UMD

« credit report | Main | debt consolidation »

How does a GPS system work? There is one in my car (at least that's what I have been told), and I know that if I was ever car jacked, they would be able to find me, bu other than that I have no idea what that thing is all about. So I asked around and this is what I found out.

There are 3 categories. The first one is data loggers. This logs the position of the car in regular intervals into its memory. If you are a runner, you can use this kind of GPS system to log your route when you are done (I wish we had these in cross country in high school instead of our "course log" where we had to write down different routes). The second one is data pushers. Examples of these would be GPS fleet tracking or when they are searching for a stolen car. Race control is also in this category. In certain sports participants have tracking devices with them so that they can make sure that they aren't cheating at all. Another one that I found interesting was the animal tracking where you put in somewhere like in the collar. I have heard the a popular thing now is a chip that you put into your animals paw (I think) and if the animal is found they can scan it and it will have your address and contact information. This seems like such a great idea to me (as long as it doesn't hurt the pet at all). The third kind is data pullers, which is used when you have a computer that is connected with the internet. Also if you have a cell phone, you can send a message out and get one back with the location.

Which all of this information it seems like GPS tracking is such a great thing. You can keep your pet from getting lost and get your car back if it is stolen. However it also seems a little unsafe to me. It is really scary as a 20 year old girl that someone could be tracking me. They could know my every move and follow me. Its hard to think that something so helpful like a GPS tracking device could potentially save my life if I were ever car jacked or broken down in the middle of nowhere, could also be as deadly if it fell into the wrong hands.