Starting Tracking is easy.

dotTrackIt has been designed to support a very wide range of devices that are are to able to obtain location data. The best type of device is ultimately dependent upon your sport or activity and the event requirements. All tracking devices use special purpose electronics and an a variety of antennae through which they pick up signals from a set of special purpose satellites that orbit about 20,000 km above the earth. The signals received from these satellites are combined and analysed to allow a device to determine it's position to within a few metres.

Tracking devices fall into two main categories: Passive devices and Active devices.

Passive Devices

A passive GPS device can be powered with either batteries or from an external power supply and are designed around a GPS receiver that is able to acquire and store the location data within the device. The data is then extracted from the device and used at a later point in time.
This enables the device to tell you where it has been.

Active Devices

An active GPS device has two principal functions: to obtain the GPS fix from the satellites and to use a communication network to send the position information back to a network location where the position data can be collected. This addresses the need to know where an asset or competitor is. These devices usually require both a hardware purchase and the maintenance of an airtime contract and so will usually have a montly ongoing cost.

The devices are able to use either regular mobile networks or the emerging satellite communications networks

Selecting a device

The range of devices available is huge and the selection of appropriate devices is largely dependendent upon how the device will be used to generate track information.

In the recreational domain, passive devices are normally satisfactory, once the event is completed, the data files can be extracted and imported into dotTrackIt. We would usually recommend the branded products from the major manufacturers as these products have a better record on accuracy, robustness, build quality and waterproofedness over many of the cheaper imported units. This link shows a shared event created within dotTrackIt to illustrate GPS quality and accuracy. The tracks from a Trackstick Pro and a Garmin GPSmap 60CSX used on the same mountain bike ride were imported into dotTrackIt to allow a clear comparison.

It is perfectectly feasible to create a large race event using only passive devices, for example at the end of a mountian bike race each competitor can upload the data from their device into dotTrackIt. Similarly in a small yacht racing series the tracks from each entrant's device can be uploaded and used within a race. dotTrackIt makes it easy to merge multiple track files into a larger one.

Extracting the data from a device is reasonably straight forward and achieved either by using software applications from the manufacturer or public shareware such as the excellent EasyGPS.

Active devices are slightly more complex wireless devices. The simplest devices utilise the mobile phone networks and the GPRS data networks. These devices normally have a internal mobile phone SIM card and at predetermined intervals, will establish a internal data connection to a computer and transmit the location details. A lot of modern mobile phones have a built in GPS device and are able to run applications which are able to transmit the location from the phones GPS.

The main limitation on GPRS devices is that they only work when they are within range of a mobile phone mast, typically these devices don't work in national parks or offshore, however they are ideal in urban locations.

The most robust solutions exploit the emerging commercial satellite communications network and integrate the GPS with a satellite data connection. At predetermined intervals the device reads the GPS and sends the data as a small burst data packet via its satellite network where it can be transferred via the internet to dotTrackIt servers. The satellite networks of Iridium and Inmarsat provide global coverage and enables us to track ocean yacht racing and polar expeditions.

There are a range of devices appearing on the market which integrate the GPRS and satellite networks within a tracking unit. The device uses the GPRS network whilst it is available and switches to the Satellite network when needed.

dotTrackIt has been used to with a wide variety of passive and active GPS devices including GPRS, Inmarsat, Iridium and marine AIS devices and all have been integrated to provide comprehensive track data.

For more information about how you can match these types of devices to your tracking needs, contact us at .dotTrackIt