scutt laid out the gory details in her opening statement. The victim was denied access to the Hip-E nightclub, and decided that maybe it was time to head home. As such, she hailed the cab of Amrit Pal Singh, 31. She passed out, and he called another cab driver, Prabhjit Singh Gill, 36, to meet him in a parking lot off of the Kwinana Freeway. Gill obliged, and the two men proceeded to rape the victim. Singh faces one charge of sexual penetration without consent, while Gill faces two for allegedly grabbing her head and penetrating her mouth as well.

The two men deny the charges, but the fact that the Swan Taxi Company equips their vehicles with GPS tracking devices makes it quite difficult to believe them. Upon reviewing the information gathered by the GPS tracking devices on both taxis, it was determined the two men met up at the park around the time the victim was picked up, and more importantly, they remained there for 30 to 45 minutes.

As if the GPS location information isn’t incriminating enough, DNA swabs taken the day following the alleged rape are confirmed to match Singh’s DNA.

Of course, with all of the evidence stacked against the men, they will likely jump to the “she gave consent” he-said-she-said defense. Scutt addressed this in her opening arguments: “It was without her consent. She couldn’t provide consent…at the time she (the victim) was at best in a state of semi consciousness.” In other words, she may not have said no, but she definitely did not say yes.

The trial is slated to go on for at least five days.

GPS Tracking Device Critical in Boat Accident Rescue

RMT GPS News — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:00:31 +0000

GPS tracking devices have been responsible for scores of happy endings, from lost dogs being returned to their owners to stolen possessions being recovered to Alzheimer’s patients being found after wandering away from home. Perhaps one of the most exciting of these stories occurred off the coast of Sydney, Australia when a GPS-equipped EPIRB beacon saved the lives of four people after their fishing boat sank.

Search and rescue teams credit GPS-equipped EPIRBs with enabling them to perform their jobs more efficiently. By pinpointing the location of the carrier, the beacon can give rescuers the information they need to save lives while reducing search time by hours or days.

Pair of Hunters Rescued Using GPS

Khristen Foss — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:00:23 +0000

Levi Matthews and David Smith of Spanish Fort, Alabama headed out for an evening of hog hunting on January 7^th around Canal Island, located in the north-central portion of the Mobile River Delta. The two went separate ways; Smith heading into the woods and Matthews remaining with the boat. It was at this point Matthews realized the motor of his boat was non-functional, and at 8:30 that night, he placed a call for help on his cell phone to Daphne Search and Rescue’s Ronnie Champion. Three hours later, the men were located thanks to the handheld GPS tracking device Matthews carries specifically for hunting.

Champion immediately involved North Baldwin Search and Rescue and the Alabama Marine Police in finding the pair. When all was said and done, a total of 16 rescuers in five boats aided in the search. Champion notes, “Our group and North Baldwin consist only of volunteers.”

Rescuers didn’t have to work very hard, as Matthews’ actual GPS coordinates led them directly to the location the boat was broken down. However, Smith was still out in the woods somewhere, clueless to the boat’s plight. As Smith was not carrying a GPS tracking unit or cell phone, Matthews relied on old-fashioned hunter techniques for communication.

He fired a round into the air, hoping Smith would hear it, and sure enough Smith fired a shot in response. Matthews led rescuers to the exact spot he left Smith, and they headed out on foot to find him using flashlights and calling his name. They located him roughly a mile away from the boat.

“They were a little cold and damp, but they did not need medical attention,” said Champion. Rescuers helped repair the boat, allowing the men to follow rescuers out of the delta. All six boats traveled the six mile journey down Big Beaver Creek and Tensaw Lake to their final destination, Hubbard Landing. They were likely glad to be rescued with conditions reported by the National Weather Service that night as temperatures in the low 50s with winds of 3 mph, not to mention fog blanketing the area.

Handheld GPS tracking devices, used by hunters normally to trace their route through the woods in an effort to make it back safely to the starting point, in this case saved two men from a cold and wet night out on the delta. Unfortunately, it didn’t save them from disappointment. In the words of Champion, “They didn’t get any hogs.”

Chicago Implements GPS Tracking to Help Residents Cope With Winter

Khristen Foss — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:42:13 +0000

Last year, winter hit the U.S. hard. Countless areas received record snowfall in just one storm which shut cities down for days and stranded numerous motorists; Chicago being one of them. In the hopes of preventing last year’s disasters from occurring this year, the city has developed ChicagoShovels.org which relies on GPS tracking devices affixed to the city’s 300 plow trucks.

Residents will be able to log onto the site and see in real-time the location of each and every snow plow at any point during the storm. As soon as the storm begins, the devices on each vehicle in the fleet will be activated, their location instantly mapped using their GPS tracking coordinates. This will allow residents to see how likely making it to work on time would be, and save the panicked person whose car is parked on the street, showing them exactly how close the plow is to their location and help guide the decision to dig it out before it gets towed away.

