Posts Tagged ‘gps tracking’

on FBI and GPS tracking

Jan 6, 2012 , ,


Recently a federal decision allowed the FBI to embed a GPS device to a suspected Missouri man’s vehicle. Does this mean they come after the rest of us? That is still up in the air until Supreme Court decides what it thinks about the practice which won’t be until later this year. Supreme Court will actually be hearing a different case, but it is still about warrentless GPS tracking. From the Missouri case for example the federal judge said the suspected person could not expect a reasonable amount of privacy on the outside of his car.

According to the same judge:

“Here, installation of the GPS tracker device onto defendant Robinson’s Cavalier was not a ‘search’ because defendant Robinson did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the exterior of his Cavalier. Agents installed the GPS tracker device onto defendant’s Cavalier based on a reasonable suspicion that he was being illegally paid as a ‘ghost’ employee on the payroll of the St. Louis City Treasurer’s Office.

Installation of the GPS tracker device was non-invasive; a magnetic component of the GPS tracker device allowed it to be affixed to the exterior of the Cavalier without the use of screws and without causing any damage to the exterior of the Cavalier. The GPS tracker device was installed when the Cavalier was on a public street near defendant’s residence. Installation of the GPS tracker device revealed no information to the agents other than the public location of the vehicle. Under these circumstances, installation of the GPS tracker device was not a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment.”

The results could’ve been different if the case was based on the violation of the first amendment as the defense team had hoped but instead it was about the fourth amendment.

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how to check if your GPS running app / watch is accurate

Dec 26, 2011 , ,

Recently there was an article in NYT which claimed GPS watches can be unreliable and give you the wrong distance. One example is running around a track and then downloading the map data to your computer. You’ll see that none of your laps will actually overlap and they may not even look like ovals. This is mostly true but there are always workarounds. I’m not talking about a certain kind of GPS watch but more about GPS apps for tracking. For example with Google’s own My Tracks app there’s are several settings that help you keep tabs on your accuracy. The most important one of these is the “time interval” which is defined as the smallest distance between two recordings of your position. You want this value to be as small as possible (and it is by default set at 1 seconds we believe).

Another important setting is the distance interval. If your path is filled with switchbacks or just a lot of turns this setting may help you smooth out the turns and make it more realistic. The recommended setting for this is by default 5m but if you’re crazy about collecting the most realistic data you should set this to it’s smallest value which is 1m.

A third setting that helps you keep track of your accuracy is the “GPS accuracy”. Google My Tracks has this setting at 200 meters by default. This means when that blue circle around you is at 200 meters or less your data will be recorded. Now to be honest 200 meters is a long distance and may make a big difference if you’re running. You can set this at 10m accuracy which is a pretty darn good signal. But this means your phone will stop recording your workouts when the signal gets even a little worse. I’d rather have the app record my workout rather than it stop and complain about the signal.

One final thing you can do to test your GPS devices’ accuracy is to measure your path on Google Earth. In one window bring up the path you uploaded from your tracking app and on a another window bring up Google Earth. Now go to Tools->Ruler->Path from the menu bar. Using your mouse start clicking on the path you followed. Make it as accurate as possible. Now compare that distance to the distance reported by your GPS app. Is it off by a lot? Probably not. 99% accurate? If that makes you happy great. Nothing to worry about. If not you can bring up Google Earth every single time, correct your path, and record the actual distance.

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PocketFinder tracks vehicles, pets, and people

Nov 25, 2011 ,


Location Based Technologies is expanding their line of products for PocketFinder and now the news is that they will be available at Apple stores in the U.S. and the U.K. You can actually pick them up online from Apple’s web site.

  • Personal GPS locator: $150 plus $13/month
  • Pet GPS locator: $150 plus $13/month
  • Vehicle GPS locator: $190 plus $13/month

Some of the features of these live GPS tracking devices include app and web interface that work seamlessly with your Apple toys, water-proof and rugged design, ability to view and download location history, and speed and zone alerts. The vehicle device actually includes push notifications too. Like we mentioned the monthly cost is $13 which gets you unlimited location lookups, unlimited email alerts, SMS alerts, 45 day log history, touch tone phone location lookups, and unlimited zone and speed alerts. Not a bad deal actually.

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kayak thief caught with GPS tracking device

Sep 7, 2011 , ,


More than a dozen kayaks were stolen over the last few weeks from a small business owner at Hopkinton State Park. The owner decided to setup a trap and bought GPS tracking devices and hid them inside the kayaks. In the end GPS devices led to the arrest of a 33 year old man with two kayaks still on top of his vehicle.

The owner setup the device so that he would get email alerts when the GPS tracking device was moved. He sure got an email Monday night and reported the theft to the police. Police staked out where the vehicle was parked, waited for him to get into his vehicle and arrested him minutes later.

