Would you use a personal Tracker?

10 Pro's and Con's of Personal GPS Trackers

Thanks to our mates over at gdp10, I will be sharing with you 10 pro's and con's of having a personal tracking device. For the newly initiate, a brief of what a personal tracker is and all about is as follows; GPS trackers are a simple means of monitoring the whereabouts of your important assets, vehicles, or, in some instances, people. Many people choose to use small, personal GPS tracking devices to share their location with family members, particularly if the user is prone to medical emergencies, is elderly, or is a child. Many personal GPS tracking devices are small enough to be stowed in a backpack or worn on a person’s body, making them accessible for users in a variety of applications.

In Papua New Guinea, personal tracking is still in the early stages of acceptance and use as a lot of barriers need to be overcome in the form of misconceptions and its application. And this is where this article come in to help you understand and make your own informed opinion. So here goes

Pro's

1. In case of emergency, one could know where exactly is the person who needs help. For example, when someone is trapped somewhere during a fire, the firefighter could know where exactly he or she is and could save his or her easily.
2. Health. some digital tracking devices could monitor one’s heart rate and vital signs and also could monitor medical conditions of at risk patients.
3. Seeking for someone. It can help you find a lost individual.
4. Animal conservation. A microchip is used to monitor the reproductive habits and health status of some endangered species.
5. Providing directions. the device can help drivers find their way especially if they are unfamiliar to the place where they are going.
6. Keeping track on your child. Parents could easily know where their child is and what he/she is doing.
7. Security. Tracking devices could help you find where exactly is your valuable things such as your car.
8. 111. in case of emergency you can only call 111 and instantly it will lead you to the one you need.
9. Distance calculations. tracking devices are often used by sports enthusiasts to calculate the distance they have traveled while working out.
10. Transportation systems used tracking devices to know the whereabouts of their company’s vehicles and or products.

Con's

1. Tracking devices could easily be used for stalking purposes.
2. Some tracking devices does not recognize the existence of some mountains, rivers and other obstructions in your path, thus, some coordinates it may give could be misleading
3. False sense of security. Once the abductor have the child, he could easily discard the tracking device.
4. Tracking Devices in cellular phones could not work when the phone could not pick up a signal and so it would not instantly work in some circumstances or when out of network coverage areas.
5. Hackers can hack some tracking devices.
6. Someone can copy some of your information's such as your medical information's.
7. Privacy issues.
8. Battery. some GPS units used batteries as a source of their power and it could consume it in a short period of time and this would lead to additional cost in the part of the consumer.
9. cost. GPS units are often sold at a high price.
10.  Spam mails

So there yo have it, not too detailed but it covers the top 10 pro's and con's of using a personal tracker. Let me know what you think.