Location, Probation, or Inventory Taking: Tracked and Located

GPS tracking, thanks to the help of recent technological advances and satellite installations, is able to provide loss-recovery businesses and other corporations with various means of tracking products. In addition to tracking the locations of products and shipments, GPS is able to: provide inventory, reduce waste, and provide additional communication and scheduling for corporations worldwide.

Recently, GPS advancements have been made that are able to help corporations do more than just track their packages and keep inventory. Although we see GPS in use on a daily basis - searching for a location while driving or simply tracking our ground shipment package online - this method of GPS tracking has become very advanced and sophisticated over the last few years.

GPS tracking is now used to:

- Track vehicles that are stolen for recovery purposes
- Track prisoners who are on house arrest or surveillance watch
- Keep inventory and track products to prevent theft
- Read specific computer codes in order to correctly diagnose problems with various mechanical parts

With certain companies, GPS tracking is able to provide loss prevention companies with the ability to track vehicles that are stolen. The GPS satellite in orbit will give a specific coordinate location, and the loss prevention company is then able to track the vehicle to its particular location, within 5 feet. In addition to tracking the vehicle, the corporation is able to shut the vehicle down to prevent further use by the thief. The vehicle can then be recovered by law enforcement officials, and returned to the owner.

Often, prisoners are put on the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) surveillance watches. This helps to cull the prison population and keep non-violent criminals out of prison, while still keeping them on a watch to prevent future crimes. Prisoners can be tracked and monitored by a simple bracelet that is placed on their ankles or wrist. This enables law enforcement officials to monitor the individual without having the person under constant watch in prison.

Recently, many companies have implemented this RFID technology to track and perform inventory counts on their products. For instance, Wal-Mart has recently added RFID tags to many of their products (including RFID ink in various meats) that enables the store to track the products through the warehouse, through the store, to prevent loss from theft, and to count inventory in a matter of seconds. GPS tracking has now become localized - and is no longer just a vehicle guidance system.

As shown, GPS tracking has become one of the most amazing technological advances to date. Any product can be tracked via satellite within 5 feet of its location; which helps to prevent theft and make inventory of the product very easy for corporations to perform. When choosing a GPS tracking system for your business, you should find what is known as an "active tag" - which is a self powered battery RFID system. Otherwise, the passive tags will need to maintain a constant source of powering to remain active (i.e. nearby wireless routers or cell phone communication towers). In essence, this is the most easy and convenient way of preventing loss and tracking inventory - and many corporations rely on this method to sustain their loss tracking abilities.