GPS with parental tracking?
April 5, 2010 8:32 AM Subscribe
Asking for a friend: What is a good GPS system with some form of parental tracking?
A friend's kid, who is generally a good kid, has engaged in some dumb, untrustworthy behavior lately (the sort of teenaged stupidity that puts him and his future at risk, not just your typical teenaged stupidity, so parental countermeasures have been quite serious). He recently got his license and wants a GPS for his birthday. His parents don't think this is a bad idea -- they live in a moral rural area and he does a lot of driving for the family -- but they'd like the caveat to be that the GPS also be able to track him and either give them the data or show them in real time where he is. (He would be aware of this, as part of the rebuilding of trust through good behavior.) Can you recommend good options?
A friend's kid, who is generally a good kid, has engaged in some dumb, untrustworthy behavior lately (the sort of teenaged stupidity that puts him and his future at risk, not just your typical teenaged stupidity, so parental countermeasures have been quite serious). He recently got his license and wants a GPS for his birthday. His parents don't think this is a bad idea -- they live in a moral rural area and he does a lot of driving for the family -- but they'd like the caveat to be that the GPS also be able to track him and either give them the data or show them in real time where he is. (He would be aware of this, as part of the rebuilding of trust through good behavior.) Can you recommend good options?
What about a cell phone with map navigation (such as the iPhone or Droid)? For parental tracking, you'd have to contact the service provider, but I know some of them offer this feature for parents. For instance, here's info on Verizon's Family Locator feature.
posted by jmd82 at 8:40 AM on April 5, 2010
posted by jmd82 at 8:40 AM on April 5, 2010
And regarding bunnycup's point about ditching the GPS unit, I agree. OTOH, if my experience working in schools means anything, kids generally loathe parting with their cell phones for any reason.
posted by jmd82 at 8:42 AM on April 5, 2010
posted by jmd82 at 8:42 AM on April 5, 2010
Response by poster: The cell phone with GPS is also under discussion, but she did ask me specifically for car-type GPS recommendations.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:45 AM on April 5, 2010
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:45 AM on April 5, 2010
It is not realistic to expect a car-type GPS to be able to tell someone not in earshot of the device where it is. That's just not how they work. GPS is a receive-only technology; the GPS unit receives clock signals from the satellites and calculates where it is based on the differences between the clock signal received from each satellite. At no point does the GPS broadcast its location to the satellite and get a position that way.
You would need a GPS that has a built-in data transmitter (i.e. one that works with a mobile phone network). These exist, but they are not using the data plan for tracking the GPS's location, but instead for aggregating traffic data, providing location-specific content, and so on. I see the Dash Express now supports apps, so in theory such a function could be added, but I have no idea whether it could be set to run automatically and continuously, and in any case no one has written such an app yet.
posted by kindall at 9:45 AM on April 5, 2010
You would need a GPS that has a built-in data transmitter (i.e. one that works with a mobile phone network). These exist, but they are not using the data plan for tracking the GPS's location, but instead for aggregating traffic data, providing location-specific content, and so on. I see the Dash Express now supports apps, so in theory such a function could be added, but I have no idea whether it could be set to run automatically and continuously, and in any case no one has written such an app yet.
posted by kindall at 9:45 AM on April 5, 2010
Though it could be turned off, i believe Google Latitude with an Android phone (aka always running) would work for this?
posted by CharlesV42 at 10:02 AM on April 5, 2010
posted by CharlesV42 at 10:02 AM on April 5, 2010
Response by poster: They can download info off the physical device later, etc. It doesn't have to be an immediate tracking. Having it installed in the car is also an option, yes.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 10:04 AM on April 5, 2010
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 10:04 AM on April 5, 2010
They can download info off the physical device later, etc.
