The words "Continuous tracking" came into sharp focus again today. We talk about continuous as an interval of 5-12 seconds between positions. For some reason I am always asked if I have that right. For me this is a bit like asking someone if they have spelt their own name correctly. We work with the smallest interval we can (given the processing the tracking units have to do), all based on the fact that when you track humans rather than vehicles they move in any direction they like and there is no point trying to find someone based on their position 1 or 5 minutes ago.
This philosophy is borne of experience. Even with a 5-12 second interval, when our duty officer guides someone to find a missing person, we need to predict where they will go next and "head them off". If this is hard with a 5 second interval imagine what it might be like with 1 minute or longer between known positions!
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