Rocky Mountain Tracking

Daily GPS News

Take GPS on Your Next Hike

July 9th, 2010

by Greg Bartlett

One of the greatest things about living near the mountains is the ability to take off into the wilderness on a hike whenever nature beckons. No matter what time of year it is, there are always new sights and sounds, new wildlife to observe, and the sounds and smells of life and growth all around.

GPS Tracking & Outdoors

Seasoned hikers know that it’s important to take precautions when heading into the woods. They take care to hike with a buddy, bring plenty of water and food, and carry a first aid kit. Still, stories surface each season about hikers who become lost and require search and rescue teams to come to their aid. Such stories can result in happy endings more often if the hikers have the forethought to bring along a GPS tracking device.

Most GPS tracking devices will fit easily into a pocket, clip to a belt, or slip into a backpack zipper compartment. As the carrier moves, the device will send signals at intervals to pinpoint its location at any given time. While most hikers plan their routes carefully and follow maps and trail markers, the unexpected can happen anytime you head into nature and even the best of explorers can become disoriented if a fallen tree or rockslide changes the landscape.

A pleasant hike can quickly take a turn for the worse if one of the hikers becomes injured or sick, making an exit impossible. Without cell phone coverage, GPS tracking provides the best way for rescue teams to find stranded parties in the wilderness.

It’s easy for ‘outdoorsy’ people to place too much confidence in their skills without taking into consideration any possible problems that may arise, as five hikers in the White Mountain Wilderness area discovered. After spending a night in the woods, they were found with the aid of GPS tracking after placing a 9-1-1 call regarding their predicament. Rescuers reported that the search was one of the easiest they had conducted and that the GPS tracking coordinates led them within twenty-five feet of the lost hikers.

No one plans to get lost or injured when they head off into the mountains on foot, but GPS tracking helps even the best of hikers be prepared for the unexpected. With a GPS tracking device along for the trip, lengthy search and rescue missions can be reduced to quick and painless targeted searches that nearly always have a happy ending. Your family will be at ease knowing you can be found with hi-tech satellite based tracking.

Smart Golf Course Managers use GPS Tracking

July 2nd, 2010

By James Neely (re-posted from April 2009)

The water hazards on a golf course are no place in which your expensive golf carts should be found, but it does happen. Being prepared to handle these unfortunate events is a fact of life in golf course management. But it should be minimized by encouraging responsible behavior. This can be accomplished by installing a GPS Tracking system into these vehicles and other golf course equipment like mowers and tractors.

In the operation of a golf course, one of the most expensive items is the equipment that it takes to provide transportation between holes and maintaining the near perfect fairways and greens. Adding a GPS Tracking system will help in these ways.

Where is the equipment? In an instant you can get a visual on the location of a golf cart in question. Is it near the water, or in the water? Is it out of bounds and off of the course completely? Smart course management includes the ability to follow their equipment closely. Failure to do so can end up in disaster. And if there are any injuries from accidents, the reports from these systems can provide evidence of the location at the time in question.

If you should ever encounter a situation where a cart or other piece of equipment is stolen, it can be tracked to within a few feet of its location for recovery by authorities. This can help you keep your operations running smoothly in the face of theft or loss.

How is it being operated? Most golfers are safe drivers and operate the carts in a responsible manner, right? Now you can know for sure. These GPS Tracking systems can supply information other than just location. Now you can know how fast they are being driven. And if they are being driven in circles at a high-rate of speed, then disaster is sure to follow. Evidence of misuse can be used against a customer in helping to get them to pay for damages. This evidence is even admissible in a court of law.

How long since previous maintenance? One big part of course management is maintenance. How many hours has it been since a piece of equipment has been maintained to keep it in peak running condition? A GPS tracker can provide this data. Using it can help prevent break-downs and keep your course operating smoothly.

Insurance costs can be reduced dramatically because of these systems. This can mean a healthy dose of profitability over the course of a season.

Investing in GPS Tracking to locate and maintain expensive golf carts protects the golf course from theft and may end up lowering the insurance liability as well. High-tech gps solutions keep the business of golf on track by encouraging responsible behavior.