The thief, Alexander, had about 15 more kayaks in his possession and had a sign up offering them for sale…

Read the rest of this entry »

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GPS enabled quadcopter drone put to use, FAA is cautious

Sep 3, 2011 , ,


MD4-1000 is an aweseome GPS enabled quadcopter that can be used for all sorts of surveillance. The device is proudly built by Germans, by a company called MicroDrones Gmbh, and is better described if we called it an AUMAV (Autonomous Unmanned Micro Aerial Vehicle). It has some amazing specs – such as the ability to carry a payload of up to 5lbs, travel at about 15m/s and climb at 7.5m/s. Obviously it has for electric rotors – each of which generates 250W of power and can last up to 70 minutes.

It has a variety of sensors which include barometer, hygrometer, accelerometers, gyroscopes, a magnetometer, and a thermometer. It constantly sends all of this data to its base in real time. They are actually more advanced than this. They can actually fly themselves, collect lots of data and video footage or just photos using a GPS Waypoint navigation system. Completely autonomous.

News Corp has one of these and even setup its own page to show off the videos captured. Most recently it was sent to cover the floods in Mississippi and Alabama. However not everyone is allowed to fly drones. It is used heavily by the military abroad, and even within U.S. borders by a few police departments. According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) these unmanned aircraft can be used by hobbyists as long as they don’t go over 400 feet. Under no circumstance they can be used for compensation or hire. For a private party to fly a quadcopter such as this it has to receive an airworthiness certificate which requires lots of paperwork.

The News Corp’s MicroDrone MD4-1000 did fly for commercial purposes and apparently FAA is investigating to figure if they need to take any legal action against them.

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GPS implants not here yet

Aug 31, 2011 ,


An article is kind of stating the obvious – at least for us – saying that GPS implants, the size of a grain of rice is not technologically feasible considering our current state with batteries mostly.

This Mexican security company claim they made 178 rescues using a small RFID implant that goes under your skin and it relays a signal to a nearby GPS receiver. If the GPS and the RFID implant get separated the company claims they can pinpoint person of interest.

This sounds a lot like science fiction however since RFIDs do not have a power source of their own and can not transmit signals. An RFID reader can only pick up their existence from at most a couple of hundred meters provided the person is still near the last location of the GPS tracking device.

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GPS technology not ready for tracking sex offenders

Aug 16, 2011 ,

Researchers at Sam Houston State University concluded in a recent study that GPS monitoring should not be used as a control mechanism for tracking sex offenders but only as a tool. Study used sex offenders in Maricopa County, AZ over a two-year period. Study says that the GPS technology has many limitations and can not be depended upon as a control mechanism.

The study found that a significant number of equipment-related alerts were triggered by a loss of a satellite signal, rather than offender violations. Those alerts resulted in a significant increase in the workload of probation officers. In addition to wasting agency’s resources with these false alerts, a secondary impact is the possibility of complacency by probation officers because of these non-violation alerts, which may result in a failure to act and liability for offender actions, the report concluded.

It is estimated that 70% of alerts are false positives and mostly caused by technological limitations.

The study was published in the Journal of Criminal Justice.

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GPS computer coupon – QSTARZ SR-Q2100

Jul 12, 2011 , , , ,


We got a coupon code (NAVI10SALE) for those of you who are interested in a GPS computer. QSTARZ SR-Q2100 is mostly designed for cyclists in mind but you can pretty much use it to track any kind of workout. The software even lets you download your workouts and put them in a calendar for you so you know how your performance is changing over time.

Once again, the code is NAVI10SALE and you can get it from here.

Here are some of the other features:

  • Track recorder
  • Cycle Computer
  • Location Finder
  • 8-directional digital compass
  • Route Guider
  • IPX-7 waterproof
  • E-Temperature
  • Large 1.8″ LCD display with backlight support
  • Route Plan mode can support 1 route with 99 turn points, which can guide remaining distance/direction/time to target point
  • Support pre-loading 4 Location Back points and pre-planning 99 turn points of route
  • Utilizes latest high sensitivity -159dBm GPS chipset
  • Smart power saving and support 25 hours usage (22hrs with backlight)
  • Waterproof design with IPX-7 class
  • Download data via mini USB interface

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Flymaster F1-Live

Jul 12, 2011 , ,


Flymaster Avionics just recently announced a new GPS tracking device called the Flymaster F1-Live. This is a GSM enabled GPS tracker which allows the live tracking of pilots during their leisure or competition flights. It is especially designed for flight – though we’re not sure how different this would be compared other GPS tracking devices. But apparently they have patent features.

As far as the hardware this GPS tracker offers the following:

  • 50 channel, 4 Hz (4 positions per second), high sensibility GPS;
  • Internal memory for more than 50 hours of flight with 1 second recording interval, i.e. 180000 points;
  • Quad band GSM-GPRS module
  • 20 hours of operation with 4 AA alkaline batteries.

If you’re a pilot you know that you lose cell phone coverage for a good amount of time and the Flymaster F1-Live has a solution for your live tracking needs. In the advent of network coverage loss the F1-live stores the data and resends missing track information to the server as soon as network coverage becomes available. And if all goes to plan you shouldn’t have any discontinuity,

We have no info on pricing yet.

