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"Why is 'real-time' tracking data so important"?
We offer real-time tracking. Most alternative systems respond to text messages. We think this doesn't work because when the target phone can't get a signal, your text response will be either "can't find it" or the location of the last call or text made on that phone. In an emergency, that's a problem.
Real time tracking gives us the ability to raise alerts, for instance, we could alert you as soon as your child wanders out of the garden.
Real-time tracking gives you
- help to locate someone even if they are out of mobile signal range (with text based systems you get almost nothing)
- geofence (and if your device has a movement sensor, no-movement) alerts (so you can let the system take the strain)
- a breadcrumb trail for up to a month showing where they've been
- the ability easily to monitor multiple people at once
The problem with text-based systems
We all know from daily experience that sometimes you just can't get a signal on your mobile phone. Perhaps you're out in the middle of nowhere, you're deep inside a shopping centre, car park or nightclub, or you've just left a big event and the network is full.
Mobile phone locators require you to send a text message to request the location of a mobile phone. That request is chargeable (40p to perhaps 16p if you buy bulk).
If the network is busy (eg. after a football match or concert, or at busy times such as New Year's Eve), your text message won't be processed for a while or you won't be able to get a signal to send the text.
Additionally, the mobile you want to locate may not be able to get a signal.
Either way, depending on your mobile operator, you'll receive a message saying the mobile you want to track can't be located. The cost of sending the text message is wasted.
There is no service guarantee for text messaging, so you can't rely on it to be timely. If you've ever sent a 'happy new year' message on New Year's Eve, you'll know it may not arrive at its destination until the following lunchtime. When the network's busy, you may experience delays in response.
After the July 7th tube bombings in London, the authorities effectively cut off public access to mobile phone services in order to give the emergency services priority. Again, in those circumstances if you wanted to track someone who you think might have been passing through, using a mobile phone locator you would probably have to continually send texts requesting the location of your target mobile phone only to receive back that "can't find it" message. You wouldn't know if they were simply shopping, in another part of the underground waiting to reach a station, or been directly affected, and the situation could stay like that for hours.
If you haven't been tracking someone's location, then you request it, and the system comes back with nothing, you could easily receive no information at all. You wouldn't know whether the situation is momentary or will last a while, and you would have no clue where on the planet your person is.
Our real-time system
All our GPS location systems (colloquially known as trackers, either pocketable units or mobile phone upgrades) constantly seek a mobile phone signal and, when they have a signal, send their location to our server. Our KoolTrax™ PC software displays the position of your trackers continuously onscreen along with a comprehensive breadcrumb history trail.
You might be able to tell from that illustration that the journey shown was undertaken in just under two minutes. If you were tracking this person you might infer they are in a car and not on foot.
In the event of a mobile phone signal being unobtainable by one of your trackers, you can see the breadcrumb trail which shows you the last location of the person, the time of that reading, and their direction and speed of travel. You can see if they have entered a poor signal area (a remote location or deep inside a building), and you know they haven't come out of it.
When our system does find a signal again, you see the tracker's location immediately on your screen: no texting and waiting, no extra cost, and no delays. If an incident happens (eg. terrorism or a motorway crash), you can immediately see onscreen whether your person being tracked might be affected. If there's no signal, you can see when they entered that no-signal zone, and you automatically see when they come out, without continually texting. Imagine the relief.
It's because of real-time data that we can store a breadcrumb trail for each tracker. We store, and you can see, up to a month's worth of data. If the person you are tracking covers the same ground regularly and it contains a signal blackspot, you'll be able to see where they usually regain a signal and how long before they do.
When it matters, a mobile device may only momentarily connect to the mobile network. With competing systems, you'd have to be lucky to text right at that moment, and even then what you get back isn't very accurate. In that momentary connection, our system would deliver location information which displays on your screen.
Our system isn't specifically designed or intended for operation in areas where there isn't a mobile phone service but it does happen to perform well in that circumstance. Our system's ability to constantly watch for a signal and connect if possible, however fleetingly, is a particular advantage for those who want to use it in the countryside (eg. runners, horse riders), along the coast (eg. yachting), or in remote locations (eg. hillwalkers and mountaineers) because KoolTrax™ can connect and send in an instant, whereas trying to use a mobile phone in an emergency under such circumstances is very difficult.
Real-time data gives you location-based alerts
Because our system continually delivers location information, we can offer location-based alerts.
For instance, you can easily draw a geographic boundary (a geofence) around a location, a school, your garden or street, a town, and set up the system so you receive an alert (on screen, by email or by text on your mobile phone) when the tracker leaves (or enters) that location.
Alerts make a location system usable. Often our client's goal is to achieve peace of mind. They want to know if their child is safe, if the elderly person in their care wanders off, or if anything unusual happens to their staff. They don't want to have to keep texting to find out. Peace of mind comes from setting alerts and then letting our system take care of things.
That's what we mean by real-time .. our products are constantly connected and always sending location information. Because of that we can help you find people even if they can't get a mobile signal, and you get to set alerts and relax.
Of course, if you are managing a workforce, texting to find each employee's location isn't practical. In that case KoolTrax™ PC, with its ability to show the location of any number of tracking units in real time all at once, is the perfect answer.
Live GPS location data is essential in a personal locator. When you want to know where someone is, you don't want to be told where they were. Live data gives you a breadcrumb trail and alerts that are near essential for usability. You'll wonder how you ever did without it.