Security to protect your phone or find it if it is stolen, along with a host of other functions, could not be cheaper.  You will have to be quick of course.  No point finding where it is if it has made it to China or Russia!

Well nothing lies quite like a statistic, and the truth is this is the data for Smart phones but it shows a very interesting trend.  In the US they buy from US manufacturers.  I wonder if this it deliberate.  Windows phones, Blackberry and iPhones dominate and the rest just don't feature much.  For a company writing software for phones it is hard to work out which to focus on, handle the language complexities of Europe or try to make ourselves US centric.  What do you think?  Of course we try to do both.

We at least speak the same language as the US.. OK that is debatable, (I remember a US colleague laughing out loud every time I used the word "Whilst" in a sentence, and I cant truly enjoy a "high five" they way they can) but the efficiency of being able to sell the same product to 400 million people across the pond is hard to resist.

In January we will be launching the mobile phone tracker.  Yes we already have one "KoolTrax Mobile" however it runs on phones that use windows mobile, and as an operating system this is not that common.

Simultaneously we are launching a business version i-Traks Mobile and the consumer version KoolTrax Mobile and making them available on the Blackberry, and the i-phone and then shortly after  on the Nokia N95 and similar phones.

The pictures of the products are attached to this blog, and if you fancy making your phone into a tracker the PC platform is free so it is easy and the software is not expensive.

There is also a dedicated i-traks.com website for business users to get the most from our services.

New Windows Mobile GPS tracking software bundle released

December 2008 - New software that enables a Windows GPS PDA to display the accurate, real-time location of other participating PDAs has been launched today in a low price bundle for two PDAs, creating an affordable, downloadable personal GPS tracking system for just £49.

The location tracking is GPS-accurate, works worldwide to within a few metres, and is updated continuously. The tracked units are displayed on a map for easy navigation.

The bundle contains:

• 1 X GPS software and login for KoolTrax™ Handset for mapping & tracking
• 1 X GPS software and login for KoolTrax™ Mobile for tracking only
• 1 X software and login for KoolTrax™ PC  for mapping and administration

Users can add as many KoolTrax™ phone software downloads as they wish to locate friends, family, children, vehicles and colleagues who will  appreciate not having to carry an additional tracking device (although a dedicated GPS tracker is available where providing a PDA is not appropriate, for instance, monitoring someone with Alzheimer's or other dementia, or tracking a small child for security).

In a typical setup, one phone will run KoolTrax™ Mobile GPS locator software so that it can be located, while another will run KoolTrax™ Handset which shows a map on the screen on which is displayed its own location and the position of the other phone. The location of both units are also viewable on an Internet connected Windows PC that is running KoolTrax™ PC.

Blue Tree Systems' KoolTrax™ PC (included) allows users to administer the phones remotely, for example to set inside/outside geofences, see the breadcrumb history, set the position tracking interval, and set up contacts for alerts (by email or SMS).

Mike Smuts, Managing Director of Blue Tree Services, commented "We have for some time provided GPS tracking devices for people who do not, or will not carry mobile phones. KoolTrax™ is a natural extension of this service.  Anyone with a compatible phone can have real time tracking as an option, ready for every day use or trekking, climbing, sailing, or if they simply want to let their family know when they will be home. With this bundle they can give one of the software logins (say for KoolTrax™ Mobile) to their friend and see where they are when they are close.  New versions for Blackberry and i-phone are planned for the end of January."

Key features include:

Ø      No limit to the number of KoolTrax™ trackers you can watch on your PC

Ø      An alert button - for emergencies

Ø      Boundary alerts

Ø      Breadcrumb trail history

The GPS PDA tracker bundle can be downloaded from here http://www.bluetreeservices.co.uk/koolTraxHMOffer.php . This offer is for a limited time only.

Cool eh?

It occurred to me that this man was about to be lost in the Scottish mountains in very cold weather, and was saved with little fuss or expense. The cost of the KoolTrax Ranger is about £299+VAT the cost of a search party would be many thousands of pounds.  Makes you think, the police should give these away!

This version is called KoolTrax MTM (Mobile Time Management).

