Locating your car is as easy as using your cellphone

If you’ve ever forgotten where you parked your car, a car finder can do it for you. When parking space isn’t easy to find, especially in high-traffic neighborhoods, a car finder can save you a lot of time and grief. By simply switching on your cellphone, a car finder can direct you to the exact spot where you parked your car.

A car finder is a type of vehicle tracking system that combines GPS or GLONASS and cellular phone technologies to determine the last location of your vehicle. Combining both active and passive tracking, a car finder transmits the tracking data to a server when a signal is available. To have a car finder, you will need a special GPS tracking device installed in your car and a GPS capable cellphone with special software. Here’s how one model works.

When the car is started, the GPS tracking device activates your cellphone’s GPS and begins to track your vehicle’s location.

• When you turn the engine off, the GPS tracking device switches off and records your vehicle’s last position.
• You turn on your cellphone when you want to locate your car.
• Activate the app installed in your cellphone and a map appears that will show you the location of your car.
• As you get nearer to your car, the map zooms in to guide you to the exact spot.
• when you start your car again, the GPS device resumes its tracking activity.

Finding a misplaced car with a car finder is one of the simpler applications of GPS tracking technology. The same system is used in:

• Recovering stolen vehicles – GPS tracking systems like the ones used in a car finder can be modified so that police can activate the tracking device directly and follow the vehicle that has been reported stolen.
• Improving fleet efficiency – Businesses with fleets make use of GPS tracking systems to keep track of delivery vehicles and divert them to meet special customer demands.
• Maximizing sales performance – Companies use GPS tracking not only to know where their salespersons are at any time but also to give them driving directions to find new customers and update their appointments.
• Optimizing service – With GPS tracking, field engineers or repairmen can be re-directed to attend to urgent customer requirements when necessary.

For most people, however, a car finder is probably one of the most useful applications of GPS tracking technology.