'Tracker' question..
16 December 2003, 07:32 PM
#1
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Does anyone know... if you have a tracker fitted, is your position/speed continually monitored/recorded somewhere, or is it only 'activated' if you notify that the car has been stolen?
Could the Police ever access this information to secure a conviction (ie for speeding etc)?
Would hate to think of my car 'snitching' on me!!
Could the Police ever access this information to secure a conviction (ie for speeding etc)?
Would hate to think of my car 'snitching' on me!!
16 December 2003, 07:37 PM
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Think of the level of technology required to constantly monitor EVERY tracker in existence......
It doesn't exist.
When you car is stolen, providing your Tracker is an "active" one, it will do so upon theft and relay vehicle location to the Tracker HQ.
Imagine the logistics in trying to track/monitor every equipped car on the road?
It doesn't exist.
When you car is stolen, providing your Tracker is an "active" one, it will do so upon theft and relay vehicle location to the Tracker HQ.
Imagine the logistics in trying to track/monitor every equipped car on the road?
16 December 2003, 07:37 PM
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i believe the tracker is only activated by 1, you ring tracker and tell them its stolen. 2, it has motion and tilt sensors and car is lifted or towed. it depends on which model tracker you bought.
16 December 2003, 08:20 PM
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there are some you can get where you can see what's going on which wood be nice for checking out on those boy racer mechanics but not an option on "tracker" as far as i know 
Si
Si
17 December 2003, 08:30 AM
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If you use DanTrack interactive you can query your GPS unit at any time to find out the car's location. DanTrack incorporates a GRPS mobile phone and so you can text this to get your location. It uses alarm integration and geo fencing (i.e. if the car is moved more than a few feet without disabling the system, you get a text and the control centre are notified). Dantrack do offer a full live system for real time tracking of vehciles, used more by UPS and DHL etc than joe public, but you can have it if you want.
So to answer your question, yes Dan Track COULD tell where you are and what speed you are doing at any time if they wanted. Indeed it is an additional service they offer with interactive in that they will send you a report of every trip you made, how far it was, start time end time etc for business mileage claims. On top of that if you lend your car to somebody - the wife for example, you can have the car text you if they exceed a speed you determine.
Dantrack are independant and I would assume if the Police wanted access to the data, they would need a warrant etc same as for anything else. To be honest I doubt the Police could be bothered to do this to prosecute somebody for speeding. They have to know you have a tracker fitted for a start and that isn't something that people tend to advertise.
HTH
So to answer your question, yes Dan Track COULD tell where you are and what speed you are doing at any time if they wanted. Indeed it is an additional service they offer with interactive in that they will send you a report of every trip you made, how far it was, start time end time etc for business mileage claims. On top of that if you lend your car to somebody - the wife for example, you can have the car text you if they exceed a speed you determine.
Dantrack are independant and I would assume if the Police wanted access to the data, they would need a warrant etc same as for anything else. To be honest I doubt the Police could be bothered to do this to prosecute somebody for speeding. They have to know you have a tracker fitted for a start and that isn't something that people tend to advertise.
HTH
17 December 2003, 09:01 AM
#7
Firstly
GPS/Radio Beacon tracking info is not (currently) admissable as evidence in court - ie you could not use it to prove you were somewhere else or the dibble to prove that you were. Also try & get the dibble to believe that your car plates were cloned & that you'd never been anywhere near Slough when you live in East London, backed up with vehicle location printouts and corresponding job charts Happened at a previous company where we used NavTrak.
At the end of the day, real-time monitoring is entirely possible for EVERY vehicle in the country, though probably un-necessary at this present time. Wait until they bring in road-tax based on the amount of miles you cover though, and it will have to be.
Dependant on the type of tracker you use. Some tracking units use a data buffer to store upto 12/14 days of journey data - location/speed/direction etc. These can be accessed remotely and the data downloaded. Normally these are recorded in 30 or 60 second frequencies, or dependant on certain actions - exceeding a pre-determined speed, engine on/off, door open etc. Others record just the last few hours on the basis that you need to know just the current position of your vehicle, not what it was upto.
