Tracer Pro Pak

GSM Association held a conference in Barcelona where Michael Halbherr, vice president of Nokia LBS spoke. In his presentation, titled “Navigating Your Way Through LBS Experiences,” Halbherr said Nokia is going heavily into navigation and will likely become the leading mobile navigation company within a few years. In addition, he discussed Nokia Maps, which is designed to help you drive, walk and share content about your current location with others. Nokia wants your cell phone to answer questions such as “Where am I?” and “Where are you?” Also, Halbherr said Nokia is planning “City Guides” to help people walk around public

Nokia Concept Phone

places and parks, and provide voice-guided walking tours.

But Michael focuses on consumer features.  Businesses today need smart GPS systems that help them solve real problems: Lower carbon footprint, use less gas, do more with less expense.  That is where Tracer Pro Pak comes in. Tracer pro pak delivers real ROI to businesses. http://www.tracerpropak.com/2008/08/what-is-tracer-pro-pakwhat-is-tracer-pro-pak/

Rest of GSM article is here; http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/INSIDE-MOBILE-GSMA-Mobile-World-CongressTrends-in-Mobile-LocationBased-Services/ 

Write my article.

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Tip #5: Minimal Investment

Take full advantage of your existing mobile assets with no additional investment. Mobile phones are carried daily and everywhere; they’re a piece of hardware the employee already owns or the company has provided. Without having to purchase an entirely new, expensive product, companies can easily use a mobile tracking application for its GPS devices. For a small monthly fee, companies can keep their employees safe and their assets secure, while improving overall efficiency.

Cross Posted from http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Management/How-to-Make-LocationBased-Applications-Work-for-Your-Enterprise/ Jaap Groot

Tip #4: Security

From appliances to equipment, if it is portable, it can be stolen. Companies can easily monitor their assets, as well as recover stolen or missing items, using GPS technology. GPS technology allows you to create virtual fences and alerts you when something leaves an area. Security guards and video cameras are expensive and only partially helpful. You will never have to waste money on replacing missing equipment when you can simply track it down.

Cross Posted from http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Management/How-to-Make-LocationBased-Applications-Work-for-Your-Enterprise/  Jaap Groot

Tip #3: Peace of Mind

There is great relief in knowing that employees and assets will get to a destination safely and on time. Enterprises can know immediately when employees are speeding, are late to a destination, or are simply driving in an irresponsible manner. Employees can have access to a “panic button” should an emergency occur. Employers will instantly know where to provide immediate assistance, whether legally required to do so or not. If your company provides services to end users, think of the power of location when needed in an emergency and the value-add to your company’s offering.

Cross Posted from: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Management/How-to-Make-LocationBased-Applications-Work-for-Your-Enterprise/ Jaap Groot

See previous posts for part 1: http://www.tracerpropak.com/2008/09/making-gps-cell-phone-tracking-work-for-you/ 

Tip #2: Improve Customer Satisfaction

Many enterprises deploy mobile installation and repair work forces. Customers can be alerted when support is within a certain distance, rather than wait during a lengthy window. Jobs can be done more quickly, as employee on-the-job calls are reduced (that is, they don’t have to report in their location and ETA). Likewise, dispatchers can manage bigger groups of resources by not having to make inefficient voice calls to individuals regarding their location.

Cross Posted from http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Management/How-to-Make-LocationBased-Applications-Work-for-Your-Enterprise/  Jaap Groot

You can save a lot of money just by knowing where your people and equipment are at any given point in time, according to Jaap Groot, CEO of FindWhere. Even better, you don’t necessarily have to spend a lot of money doing it since many cell phones and smart phones already come equipped with GPS receivers. All you have to do is enable it for your use. Groot explains how.
In a volatile economic environment, companies are looking to enterprise IT systems to reduce costs and increase operational efficiency. Location-enabled mobile phones offer a great series of management applications that can be integrated through enterprise IT systems. GPS receivers on smart phones and Web-based applications are making these technologies much more accessible to the smaller enterprise.

Location applications already have a reputation for saving large enterprises money. Yet the type and breadth of these applications-and their capabilities-continues to be unclear. This is in large part because GPS-enabled smart phone systems are only now becoming widely available, and software has been complex and expensive.

This article features five empowering tips for using location-based services to your advantage, based on my personal experience running two location-based services companies. Investment can be significant, depending on the size of the enterprise. But any cost or operation-oriented GPS application should provide return on investment well within six months.

The following five tips will help you better leverage your enterprises’ existing smart phones for innovative, location-based enterprise applications.

Tip #1: Companies Can Save Money

Companies save millions by using GPS tools to help reduce fuel costs and increase productivity. Fuel costs have become an absolute nightmare in the past few months in the United States. The cost of keeping vehicles on the road is increasing at an unprecedented rate.

A GPS tracking solution can save companies money by reducing unauthorized evening and weekend use of vehicles, optimizing job assignments based on location, reducing discretionary time and overtime hours, and monitoring to ensure that the most efficient routes are being used. In addition to gas costs, consider the fact that less mileage equals less vehicle maintenance.

Additionally, companies can use GPS to identify nonperformers through a location trail of assets, including employees who are not making efficient runs. This allows companies to explore better efficiencies for work force management.

Remaining Tips to be posted shortly: Check back.

Cross posted from http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Management/How-to-Make-LocationBased-Applications-Work-for-Your-Enterprise/ , Jaap Groot

An alternate method to track your cell phone does not rely on a line of site with the satellite.   This method uses cell phone triangulation and the relative signal strength from several towers to determine your cell phone’s

Tracking without Satellite

location.  The advantage with this method is that metro areas where tall buildings may block satellite line of sight allow you to track your cell phone as long as you have cell signal.  It also works great when you are indoors.  The disadvantage is that if your cell phone is an area without cell signal, it can not be tracked.

There are two ways to track a cell phone.  The first method relies on a line of site with a satellite in the sky.  This method is great because it can be used in rural areas where you do not have cell signal.   Difficulties with this method is using it to track your cell phone in large metro areas where tall buildings can block the line of sight with the satellite.   If your phone is indoors, line of sight becomes difficult as well.  An alternate method to solve this problem is the subject of our next article.

GPS Tracking Cell Phones

Many cell phones can be tracked with the right software.  To begin with, your phone needs to know where it is.  If your cell phone does not know where it is, then tracking it becomes mute.   How to track a cell phone becomes doable once your phone knows where it is.  The two main methods for your cell phone will be described in a future article. 

With the right software, your phone can report its location to a web server.  It can use its internet connection to make this report to the server.  Once the server knows where the phone is, it can overlay the location coordinates on a map that you and I can understand.  All you need then, is ot access this server and you can tell where the phone is.