By Ralph D. Thomas
It's already starting to appear in the marketplace! So long limited range
bumper beepers and good-bye surveillance reports revealing a lost tail. And say
hello to your computer that now has the ability to give you a computer printout
of on-the-hour locations of your subject for a presurveillance check. What is
all of this new technology all about? How does it work?
Automatic Vehicle Tracking (AVL) is making it's premier in the private sector.
The idea of AVL combined computer technology with satellite tracking technology
developed by the U.S. Military commonly known as GPS (Global Positioning
Satellite). This type of surveillance system calls for the following four
elements:
Transmitter - An electronic transmitter
that sends out signals from the vehicle.
Satellite - A Global positioning
satellite that obtains signals from the transmitter devise placed on the
vehicle. The use of only one satellite will give an accuracy rating of about
100 feet. This can be improved by using triangulation math which uses three
satellites and gives more pinpointed accuracy down to about ten meters.
Receiver - A receiver that obtains the
data from the satellite.
Decoder
- A decoder
that converts the data received into an address. The location information which
is generally in latitude and longitude. Computer generated map plotting
programs are used to convert the latitude and longitude readings into an
address on a computer generated digital map.
Investigative Benefits
The benefits of this new technology in surveillance is profound. By using this
technology, an actual
physical surveillance by a human is not needed in many instances. When
the goal of a surveillance is to determine physical location only, this
technology can be employed. The transmitter is simply covertly placed on the
target vehicle. A computer program is used to collect location data at
predetermined intervals. After a few days, the investigator simply has the
computer print out the location data of the target vehicle. Of course, this
technology will not make human activity in physical surveillance obsolete for
obvious reasons any more than online searching made background investigation
obsolete.
Aside from remote monitoring of target location, this technology can also be
used as a more conventional bumper beeper system. Anyone who has used a
conventional vehicle tracking surveillance system understands that the range is
limited. The advantage to this technology of course is that your range widens
globally.
Disadvantages
There are some limitations and disadvantages to this technology. Transmissions
can sometimes be blocked by obstacles from the target vehicle to the satellite
and from the satellite back to the receiver. Mountainous areas and areas with
tall buildings can sometimes cause problems.
Some of the police departments already using this technology are:
The Schaumburg, Illinois, Police Department
Michigan State Police
California Highway Patrol
Up until a year or so ago, this type of technology has been out of reach to the
average private investigative agency because of the costs involved. However, things are changing.
PinPoint Tacking has developed the first state of the art global tracking
surveillance system for private
industry use with moderate pricing.
One company that has developed a surveillance tracking unit using all this new
technology is
PinPoint Surveillance Solutions, 1995
Global Satellite Tracking For Surveillance
Phone: 1-800-473-0434
This Small
Unit Is All You Need To Conduct Surveillance
WIthout Even Being There!
CarTracker
is a small unit that is the ultimate in GPS surveillance tracking! Just place
it and wait! It's as simple as that! This unit will record the location of a vehicle where ever and
when ever it goes! Finally, you can conduct a surveillance without even
being there! Just pick the unit up at a latter time. With the included
sofltware, you then obtain the vital data through your computer. With the
included mapping software, now you'll know where they went, where they stopped, and obtain a complete
map with date, time, location and speed of travel all layed out on a map
for you.