GPS Trackers Assist Wild Horse Researchers

June 28th, 2010

by Greg Bartlett

If you were around in the late 1990’s you will most likely be pretty familiar with the movie The Man from Snowy River. It was popular because it featured a love story set in the breathtaking Australian outback. Although some women might disagree, Jim Craig (the hero of the movie) was not the true star of the movie; the true heroes were the beautiful wild horses known as the Brumbies. They were wildly beautiful, and the fact that they couldn’t be tamed made them just that more intriguing. The movie was such as success that there was a sequel, Return to Snowy River, just a few years later.

GPS Tracking & Wild Horses

Regardless of the successes of the movies, the fame for the Brumbies was growing. It was growing so much, in fact, that scientists in Australia and other countries were very interested in studying these beautiful horses more closely. Some of these scientists decided that they would like to take the research to the next level. They began a process of outfitting these Brumbies with GPS trackers.

There are three basic types of GPS trackers: data loggers, data pushers, and data pullers. Data loggers are also known as passive GPS trackers. This is because these trackers are not intended to give the exact location of a vehicle or asset at a certain time. Data loggers are only intended to record, or “log,” the travel patterns of the person, vehicle, or asset that is carrying the tracker. Data pushers and pullers are real time GPS trackers. This means that they record and send out the exact location of the vehicle or asset in real time. The data pusher sends (or pushes) the tracker’s location intermittently every few minutes. The data puller also sends out the location every few minutes, but you can also “pull up” the location on demand whenever you need it. The real time GPS trackers are very helpful when following an employee, a teenage driver, or even a suspected criminal.

These types are not necessary when tracking the Brumbies. The scientists are only interested in the migration and living habits of the Brumbies; they don’t really care to locate them within the Australian wilderness. Because of this, data loggers are the best choice. Because they are wild horses, outfitting the Brumbies with the devices takes some doing! They horses are tranquilized for less than 3 minutes, and they are fitted with a GPS tracker collar. So far, the trackers have given the scientists amazing information to assist with their research.

5 Successful GPS Tracking Uses

June 24th, 2010

by Greg Bartlett

GPS tracking devices are extremely helpful to both families and businesses. Some first-time GPS shoppers may not understand what all can be done with this exciting technology, so here are 5 common ways that GPS trackers are used successfully by both businesses and consumers.

GPS Tracking for Success

Protecting your family

GPS tracking can be used to track those who are most important to you: your spouse and kids. This can be done either through cell phone trackers, or dedicated devices that can be placed on individuals. These devices, like most GPS trackers, almost always come with software or access to a secure website that allows you to see where your family members are.

Preventing car theft

GPS car trackers can be easily placed in a discreet place in your vehicle so that you can always keep track of where it is located using the tracker’s software. Many of these devices allow you to hook the tracker up to the car’s battery, so that the tracker never needs recharging. These devices have already resulted in the quick recovery of many stolen vehicles, as the police can use the tracking signal to find the vehicle’s location soon after it is reported to them.

Encourage safe driving

GPS car trackers can also be used to help teen drivers practice safe driving skills. Devices that are created for this purpose not only track the location of vehicle, but can also track the speed, and sometimes the acceleration of the vehicle. Some devices even contain a “speed cap” that will not allow the car to go faster than a speed that parents set. Since teens driving GPS tracked cars know that their driving is being watched by their parents, studies show that they often drive much safer and have fewer accidents than untracked cars.

Increasing worker productivity

In the business world, countless billions of dollars are lost every year to lost productivity. Lost productivity can be especially high with workers who travel to off-site locations to do work. They can use company vehicles for personal use, get lost on the way to jobs, and otherwise waste precious company time and fuel. GPS tracking can be used to keep these workers accountable, much like it is used to track teenage drivers. Workers who know their bosses are watching them often work better than they would otherwise, as studies repeatedly show.

Company asset protection

GPS tracking devices can also be discreetly placed on larger or transportable company assets, such as company vehicles, construction equipment, laptop computers, etc. These items often represent thousands of dollars of company money. Company laptops, of course, can contain priceless company information, records, and industry secrets that are so valuable that a company must recover them or risk the information falling into the wrong hands.

GPS tracking is a solution to many problems faced by the modern company and family, and is well worth the minimal investment.

Are GPS Systems Vulnerable?

June 4th, 2010

Recent Military GPS Failures Raise Questions

Many people are now dependent upon the global positioning satellite technology that powers both navigational and GPS tracking systems. However, a recent news report by the Associated Press stated that a technical glitch resulted in thousands of GPS tracking and navigational units failing for multiple days. Not only did the story expose the fact that the technology our military relies on for a variety of operations is flawed, but that the GPS technology could be susceptible to glitches.