Cost. 3 differnt types of tracking unit.
1) Traditional GPS/GSM. Monthly fee to cover air-time or pay&go sim. Then its typically 10p a message & then a modem data-call if you want real-time info back. Not cost-effective for 24/7 realtime monitoring.
2) GPS/Radio Beacon. Well, sort of covering 2 here, but GPS positions sent back over packet-radio (*should* be no black spots in UK) or a pulse transmission of just an ID that is received and triangulated.
3) GPS/GPRS. My favourite
GPS data sent back via the internet at pre-determined intevals - ie 30 secs - to a database. Cost? Well, every minute of the day 24/7/365 & it works out at about 1.5mb per month - £1.50? Or less if you've got a good airtime deal. This unit is constantly reporting your position to a base as it happens. Believe me when I say its very useful and effective
GPS/Radio Beacon tracking info is not (currently) admissable as evidence in court - ie you could not use it to prove you were somewhere else or the dibble to prove that you were. Also try & get the dibble to believe that your car plates were cloned & that you'd never been anywhere near Slough when you live in East London, backed up with vehicle location printouts and corresponding job charts
Happened at a previous company where we used NavTrak.At the end of the day, real-time monitoring is entirely possible for EVERY vehicle in the country, though probably un-necessary at this present time. Wait until they bring in road-tax based on the amount of miles you cover though, and it will have to be.
Dependant on the type of tracker you use. Some tracking units use a data buffer to store upto 12/14 days of journey data - location/speed/direction etc. These can be accessed remotely and the data downloaded. Normally these are recorded in 30 or 60 second frequencies, or dependant on certain actions - exceeding a pre-determined speed, engine on/off, door open etc. Others record just the last few hours on the basis that you need to know just the current position of your vehicle, not what it was upto.
Cost. 3 differnt types of tracking unit.
1) Traditional GPS/GSM. Monthly fee to cover air-time or pay&go sim. Then its typically 10p a message & then a modem data-call if you want real-time info back. Not cost-effective for 24/7 realtime monitoring.
2) GPS/Radio Beacon. Well, sort of covering 2 here, but GPS positions sent back over packet-radio (*should* be no black spots in UK) or a pulse transmission of just an ID that is received and triangulated.
3) GPS/GPRS. My favourite
GPS data sent back via the internet at pre-determined intevals - ie 30 secs - to a database. Cost? Well, every minute of the day 24/7/365 & it works out at about 1.5mb per month - £1.50? Or less if you've got a good airtime deal. This unit is constantly reporting your position to a base as it happens. Believe me when I say its very useful and effective
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Andy
17 December 2003, 10:01 AM
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Something i've heard re tracker's, don't know if it's been mentioned before.
Don't know of all the different types of trackers myself, but heard from someone that by next yr sometime, if you have a tracker fitted for insurance purposes, it has to be a GPS tracker otherwise it's not valid!? is this true or is it just a rumour. Believe the GPS ones are ruddy expensive.
Don't know of all the different types of trackers myself, but heard from someone that by next yr sometime, if you have a tracker fitted for insurance purposes, it has to be a GPS tracker otherwise it's not valid!? is this true or is it just a rumour. Believe the GPS ones are ruddy expensive.
17 December 2003, 10:16 AM
#10
GPS are no more expensive to purchase & run than Tracker types.
There is a rumour - denied by Tracker themselves - that their contract with police is ending & after that, there will be less tracker detector equipped patrol cars, hence cutting down on their effectiveness. Tracker now do GPS solutions I believe.
There is a rumour - denied by Tracker themselves - that their contract with police is ending & after that, there will be less tracker detector equipped patrol cars, hence cutting down on their effectiveness. Tracker now do GPS solutions I believe.
17 December 2003, 10:29 AM
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Personally I think GPS is the way to go.
As I understand it, the Radio based system used by the RAC etc, require that you notify that the car has been stolen before they activate the system. As a result you car can be long gone before anything starts to happen. Most of the GPS ones use a geo-fence system as described earlier.