Um, and then what? Confront him with it? They do realize that people will often park their cars and then ride in other people's cars, yes? The moment he realizes they are downloading information about his driving habits to confront him with it is the moment he learns: 1) how to defeat the plan, 2) not to trust his parents.
posted by oneirodynia at 10:40 AM on April 5, 2010
Um, and then what? Confront him with it? They do realize that people will often park their cars and then ride in other people's cars, yes? The moment he realizes they are downloading information about his driving habits to confront him with it is the moment he learns: 1) how to defeat the plan, 2) not to trust his parents.
posted by oneirodynia at 10:40 AM on April 5, 2010
Response by poster: You'll note it says in the original question that this would be a condition of the GPS (and of getting driving privileges back, for that matter), and that the monitoring would be open. This isn't a question about the parenting decisions -- I don't know that I'd handle this the same way myself -- this is a technical question about GPS units.
It isn't my story to tell, but the boy screwed up bad and the family is working with a therapist and they are working, openly and as a family, on rebuilding trust and regaining various privileges he abused. My friend merely asked me for advice on GPS units with a monitoring capability, that are NOT part of a phone. And that's all I'm asking here.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:05 AM on April 5, 2010
It isn't my story to tell, but the boy screwed up bad and the family is working with a therapist and they are working, openly and as a family, on rebuilding trust and regaining various privileges he abused. My friend merely asked me for advice on GPS units with a monitoring capability, that are NOT part of a phone. And that's all I'm asking here.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:05 AM on April 5, 2010
It just so happens that there's a community of people interested in logging vehicle tracks using GPS - the participants in the OpenStreetMap project - and there's a list of GPS receiver reviews here.
There's a bunch of different ways you can produce a log - various combinations of mobile phones, PDAs, laptop computers, data loggers, serial and bluetooth external GPSes and internal GPSes. If you look through the list above for devices that are listed as type "Data Logger, Navigator" (or "Navigator, Data Logger") that will tell you about devices with a screen/map and also GPS logging capabilities.
Note that some of the devices marked 'Navigator' mean 'displays hiking maps and waypoints' rather than 'gives turn-by-turn directions' so you'll want to look into the devices in more detail - but the list should get you started.
For example, I gather from this page that one can add additional software onto one's TomTom personal navigation device, to log locations.
Alternately, you might consider two GPSes - one for navigation and one fixed to the car (with the latter logging any time the car is running). The benefit of this is the kid couldn't forget to turn it on, or leave it in the glove box, or leave it at home, or run down the battery, or accidentally put it somewhere it didn't get a signal, and so on. This might be more effective at building trust than a logger the kid has to start every time he gets into the car!
Devices to just log GPS locations are in that list as 'Data Logger' - alternately, if you google 'gps logger' lots of places seem to retail this sort of thing (example) - both versions that log to memory, and those that send locations in real time, via the cell phone network.
posted by Mike1024 at 12:40 PM on April 5, 2010
There's a bunch of different ways you can produce a log - various combinations of mobile phones, PDAs, laptop computers, data loggers, serial and bluetooth external GPSes and internal GPSes. If you look through the list above for devices that are listed as type "Data Logger, Navigator" (or "Navigator, Data Logger") that will tell you about devices with a screen/map and also GPS logging capabilities.
Note that some of the devices marked 'Navigator' mean 'displays hiking maps and waypoints' rather than 'gives turn-by-turn directions' so you'll want to look into the devices in more detail - but the list should get you started.
For example, I gather from this page that one can add additional software onto one's TomTom personal navigation device, to log locations.
Alternately, you might consider two GPSes - one for navigation and one fixed to the car (with the latter logging any time the car is running). The benefit of this is the kid couldn't forget to turn it on, or leave it in the glove box, or leave it at home, or run down the battery, or accidentally put it somewhere it didn't get a signal, and so on. This might be more effective at building trust than a logger the kid has to start every time he gets into the car!
Devices to just log GPS locations are in that list as 'Data Logger' - alternately, if you google 'gps logger' lots of places seem to retail this sort of thing (example) - both versions that log to memory, and those that send locations in real time, via the cell phone network.
posted by Mike1024 at 12:40 PM on April 5, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
I would look to do this through cell phone GPS instead of car GPS, because I would think teenagers are slightly less likely to be willing to part with a cell phone. But even then I think it provides too little realistic peace of mind to count on.
posted by bunnycup at 8:40 AM on April 5, 2010