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QStarz GPS Sports Recorder (BT-Q1300ST) and QSports software review

Jun 30, 2011 , , ,


OVERVIEW:
If you are an endurance workout junkie, this is the perfect tool for you. Lightweight, easy to use, with multi-functional software, the QStarz GPS Sports Recorder and its associated QSports program allow you to track your routes and your progress throughout your training regimen. The GPS unit itself is compact and simple, but the software provides the user with a gold-mine of information related to health, fitness progress, and workout details.

GPS UNIT:
The data logger itself is straight-forward to use. The included instructions describe what each light means, but the take-home message is that pressing and holding the main button will achieve any functionality that you need. The only drawback to this design that I encountered had to do with the brightness of the indicator lights. In the glaring sunlight, it was sometimes tough to see if the GPS was in fact tracking, data logger was active, etc. Simply shading the unit alleviates the issue.

When you first download and install the Qsports software, you must plug your data logger into the computer using the USB cable included with the unit. Leave the unit plugged in for the specified amount of time (included in software instructions) to charge the battery for use. Once the software recognizes the data logger, the first thing you should do is configure the GPS unit using the button highlighted below.

At this point, determine what activity that you’ll be using the GPS device to track. Runners, hikers, and cyclists will all want slightly different settings, and these will even vary by athlete. You can use the default settings to require the GPS to log a data point at specific time intervals, or customize to your liking. As I used this to track running routes in Phoenix’s South Mountain park trails, I selected the running setting. The default ‘running’ setting logs every 5 seconds, which works perfectly for most runners. Since South Mountain trails can be sinewy and full of switch-backs, I changed the setting to log every 3 seconds to achieve even finer “accuracy” of my routes. Make sure to play around with the options and become familiar with all setting to determine which might best for your workout. There’s really no “wrong answer” here.

Also, be sure to set your User Profile at the bottom with height, weight, and age, which assists the tools under the Health Management tab.

After configuration, the GPS is ready to take into the field. I used the arm-band that came with the device; a “standard” runners’ armband. Even in the mid-90s dry, desert weather that I encountered, the band was quite comfortable. Before starting on my runs, I’d make sure the GPS signal indicator was recording my position, along with the data logger. I never waited more than five (5) minutes for a signal lock, allowing me plenty of time to stretch and prepare my gear without having to wait for the GPS to achieve a signal.

Keep in mind that this GPS has no interface that displays real-time data. Some runners prefer having the GPS devices which show speed, location, etc. on the fly. If you prefer having constant updates during your workout, I suggest wearing a watch in addition to the GPS data logger. Personally, I’m a runner that prefers to minimize electronic gadgetry, particularly on trail runs. Too often, I would find myself looking at my watch and other instruments while working out, instead of paying attention to how my body reacts during workouts. For this reason, the GPS suited me perfectly. This is strictly personal preference, though.

Battery life never became an issue on my runs. Some of my longer trails runs would range between 90 and 120 minutes. So long as I charged the battery before each long run, I could track the entire workout without issue.

The GPS data logger does include Bluetooth functionality, but I did not interact with this functionality, as I do not own any Bluetooth devices. I guess that means I’m behind the times in some regards…

Finally, regarding the GPS’ accuracy, I found the positional accuracy to be comparable to a Garmin unit. Certainly for the purposes of tracking a workout, the accuracy of data on the QSports software’s Google Maps interface was impressive.

QSPORTS SOFTWARE

This feature is truly where the strength of this purchase lies. After returning home, I could plug my GPS back into the computer and view my workout across the Google Maps interface, and view the vital statistics (the software comes with the Google Maps map, satellite, and terrain views). Downloading your track from the device to the software requires plugging the USB cord back into the data logger and choosing the “Import Wizard” function in the QSports software interface. Once the track is uploaded, each data point logged in the field will show two attributes of interest at the time (choose from speed, altitude, distance, time acceleration, total ascent, and SRTM elevation). **Note SRTM refers to shuttle-collected elevation data, which will produce slightly different elevation values in some locations**

The three basic tabs (Summary, Graph, and Play) comprise the ‘Activities View’ window. Summary tab shows the basics: total time, moving time, distance, moving speed, elevation gain, and calories burned. The subfields of Time, Distance, Speed, and Elevation offer more detail. The graph tab offers up the information at each logged data point, as described above. The Play tab is a playback of your total route, with each logged data point serving as a point of reference (see below). This allowed me to see places in my runs where I slowed or accelerated.


Above is example of data accuracy taken outside my office in Phoenix, AZ. I was standing precisely there when I activated the data logger

The Statistics tab lets you track all workouts in monthly, weekly, or daily increments to see spikes or dips in your training time, which is handy to compare against recommended training plans.

The plethora of data and statistics available to the runner, cyclist, hiker, or any endurance athlete makes this a useful training tool. Short-term and long-term workout analysis are available to those using the QSports software. I would highly recommend the QStarz GPS Sports Recorder (BT-Q1300ST) and QSports software for any and all endurance athletes.

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