Real-Time GPS Cases

GPS tracking systems are now commonly called upon by businesses to track employee driving activity, consumers to increase personal safety and police agencies to conduct sleuth investigations. With real-time GPS technology now both cost-effective and user-friendly, the market has opened the doors to a number of new monitoring applications from everything to teenage driving safety to auto-theft security and everything in between. The best part is that many tracker devices do not even need to be professionally installed, as many tracking units are engineered with their own internal battery support and therefore can be used as portable monitoring solutions. This allows people who are interested in tracking a vehicle to simply place a tracker device under a seat, in a glove box or essentially any location in the target automobile.

But what if the person wanting to track a vehicle doesn't have access to the inside of the car? What if they don't want to put a tracker device inside the automobile they want to track? For people wanting to place a GPS vehicle tracking unit on the outside of a automobile it is recommended a waterproof case be utilized because water-resistant hardware is not strong enough to hold up against the elements.

Where Can I Get A Waterproof Case

When searching for a waterproof case for a GPS monitoring system it is very important that the manufacturer designed the case specifically to house a GPS unit. This is because components made of metal can interfere with GPS reception. The waterproof case should also have a magnetic mount strong enough to hold securely to the under carriage of the vehicle.

Tracking System Direct currently offers such a rugged and durable waterproof case with exterior magnetic mount for those who purchased the popular SilverCloud GPS or Victoria tracker. However, the waterproof case was designed specifically to house and protect those two trackers and will not properly secure any third party trackers.

The best thing for people seeking a waterproof case for their tracker device to do is contact the company they originally purchased the GPS monitoring system from. Most likely they will have a lie of accessories to support such a consumer need.

Authorities Can Monitor Cell Phones Using GPS Tracking

Are you the type of person who believes in conspiracy theories? That the government knew about the JFK assassination or that fluoride is in our water systems to keep people mellow? Well if you are one of those types then you certainly will not like how police can now track your phone using the GPS tracking system embedded in every mobile phone device and how agencies such as the FBI have been routinely tracking people using GPS and another controversial methods such as stingray technology.

Yes police have the ability to track your mobile phone, locate your exact position and even reconfigure certain characteristics of the mobile phone you use through remote airtime access. Agencies such as the FBI are engaging in this new-age form of spying on people every single day, but the scary part is that they are doing so without warrant or establishment of probable cause! This has many people darn right pissed because they feel this form of mobile tracking action can essentially be conducted with judicial oversight. And they are correct!

Stingray Technology

Most people have never heard of "stingray" technology, but that does not stop government and police agencies from using it to spy on citizens. Essentially what "stingray" refers to is a secretive technology that mimics cellular towers to confuse mobile phones in proximity to the device. What happens is that the mobile phone is tricked to think the stingray device is a legitimate cell tower and therefore connects to the spy device. Once connected to the stingray, police can then track call history, identify who is calling into the mobile device, monitor conversation, pinpoint the location of an individual and more. Stingray technology essentially takes domestic wiretapping to a whole new advanced and terrifying level of privacy invasion, and that is why everyone should hold some concern.

One of the first concerns is the most obvious one which is that it's not only the bad guy who's mobile phone is connecting to the stingray but also every other individual with a mobile phone in the region. That means the data from air cards, mobile phones and wireless systems of innocent people doing nothing but going along their everyday lives are also being honed in on and monitored. Even if government agencies state they delete information not relevant to the case they are investigating nobody knows for sure if that is the truth. And certainly nobody is conducting transparent oversight of the domestic spying. This means citizens abiding to the laws could fall victim to privacy invasion by the government.

Two organizations, the ACLU and EFF, have moved forward with legal paperwork stating investigations using stingray technology were essentially illegal. The reason is because authorities using the stingray technology did so without first explaining in detail to the courts how they would use stingray devices. Both organizations feel that government and police intentionally misled the oversight authority knowing that if the truth was revealed the courts may be apprehensive to green light any such activity.

Do you have concerns about government agencies using stingray devices to acquire information from mobile phone systems?

