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| GPS Tracking With Travelers and Overseas Students |
| Wednesday, 07 January 2009 20:05 | |||
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The world is a scary place. Not exactly a newsflash, right? The reports are all over the news. Terrorists detonating bombs against civilian targets. Kidnappers demanding ransoms from their victims. Random acts of violence against people, based on their nationalities. Even pirates are making an unwelcome comeback, attacking ships traveling through the Indian Ocean in the Middle East, and these pirates are nothing like the wisecracking pirate-with-a-conscious, Capt. Jack Sparrow, from the movies. Fortunately for those of us in North America, such occurrences are rare here. When a terrorist’s bomb goes off, it’s usually in a part of the world most North Americans have never visited; a part of the world that seems inherently violent. So what do you do when your college-aged son announces his plans to spend the next school year studying abroad, in one of those places in the world that you’ve only seen on the TV news? Even worse, what if that announcement comes on the heels of your retired parents telling you that they will be traveling extensively next year, visiting parts of the world where Americans are not exactly beloved? After you overcome the initial mix of shock and fear (with perhaps just a hint of jealousy as you’re stuck in your cubicle at work), the worry begins to worm its way to the front of your thoughts. After all, the world is a scary place ... and your loved ones are about to travel to some of the scariest places of them all. Obviously, you worry about the safety of your family members whenever they travel, whether they’re driving from Orlando to Tampa, flying from Los Angeles to New York, or biking to the grocery store, three blocks away. Still, it’s one thing to travel within your state, your country, or your neighborhood. It’s a completely different level of worry when your family members are traveling half a world away. Asking your parents to travel to Branson, Mo., instead isn’t an option. Ordering your son to take classes at State U. isn’t a practical solution. The importance of seeing and learning about other cultures is invaluable to a student or to a tourist. In addition, the statistics say most people travel abroad with few or no problems. However, the benefits and relative safety of such trips aren’t going to completely silence the nagging voice of worry in your head. Thanks to technology, you can at least keep in touch with them as they travel, through Facebook, cellular phones, and e-mail, for example. (Quite an improvement from the old days of waiting by the mailbox for a postcard.) Still, overseas cell phone calls are expensive, and travelers don’t always have easy access to e-mail. Then there’s the time difference: Your son, the student, might be able to sit at the computer for a Facebook conversation for half an hour before class, but that’s 3 a.m. at your house. Unless you’re unable to sleep at 3 a.m. every day because you’re already awake from worrying, you need another solution. Think about using a different type of technology, a peace-of-mind technology, such as GPS tracking. With GPS tracking, you can keep an eye on your family, no matter where they are traveling or studying, in a non-intrusive manner. You won’t have to pay for cellular calls or find a time that works into everyone’s schedule. Some universities are considering partnering with GPS tracking services specifically to provide parents with information about their students as they study overseas. As an example, let’s look at one such GPS tracking service, from FindWhere (www.findwhere.com). You simply pay a monthly fee, and you’ll have access to real-time location information from the GPS tracker and to saved information in the FindWhere database. When you sign up for the tracking service, only those people you authorize to have access to your account will be able to view your tracking data. A service like FindWhere works in a fairly simple manner, at least for the customer. You give the traveler a GPS-enabled cell phone. The GPS chip inside the phone then can find its location through a GPS satellite and send the data through a mobile network anywhere in the world. The FindWhere server accesses the data, and the tracking software pinpoints the location of the GPS-enabled mobile phone, marking the time and location in the database linked to your account. You then can access the data through your computer, or you can have alerts e-mailed to your computer or cell phone. GPS-tracking devices that your son or parents easily can carry are available, too. Using GPS-tracking technology provides a few benefits. First, you can make sure your family members are where you expect them to be, without having to disturb them. Second, beyond the expense of the tracking service, you won’t have the added expense of cell phone calls, just to “check in” with the traveler. Save the cost of the cell phone call for when you both have time to talk. Third, you can make sure your student is actually attending class. With mom and dad half a world away, it might be tempting to ignore the studies for a few days and see the sights. However, if you’re paying for your son’s education, you probably would prefer he see the sights on his own time and his own dime. With GPS tracking, you’ll know whether he’s in Rome, as he’s supposed to be, or whether he spent the past two days partying in Paris. Fourth, if the nightmare scenario happens, you might be able to use the GPS tracking system to help police half a world away find your loved ones. Finally, you can use GPS tracking technology at any time of the day or night, without disturbing anyone else. It’s a great option when you wake up with pangs of worry at 3 a.m. After a quick check of the tracking service software, maybe you’ll have some peace of mind and even be able to go back to sleep. It’ll be just like your son is a baby again, and you’re checking on him in his crib in the middle of the night, minus one exception: With GPS tracking from half a world away, there are no diapers to change. For more information: FindWhere, Inc. (703) 444-6100 http://www.findwhere.com
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