Military GPS Satellites

Military service men and women rely on GPS technology in Iraq and Afghanistan to conduct a multitude of operations, and failures in the GPS technology can result in the lives of our brave military serve personnel. This is why when the military announced that a problem, which was blamed on software compatibility, occurred, many people began feeling a little less safe. An official close to the situation explained that essentially everything that is mobile now uses some form of GPS technology, and knowing that the location-based technology was disrupted for an extended period of time should raise serious concerns.

Currently, the military uses GPS technology for a variety of applications from monitoring military vehicles to weapon targeting. Some of these GPS systems, such as the GPS Tracking Key, are available to consumers.

The military has nearly one million GPS tracking or navigational receivers, but of that large sample size, less than 10,000 GPS systems were reportedly affected by the technical glitch.

Spokespeople for the Navy have not stated whether the glitch had any affect on soldiers working and defending the fundamentals of our freedom overseas.

Opinion:

Should we be concerned that the technological tools used by our military can be manipulated or susceptible to malfunction?

Do you believe that other countries may be taking notice of the recent GPS failures that affected our military?

Ryan Horban is a guest author who specializes in writing about GPS technology and monitoring devices for Tracking System Direct.

Tracking Political Polling Machines in Manila

April 27th, 2010

Source acquired via Philstar, April 23, 2010, Manila, Philippines – When it comes to political polling, Manila isn’t taking any chances with possible tampering. On April 28, 2010, 7,555 Precinct Court Optical Scan machines will make a semi-long voyage from the current warehouse where they are stored to various polling stations throughout Manila. In order to avoid any unscheduled stops, all of the police patrol trucks that are being used to transport the machines will be tracked with a GPS tracker.

GPS & Elections

If any unscheduled stop is made, those police officers monitoring the patrol cars will be able to react in a timely manner. Those police officers who have been asked to transport the polling machines are all part of the National Capital Regional Police Office strike force, though anything can happen when it comes to political elections. In addition to being equipped with GPS trackers, every police officer involved in transporting the ballot machines will be armed with firearms and digital trunk radios.

The Manila police force has assured the public that “keeping the PCOS machines and the ballots safe and secured is just one of our many tasks so that we could have an honest, orderly and peaceful elections here in Metro Manila.” With the help of GPS trackers, keeping control over the polling machines as they move from area to area will be easier than it has been in the past. This is the first time that automatic polling will take place in Manila, and many believe that implementing this system could be dangerous.

In the past, politicians in Manila have been elected through “guns, goons and gold (CBS News).” The electronic polling stations are meant to prevent any tampering, though many residents are unsure that this will actually work. In previous years, numerous politicians and voters alike have been massacred due to political beliefs. While the installation of GPS tracking systems and heavily armed guards may prevent anyone from tampering with polling machine, preventing murders based upon political beliefs is another story altogether.

The world will watch and wait nervously as Manila heads to the polling booths this May. As the May 10^th date approaches, all eyes are on the transport of the new polling machines. While the polling machines may arrive at polling stations unharmed, many hope that residents of Manila will remain unharmed as well.

Checking Up On Your Spouse with GPS Tracking

April 22nd, 2010

By Greg Bartlett

In some marriages, concern over spousal fidelity can be a serious issue. A husband could wonder whether his wife really is spending all day shopping, or a wife could be suspicious that her husband’s business trips aren’t all for business. Husbands and wives may suspect infidelity without ever being able to prove or disprove it unless they hire a private investigator, which can often be more expensive than they can afford. So the husbands and wives are just left to sit, wonder, and lose trust in their spouses even if no cheating is actually taking place.

GPS Tracking & Spouses

In today’s electronic age, tracking potentially cheating spouses is easier than ever and possible for anyone to do with relatively little expense, especially in comparison to hiring a private investigator. All it takes is a little curiosity and a GPS tracking device. Since GPS tracking units are typically small and can be easily hidden, a suspicious spouse can place it inside the vehicle of the spouse who might be cheating. Then the GPS device will confirm or dismiss the suspicions.