Today you might have a person who has a look to see which taxis are close to you and then you might get a call from the firm itself.  However, now you can cut out the middleman. Your text goes to a server, it has a look at all the taxis carrying a Blue Tree Ranger and then selects the closest free taxi, and sends them your mobile number along with an approximate location.

The responding taxi driver gets to the location and gives you a call. 

Sounds like a lot of work?  Not really, all you see is your text and a phone call from your taxi.  You might get a confirmation text from the server but that is it.  The taxi firm sees the jobs being allocated to the taxis but does not touch them, which reduces costs and possibly fairs.

Ultimately you stay warm, relax, and get your taxi really quickly.  You probably never use a different taxi firm again.  Good all round.  So where is this system?  You will see a taxi firm offering it soon so why not try it out!

However there are some people out there who do not trust us!  Shocking I know, but fine upstanding chaps that we are, this is not enough to quell the fears of companies trying to protect their executives etc.

As a result we have created a package which is a completely closed system.  I have to say that it is pretty damn good (but then I would say that wouldn't I).  So here is a description of it:

Blue Tree's high security option is called Stand Alone Security and involves the entire location system being operated from within the client's infrastructure.  This means that you as the client operates and controls the server at the heart of the location system. Neither Blue Tree nor any other company has access to the location server or the information on it. All tracking information is encrypted on the trackers themselves and is only decrypted when it reaches the location server inside your company. 

All data access is also controlled by you, including access to logins, audit trails of who is watching whom, as well as the data history of every unit.

This system is completely closed and all information is controlled by you the client company.  The level of encryption is adjustable depending on the performance required from the trackers.  (For example if you need 128 bit encryption you may only be able to obtain a position every 20 seconds instead of every 10 seconds).

Ranger Firmware

Each Ranger has customised firmware installed to secure the location information it collects. As the information is gathered it is encrypted before transmission.  This prevents any scanner from "capturing" the information from the mobile phone network.  The Rangers are also "port specific" which means that a dedicated port on the server listens only for a specific Ranger making the system more resilient and improving server performance.

OK so who cares?  Well, now any company can own and operate a complete and secure tracking system from their offices.  They do not have any data in the public domain and their infra structure requirement is minimal.  Pretty cool if you are a security company!

I was expecting "we can see where they are" and "we can monitor their time on site" type of comments.  It seems I am a little out of touch.   The primary use of these devices is for health and safety. If you have a problem and you are the only cleaner in an office block out of hours who are you going to call - yes you can try the "Ghost Busters" (slight glimpse into my age there). In reality the 2 main issues are 1) you are hurt and not near a phone 2) you call someone, it is out of hours and they are not there.

The Panic alarm and location given by the Ranger is idea for this purpose and people work out very quickly that there is no fun in watching a screen with a location blip for more than a few seconds.  So the message in the lone worker arena seems to be - No one is watching you, but they can find you if they need to.

Until now we have worked on the basis of reducing the number of active people monitored through login management.  Your login controls the number and type of people you see.  However recently we have created a details pop up box which activates when an alarm is set off.  This means the monitoring person is presented with the details of the person responsible for the alarm and does not have to "do" anything.  They can be presented with the procedure to follow as well, which makes the response much more efficient.

It is still a crazy thing to watch lots of alarms go off at once, but the software makes it possible to cope efficiently with this, without taking 10 years off the monitor's life, causing them to have a heart attack and creating another alarm.

The reason I am fixated by this today is that we have several projects underway aimed at the safety of the general public.  These always involve a conversation about accessibility (everyone needs to be able t access the systems) and then the old chestnut pops up "but you can track mobile phones?".

So what does triangulation do? Simply put it measures the relative strength of your mobile phone signal (the one your phone gives off while looking for the nearest mast). If you know the position of the mobile phone masts, and you know how strong the signal starts out from the mast, and how long it takes to fizzle out over distance, you can work out roughly how far away from the mast the phone is.  Get two signals and relative strengths and you can draw a triangle and work out the position - sort of.  The key here is that the measurements are approximate and the further you are from a mast the more approximate they are.  So instead of a pin on a map saying you are on "Main Street" you really get a note saying you are within, say, 2.5 miles of Main Street.  Quite a different result!

We have a video on the web site that shows this in action. But as a subject it is like an urban myth.