OK, if the theif has your keys then they can disable it unless you have armed your alarm using the keypad! Also as soon as your car goes on a ferry, "for export" for example, the radio systems stop working and are no use on the other side of the channel. With the GPS they keep working once they are off the ferry.
Finally GPS is far more widely supported as a technology than tracker and you can make use of the GPS unit for SAT Nav an so on.
As I understand it, the Radio based system used by the RAC etc, require that you notify that the car has been stolen before they activate the system. As a result you car can be long gone before anything starts to happen. Most of the GPS ones use a geo-fence system as described earlier.
OK, if the theif has your keys then they can disable it unless you have armed your alarm using the keypad! Also as soon as your car goes on a ferry, "for export" for example, the radio systems stop working and are no use on the other side of the channel. With the GPS they keep working once they are off the ferry.
Finally GPS is far more widely supported as a technology than tracker and you can make use of the GPS unit for SAT Nav an so on.
17 December 2003, 12:49 PM
#14
Olly
Sorry chap - a few observations on your post.
RAC (Trackstar) is an SMS/GSM/GPS system.
There are a couple of ways of doing things. You can geofence the car & if it goes walkabout, then it alerts the watchers. Prob is that if you have the keys, you are likely to have the means to disable the system as well, so this only works if someone flatbeds the car or hotwires it - but as we know, they tend to come knocking for the keys these days [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] Navtrak has a deactivation dongle/card that *should* be kept separate to the keys in order to deactivate the geofence, or in their case just starting the car. Tracker also has a proactive mechanism that sends an SMS unless de-activated.
All ports have tracker detectors. GPS/GSM is all very well the other side of the channel, but is "roaming" activated? Do the control have liasion with a foreign country? Thick steel containers have a habit of stopping both GSM & Tracker type signals.
I think you'll find that you probably won't be using your security satellite tracking device for SatNav... The main idea is that the device is covert, so that neither you nor the thieves know its there (well you do but not where & if you do know where, don't tell us).
Sorry chap - a few observations on your post.
As I understand it, the Radio based system used by the RAC etc, require that you notify that the car has been stolen before they activate the system. As a result you car can be long gone before anything starts to happen. Most of the GPS ones use a geo-fence system as described earlier.
There are a couple of ways of doing things. You can geofence the car & if it goes walkabout, then it alerts the watchers. Prob is that if you have the keys, you are likely to have the means to disable the system as well, so this only works if someone flatbeds the car or hotwires it - but as we know, they tend to come knocking for the keys these days [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] Navtrak has a deactivation dongle/card that *should* be kept separate to the keys in order to deactivate the geofence, or in their case just starting the car. Tracker also has a proactive mechanism that sends an SMS unless de-activated.
OK, if the theif has your keys then they can disable it unless you have armed your alarm using the keypad! Also as soon as your car goes on a ferry, "for export" for example, the radio systems stop working and are no use on the other side of the channel. With the GPS they keep working once they are off the ferry.
Finally GPS is far more widely supported as a technology than tracker and you can make use of the GPS unit for SAT Nav an so on.
18 December 2003, 12:51 PM
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I have had Tracker Guard and monitor fitted, they contact given numbers if the unit is acticated as Puff implied by activating syetem without lawful entry or removal. If I were to have my keys personally taken from me I understand that I could still contact Tracker to activate the system. There have been numerous posts about not knowing if the system is operative or not.
I have seem mention on a BM3W site a system that allowed an owner to get a report that his car was being ragged while in for a service. Not sure if this is a unique product to BMW or general though
I have had Tracker Guard and monitor fitted, they contact given numbers if the unit is acticated as Puff implied by activating syetem without lawful entry or removal. If I were to have my keys personally taken from me I understand that I could still contact Tracker to activate the system. There have been numerous posts about not knowing if the system is operative or not.
I have seem mention on a BM3W site a system that allowed an owner to get a report that his car was being ragged while in for a service. Not sure if this is a unique product to BMW or general though
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