So, if a husband is wondering where his wife is all day while he’s at work, the GPS tracking device will inform him about where she’s been, what stops she’s made, and how much time is spent at each stop. If she regularly visits a private house in a secluded neighborhood, the husband’s suspicions just might be confirmed. If, on the other hand, she really is just driving to shops and maybe taking a long time window shopping or choosing between products, the husband can dismiss his worries and trust his wife again.

For the wife who wonders about her husband while he travels, a GPS tracking device in his car can be set up to give alerts when the vehicle reaches particular destinations. She’ll be able to know, for instance, when he gets to his hotel or reaches the conference center. If he takes side trips to visit a mistress, the wife will be alerted to the infidelity immediately.

Suspicion of adultery can destroy a marriage, so for many people, if the suspicion arises, the only way to save the marriage may be to find out the truth. A GPS tracking device can’t save the marriage on its own, but it can give answers by tracking the location and whereabouts of a spouse. And since there is always a possibility that the suspicions are false, tracking a potentially cheating spouse could save a marriage.

4 Things you Must Know about Avoiding Traffic Fines

April 13th, 2010

by James Neely, freelance writer: click | HERE | to check out GPS products from Rocky Mountain Tracking

When it comes to moving violations, most people do not realize that they have specific things that they can do to avoid the fines and points that are placed on their licenses after they are convicted of the offenses. Here are four things that you must know which will help you avoid having to pay exorbitant fines that come with most traffic infractions.

GPS & Radar

Find out about Maintenance on Radar Units

Radar units are sensitive pieces of electronic equipment that are susceptible to heat and cold. The changes in temperature for any and all electronic devices can cause inconsistency in their operations. When it comes to accuracy, the manufacturers of these devices have a maintenance schedule to which these units must be held to make sure they are functioning correctly. When you get a ticket, you need to know whether or not the unit in question has been maintained properly. If not, it is grounds to have your ticket thrown out of court.

But, there is an even more effective way of disputing a ticket with a GPS Tracking device. You can use the history of these devices to tell you whether or not you were in compliance with speed limits. If not, pay the ticket and go on. If your reading differs from that of the unit that clocked your speed, you have a right to go to court and present evidence which can have the ticket thrown out.

Recognize that Police make Mistakes

When the police officer tracked your speed with a radar unit, were you in traffic or alone on the road? If there are other vehicles around, who is to say that you were the one speeding? Did he maintain visual contact with your vehicle after he clocked your speed? If not, then how does he know it was you that he tracked? Was the reading on his radar unit for your vehicle or one that he tracked earlier and gave a ticket to? Police officers are not infallible and you need to make sure that they have the right vehicle and that the speed was indeed what they said it was.

GPS Tracking can help you by providing evidence of where you were on the day that you were given a ticket.

Locate Speed Traps

Everyone knows that there are certain speed traps that you must either avoid or slow down when approaching throughout your community. Local police set up in familiar locations from time to time when they realize that they do not have enough money coming in to the coffers to meet operating expenses. This should be illegal, but it isn’t. GPS Tracking units can help here, once again, in providing evidence of your innocence or guilt after you are cited for a moving violation.

Use Your Rights

Since moving violations are so expensive, there is merit to fighting them in order to keep the points off of your license. You have rights as a citizen in making sure that the charges against you are valid. And you can request a jury trial if necessary. But mostly that is not needed. Just having your ‘trusty’ GPS Tracking device can help you avoid these problems.

Also, make sure that you do your best to obey posted speed limits and other laws governing drivers actions. Chances are, you will not get any tickets, but in case you do, better be safe than sorry that you didn’t have a GPS Tracking device to help you.

Rocky Mountain Tracking has the best line-up of GPS Tracking Device to meet any need. Take a look at their products and options for the best fit for your business. You will find knowledgeable sales persons in helping you get the best unit to meet your requirements.

Spouse Tracking Made Easier With AT&T

April 4th, 2010

By Greg Bartlett

AT&T’s new FamilyMap program is useful for more than just keeping track of children. Although they might not advertise it as such, the FamilyMap program is a great way to track a cheating spouse. For $10 a month, AT&T’s program is available to track the whereabouts of anyone on your family plan in real-time.

Spouse Tracking & GPS

However, AT&T’s FamilyMap program was not intended to be used as a spouse tracking program and so it sends a monthly text message to each tracked phone to notify the owner of the program’s use. In order to effectively use FamilyMap as a spouse tracker, you would have to intercept and delete these monthly messages to keep your spouse clueless. If you were able to delete the initial message, you could track your spouse for an entire month before they would ever find out about it.

