What Type of GPS Tracking Device do You Need?

| Tuesday, January 17, 2012
By Jeff Monson


We're asked this question all the time. Although the majority of people want GPS tracking on a car, their children, their pet, or their elderly family member, they don't understand the difference between GPS real-time, or Live, tracking devices and GPS loggers? You bet there is! First of all, let me say that there are a variety of GPS devices on the market that do a variety of things, so I'm going to stick to the basics in this article and give a quick run-down of the main differences.

Real-Time (Live) GPS Trackers


As the name suggests, Real-time, or Live, GPS tracking devices do exactly that. The consumer can place the unit inside anything they are looking to trace, e.g. a vehicle, child's bookbag, package, etc., then sign in on their tracking account and find out the location where the device is positioned in real-time, right this moment. All tracking providers that I am aware of operate in combination with a mapping program such as Google Maps or Bing Maps and overlay the current and historical information directly onto an electronic map, helping to make an incredibly user-friendly interface. It also will generate "waypoints" at particular periods of time. This time period is reliant on the service plan, which establishes how frequently the GPS information is sent to the tracking host. The frequency regarding sending the information to the server could be from every 15 seconds to every 15 minutes. From the waypoints you are able to evaluate the speed the device had been moving, along with the exact position along with the path of motion. Additionally, many GPS tracking devices come furnished with motion sensors, mainly to save life of the battery, yet this also can provide a plethora of information and facts. Once the automobile stops for any period of time, it will not only provide you with the exact position, but the time period of the stop. Establishing a tracking account calls for a monthly service plan and will cost you between $25 to $75 approximately monthly.

Historical GPS Loggers


Alternatively, GPS loggers will not send out their information to a tracking server, therefore absolutely no fees each month here. These units just acquire the GPS location information from the GPS satellites and record the data to its memory. Afterwards you recover the gps unit and connect it to your laptop or computer, typically through USB, and making use of the provided computer software view the historical information overlaid onto an electronic map. It gives you the majority of the very same information as I mentioned above, yet not in "real time". By using numerical formulas, it can still establish speed, direction of motion, etc, plus they most often have motion sensors so that you can see the stops recorded on the computer software.




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1 comments:

Etrak said...

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