Fuel Savings Important To City Officials

With so many cities throughout the United States finding themselves cash-strapped, many government officials have been left with the task of reducing unnecessary spending while also eliminating any possible inefficiencies. One of the more trendy solutions many large cities have been opting for are vehicle management plans designed to cut out wasteful spending associated with misuse of government vehicles. These vehicle management plans call upon GPS tracking systems that track and record everywhere state employees are going with government owned and operated automobiles. This satellite-aided management strategy allows fleet oversight managers to gauge the following:

1. If employees are using government vehicles for personal use
2. Miles any vehicle has traveled (great for record keeping and maintenance)
3. If automobiles are being driven in an unsafe fashion (speed alerts, harsh braking notification)
4. If fuel consumption is too high or vehicle idling is causing excessive fuel use

Of course, real-time GPS monitoring technology can bestow even more helpful features, and this is the primary reason that the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico has followed cities such as Eugene, Oregon to adopt a new vehicle management plan designed to improve worker accountability while also cutting out unnecessary expenses associated with fleet operation.

What Vehicle Management Will Mean To Santa Fe

With Santa Fe making preparations to move forward with a GPS monitoring plan, anytime a person sees a Santa Fe vehicle featuring a state seal it is more than likely satellite technology will be accurately tracking the every movement of that vehicle. Each GPS vehicle tracker is estimated to cost approximately $30 per device with associated monthly data obligations. The vehicle trackers are roughly the size of a smart phone and will be instrumental in improving routes while cutting an estimated 20% in fuel costs from safe driving practices alone.

Management & Employees Talk GPS Vehicle Tracking

When asked about her opinion on the new GPS fleet tracking program in Santa Fe, a woman working for the Department of Economic Development explained she has zero issues with a tracker device monitoring her driving activity because at the end of the day she feels a company car is a privilege almost no businesses even extend to staff. The view from government officials was one that focused more on safety and fiscal responsibility, as a cabinet secretary who is also an advocate of the fleet tracking program explained that the tracker devices will monitor where all city vehicles are located, driving time, driver speed, route selection and more. He also went on to state the fleet tracking program would most importantly provide tax dollar savings. This is because the GPS monitoring systems would enhance employee productivity through route management among other avenues of cost-savings. However, the government official was also quick to point out that any state worker who might feel uncomfortable with new technological innovations aimed at enhancing productivity should get used to the technology because it is the wave of the future, taxpayers are all for the plan and at the end of the day the vehicles are not personal automobiles but rather state taxpayer vehicles. Therefore, the taxpayer has every right to know where their automobiles are going and what they are being used for on a daily basis. 

Carroll County Sheriffs Recover Vehicle With GPS Tracker

Police always advise motorists to take simple measures to help keep their automobiles defended from possible car thieves. These measures are fairly obvious steps such as keeping the windows rolled up while the vehicle is parked and always locking doors when leaving a vehicle unattended. The small measures are helpful in increasing automotive security but sometimes they won't deter a criminal who is hell bent on stealing an automobile. This is when GPS tracking systems are often employed to boost auto-security, and recently in Louisville it was a GPS vehicle tracker device that was the instrumental piece that led Carroll County Sheriff officials to a stolen van.

What police records show occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd is that the main person in charge at Valley Medical Transportation phoned authorities to inform them that one of his vans had been stolen. However, this particular stolen van held one surprise that that the car thieves certainly failed to think about: GPS monitoring. The moment the van was moved without authorization a real-time tracker device equipped to the vehicle alerted the owner of the automobile who quickly relayed the information to Carroll County Sheriffs. In fact, he was able to provide locational data to authorities with pinpoint accuracy as the theft was happening! Police tracked the stolen van to a parking lot where two suspects, John Payton and Kevin Murphy, were promptly arrested.

The owner of the van was relieved that not only his work vehicle was recovered but also all of the property inside of the vehicle that was valued at over $30,000.

After reviewing vehicle inventory, an employee for Valley Medical Transportation was startled to notice that another one of the company vehicles was also stolen. The data from the tracker device in the second stolen van was also relayed to police authorities where Kentucky State Police were able to safely recover the property in the city of Pendleton.