Unfortunately, tracking a cheating spouse using a cell phone program is not as effective as using a real-time vehicle tracking device. Cell phone tracking systems are not as accurate or reliable as traditional GPS tracking systems, because they rely on the batteries and signals of cell phones, neither of which can be considered reliable. This is why many people prefer to do their spouse tracking through a tracking device on their spouse’s car. The devices work in similar ways. Although cell phones may track the spouse through more of the day, both devices can easily be left at work or in another safe location if the spouse begins to suspect something.

Spouse tracking has been made much easier by today’s technology, but it is also necessary to use more of today’s technology to make sure that all forms of cheating are exposed. These days, a lot of infidelity takes place (or at least starts) on the internet. If you use a computer program to discover that your spouse is cheating on the internet, you can easily put that together with information from a spouse tracking device and have all the information that you would need to take legal action against your cheating spouse.

Although people hope that their spouse is not cheating on them, for many it is important to know the truth. Spouse tracking systems like AT&T’s FamilyMap program can make this process as simple and pain-free as possible. And when compared with the cost of a private investigator, using real-time GPS tracking, whether in the form of the FamilyMap program or a vehicle tracking system, can save you a bundle of money and get you the same results.

Fight Traffic Fines with GPS Tracking

March 31st, 2010

by James Neely, freelance writer

Its every driver’s bane: the traffic ticket. You are minding your own business, when all of a sudden out of nowhere; you see the flashing red and blue lights in your rearview mirror and hear a short blast on the siren. You’ve broken a traffic law (or so says the officer) and now you have to pay a fine. And as it turns out, it is a really, really high fine. What’s going on here?

Traffic Fines & GPS Tracking

More states are raising their fines because they are in a financial bind. It seems like highway robbery but it is a reality that we have to deal with nonetheless. Fox news has issued a story about this which can be read here.

But, there are even more devious means of raising revenues from traffic fines and incidents that may not include a stop by your friendly law enforcement officer. Some cities and towns are equipping their traffic signals with red-light cameras that take a snap shot of your license plate if you move through the intersection on a red light. Sneaky tactics like these are becoming more popular.

It does not stop there either. Should you find yourself involved in an accident, you might find a bill in your mailbox several days later for the cost of cleaning up the accident.

How does one fight back against these new revenue generating methods being employed by cities and towns across the nation? Here are some suggestions:

Do Not Break Traffic Laws

This one is not difficult to do and will keep you out of all sorts of problems. But, it requires you do take a more active approach to your driving. You must focus on the task at hand and eliminate distractions. Do not take cell phone calls, or (heaven forbid) text message while you are driving. If you must take or make a call, pull over to the side of the road out of danger and then take the call. Limit your call to just several minutes and then get back on your way. Sitting on the side of the road poses a danger, too.

Obey the speed limits to within a few miles an hour, and become a good defensive driver. These practices will help keep you out of trouble and will help you keep more money in your pocket.

Know the Laws

Being aware of state laws regarding moving violations can be useful if and when you are required to defend yourself. Most states have laws that state that if you are issued a ticket, you have a right to examine all of the evidence that was used in making the decision to give you that ticket. Your goal should be to examine the evidence and make sure that it is valid.

For example, manufacturers of radar units have guidelines that must be adhered to in order to make sure that they are functioning normally. These guidelines can be used against a police department if the radar units have not been serviced (tested) at pre-determined intervals to make sure they are in peak operating condition. If not, then a legal question as to whether or not they are function correctly and producing accurate readings is in order. You have a right to request logs that show if the units have been maintained properly according to manufacturer guidelines. Your case can be thrown out of court if they have not been. It can take a little bit of time and effort to get this information, but it can also keep you from having to pay hundreds of dollars in fines and fees when you go to pay your ticket.

Use Technology

Make a small investment in a GPS Tracking device for your vehicles. These units have already been used in court to establish evidence as to the speed of a vehicle at the time of an accident or a traffic citation. They can protect you in other ways, too. Helping you keep track of the use of your vehicle is a side benefit as well.

Face it, you are going to have to work harder to keep from getting tickets for moving violations. The above suggestions will help and as a result, you might become a better driver, too. Good Luck.