The ability to pinpoint the location of the people in your life may be one of the best and worst advancements of the century. Let’s take a look at the history of tracking and the advancements available.
Phone Tracking
Tracking an individual’s location by phone number was introduced into police work late in the 20th century, with some limitations. Since a caller had to stay on the phone for a period of time to trace the call, criminals quickly caught on to the mastery of a short phone call, and police were back to square one. When cell phones were introduced, phone tracking became impossible until new technological advancements brought triangulation into the mix.
Triangulation
Working on the mathematical principal of triangulation, police were able to pinpoint a general area in which a criminal was located if using a cell phone. Basing the triangle on the three nearest cell phone towers, the triangulation system was able to give police a radius to search. However, as advancements were made, triangulation became more exact, and cell phone locations could be pinpointed.
GPS
With the introduction of Global Positioning System (GPS), citizens could find the nearest pizza joint based on their location. Although convenient for citizens, GPS advancements are even more convenient for police. GPS chips are now placed in every new cell phone, so finding a lost person or a criminal becomes easy. However, tracking an innocent person is also easy for the average American with the introduction of tracking systems like Google Maps’s tracking system, which can pinpoint locations based on cell phone GPS. Although many citizens may object to being “watched,” the system must be enabled by the user through an email invitation, retaining privacy unless user-enabled.
Phone tracking has jumped from the introductory abilities of a lengthy tracking by phone address to triangulation to GPS tracking, making advancements like tracking criminals a pinpoint process rather than a guess.