Didn’t make it to your car fast enough? Save yourself from the shock of walking outside to an empty parking space by installing one of the many apps also offered by the city which alerts you when your car is towed. Another useful app leads those who may have lost power during the storm to the closest location for shelter, food, or medical attention.

The website will also offer an “Adopt-a-Sidewalk” section where residents can volunteer to help maintain a sidewalk after a storm, along with a “Snow Corps” section to recruit people to aid in moving large piles of snow on a volunteer basis.

Other cities have used GPS tracking for snow plows as well, such as New York, which was hit hard by a storm last year that kept some neighborhoods inaccessible for days and caused massive headaches for administration. New Jersey and Lake County, IL have also begun tracking plows. However, Chicago is offering the first program that lets residents in on the action.

It sounds as if Chicago is taking winter very seriously this year, and you can’t really blame them after the hard hitting storms of 2011. And to those who point out it’s been a mild winter thus far, implying that it’s a bit overboard to set up this program, it’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to the unpredictable white stuff. John Tolva works for the Mayor of Chicago, and knowing winter has just begun, wisely commented “I’m not calling this a mild winter yet.”

AmberAlert.com: Bought by Amber Alert GPS

Khristen Foss — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:00:15 +0000

The company that introduced the Amber Alert GPS V3 to the market, designed to keep children safe by allowing their parents to track them, recently acquired AmberAlert.com. AmberAlert.com is a website that makes it easy for authorities of one city to alert authorities nationwide in the event of a missing child. “By adding the capabilities of AmberAlert.com to the Amber Alert GPS family, we now address the needs of law enforcement and parents,” said Carol Colombo, CEO of Amber Alert GPS.

The company has also recently made an agreement with AT&T, who is providing the connectivity for the V3 GPS tracking units. The V3 is said to be among the smallest devices currently offered to consumers, and is touted for how easy it is for any parent to use, and how secure the information gathered by this device is. The company believes that this acquisition will help them surge ahead in the arena of child safety and parent peace of mind.

“The company is honored to provide this essential service to participating states free of charge,” Columbo said. “Our stewardship of this service is consistent with our company’s commitment to child safety and security.”

Harlan Lyons, former AmberAlert.com CEO agrees that GPS tracking is the right move for all parties involved. “The goal of AmberAlert.com was to develop and refine the LEAP (Law Enforcement Alerting Portal) technology along with My Child ID and turn them over to a company that shared our commitment to helping save children’s lives …We are confident that Amber Alert GPS will take our vision to even greater heights and continue to serve the AMBER Alert Program and families everywhere.” Creators and developers of AmberAlert.com have moved to Amber Alert GPS tracking as part of the deal to assure that the transition goes smoothly.

Amber Alert GPS , founded in 2007 by Russ Thornton, began after his son disappeared for 45 minutes at a local amusement park. The panic he felt during those 45 minutes led him to develop the technology in the hopes that this terrifying situation didn’t happen to other parents. If it did, he wanted to ensure the parent had the upper hand in getting their child returned home safe and sound. With both AmberAlert.com and their agreement with AT&T, it appears they are on the right track to just about guarantee it.

Puppies Used to Lure Tigers Into Traps

Harriette Halepis — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:54:03 +0000

This morning, I read something disturbing in December’s issue of National Geographic. One-hundred years ago, 100,000 tigers could be found in Asia. Today, there are approximately 4,000 tigers left. Asiatic tigers (tigers that separated from African packs) are poached for their skin, bones, teeth, eyes, and other parts. Who buys tiger parts? Most poachers kill tigers in order to take part in the Asian medicinal trade — a trade that generates up to five million dollars each year.

Some conservationists have attempted to keep tigers safe by placing these animals in zoos (mostly in India). Yet, even the metal fences and security guards that surround zoo property cannot prevent poachers from sneaking into a zoo in the middle of the night. Tigers that are kept in cages are easy targets for poachers who have the right metal cutting tools. Often, park officials wake up to find tigers slaughtered inside of their cages.

Have you ever wondered how a poacher is able to trap a tiger in the wild? If you’re thinking that a tranquilizer gun has something to do with it, you’re only partially correct. Poachers use small puppies — that’s right, puppies — to lure tigers into traps. By placing a petrified puppy in a trap, a tiger will wander into that trap. Often, puppies are killed in the process.

Government officials attempting to capture poachers use GPS tracking devices to note poaching locations. Those puppies that are placed in harm’s way are often left alone to trap a tiger for days on end. Government officials can mark poaching spots by listening to the wails of a terrified, cold, and hungry pup.

Even though conservationists and government officials are trying to save the Asiatic tiger population, this is much easier said than done. A very poor population is often lured by promises of large pay-outs for a tiger skin or other valuable part. Combined with government and park official corruption, it’s not unrealistic to assume that Asiatic tigers will soon be a thing of the past.