GPS used to catch thieves red-handed

There is a drought on in most of the central US, and it has driven up the cost of many farm commodities. When something becomes valuable, there is always someone looking to steal it. That’s just what has been happening with increasing frequency to hay bales. Yes, the kind of hay used to feed livestock has become a favorite target of thieves. Law enforcement in one hard-hit area has turned to technology to stop the thefts.
Farmers often leave large hay bales in their fields after harvesting, but that makes it extremely easy for ne’er-do-wells to haul them off. They just wait for the cool embrace of night and load up a few bales before driving off. A ton of hay is currently worth $200-300. Not bad for a night’s work, and very low risk as far as crime goes.

In one Oklahoma county the sheriff’s department got tired of seeing so many farmers getting ripped off, so officers set up a sting operation. A small GPS tracker was hidden in a hay bale on a farm that had been hit several times before. Sure enough, shortly before 10PM that night someone loaded up the hay bale and carted it off. The GPS device was programmed to send a text message to the sheriff as soon as it was on the move, which made it easy to follow the alleged thieves to a local house where the bale was stashed.

An officer then followed the suspects back to the farm where they attempted to steal another bale. This time, the pair was stopped. When informed about the GPS tracker, they conceded defeat. The pair could be convicted of a felony for Knowingly Concealing and Withholding Stolen Property. It’s an uncommon use of technology, but extremely effective. Other departments might do well to take a look at this technique.

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Man accused of hoarding a county’s worth of lost phones due to GPS error

Imagine this scenario: Your phone was lost or stolen, but luckily enough you can still access the GPS remotely. You are able to track it down to a specific address, using a tool like “Find my iPhone.” You drive there, filled with hope that you have tracked down your all-important device, only to be told by the man who lives at that address that he doesn’t actually have your smartphone. You’ll have to take his word for it or get the authorities involved, but imagine being the person who lives there — kind of awkward, right? Now imagine that person gets these kinds of house calls at all hours of the day and night, all week long.
This is the very real scenario that is playing out for North Las Vegas and Clark County resident Wayne Dobson. As it turns out, Dobson’s home address happens to show up as the GPS location for Sprint customers in the area. So if you are in the correct vicinity, your phone will mistakenly — but very specifically — pinpoint your location as Dobson’s house. It is being described as a big mistake, potentially on Sprint’s part. It’s a mistake that mobile phone experts say they have never seen before.

In a local news interview, Dobson talked about people knocking on his door at all hours of the day, including the middle of the night. It takes little imagination to fathom the kind of confrontation that must take place. In fact, it happened so frequently that Dobson put up a sign outside his house to explain the situation. Police have been called to Dobson’s house multiple times because people simply didn’t believe that their GPS was wrong.
It isn’t just about tracking down lost cell phones, though. Dobson’s home address will also show up to 911 operators if they are unable to specifically track down the caller’s location. It’s kind of a small miracle that police cruisers aren’t constantly raiding his home. Officers did invade his property once though, and searched him, in response to a domestic violence complaint that clearly came from someone else. They apologized when they realized they were led to the wrong address.
Supposedly, county officials are currently in the process of fixing the GPS mistake. Sprint has also said it will look into the issue to see if it is the one at fault. Until then, Dobson’s address is flagged in local 911 dispatch systems with an explanation of the issue. It doesn’t stop mobile phone and tablet owners from coming to his house, though. He lives with a sense of dread every time he hears a car drive by, wondering whether or not it’s another person who will demand his or her phone back.
http://www.geek.com/

Europe’s Plan for GPS

With lofty dreams of European unity increasingly grounded by economic woe and the weight of narrow national interests, an array of computer screens in central Italy blinks with faint signs that — far away in space, at least — Europe’s often quarreling nations can still sometimes find common cause, reports Andrew Higgins in Thursday’s New York Times.
Ringed by snow-covered mountains on a plateau east of Rome, the Fucino Space Center stands guard over the European Union’s flagship joint project: a satellite navigation system that is years behind schedule, many times over its original budget and unlikely to start operating for at least another year.

With recession and austerity clouding much of the Continent, the leaders will argue over where the ax should fall in a European Union budget for 2014 to 2020 that would total nearly $1.35 trillion as drafted. An over-budget satellite navigation system that is years from completion, largely a duplicate of an American system already widely used in Europe and unlikely ever to generate much revenue would seem to be in the budget cutters’ cross hairs.
But Galileo’s backers are confident, so much so that they are asking for $8 billion beyond the more than $4 billion already spent. For Galileo promises perhaps the one thing that still seems able to overcome European leaders’ devotion to austerity: economic and technological independence from the United States.

All iPhones from the 3G model onwards and 3G iPads have what is known as assisted GPS

All iPhones from the 3G model onwards and 3G iPads have what is known as assisted GPS or A-GPS and this works in several ways. Firstly it uses phone mast triangulation and Wi-Fi hotspots to obtain a quick and dirty fix on your location, normally to within a kilometre or less, depending on the area. This is then used to help speed up the acquisition of GPS satellite signals, to provide a more accurate position, this time to within a few tens of metres. The GPS function does work without a network connection but it can take a minute or more for it to lock on to the satellites and work out your position.

The network connection is also used to update map information and provide extra detail, though clearly you are not too worried about finding the nearest McDonalds or Post Office bobbing around on the North Sea. As a matter of interest iPhones and iPads send details of your location to Apple. This is used to maintain a crowd-sourced database of phone masts and Wi-Fi hotspots, which is supposed to help refine the initial location fix. Apple is keen to make it clear that this information is encrypted and anonymous, though a bug discovered in 2011, now fixed, revealed that an unencrypted file on iPhones stored a year’s worth of time-stamped location data. This data is still retained, but now only for 7 days.

TeleType 740060 WorldNav 7400 High Resolution Truck GPS

The TeleType 740060 Worldnav Truck GPS is a versatile commercial trucker GPS offered by TeleType. In addition to all the standard WorldNav Truck GPS features, this 7400 high resolution 7" truck GPS features a serial expansion port, which allows special accessories to be added. It offers a high-resolution touchscreen equipped with Bluetooth and more. This truck GPS with Bluetooth and FM Transmitter supports truck routing for professional commercial drivers, bus and RV drivers and ensures that routes will follow roads that are suitable for truck travel. The TeleType 740060 Worldnav Truck GPS will also take into account commercial truck restrictions such as bridge heights and clearances, load limits, one-way road designations and allowances. WorldNav's "Know Before You Go" technology will check the entire route before you start your trip. And, if you need to make a change, it will automatically check the route again to ensure you avoid truck-restricted areas. 

 

 

TeleType 740060 WorldNav 7400 High Resolution Truck GPS:

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