Tracking a GPS

[krez]

Serious question here.  I had my GPS stolen out of my car today.  Any way to track it down?  I dont really care about getting it back, it was only $200.  Id just like to get my hands on the guy who did it out of principle.

[The Happy Friar]

you & me?  No.  But I'm sure the people who own the satellite can track pretty much anything that uses them.

[quadz]

you & me?  No.  But I'm sure the people who own the satellite can track pretty much anything that uses them.

Haha, well, they could do that in much the same way a radio broadcast tower could track everyone who tunes into their signal. Which is to say, not at all.

(GPS receivers don't talk to the satellites... only listen.)

[[BTF]Defiant!]

GPS works by the satellites transmitting and the GPS receiver listening and triangulating.  There is literally no transmission from the ground.  Wikipedia can tell you this, I happen to know first hand from writing a java GPS/NMEA receiver as a fun two day project.

Only way it can be tracked down is if it isn't a standard GPS.  For example, phone "GPS" typically use cell-towers not satellites for positioning.  Phones can be uniquely tracked this and other ways.

[The Happy Friar]

there's been small devices sending signals back to satellites for a while now...  not counting internet dish's some broadcast equipment sends signals back.

But you don't need to send a signal back to track a GPS.  You just need someone to update it via the internet.  Each one has a unique serial number.  The people who own the GPS software (ie TomTom) know when it's updated & can find out where it's been if part of the history is uploaded.  Odds are the people who own the satellites have access to that info too (varies between private companies & govt's).  And the history might not contain where you actually were, but it can contain the pre-made path's you've taken, and if you're driving & get off the path, it auto-recalculates.

It's the exact same way people got caught stealing satellite channels via big& small dishes.

[[BTF]Defiant!]

there's been small devices sending signals back to satellites for a while now...

True.  If it is Internet connected, even rarely, then it could be phoning home in unknown ways making it trackable.

If it is not Internet connected and it is a standard GPS, then it is not an emitter and not feasibly trackable.

[QwazyWabbit]

The actual thief is probably not smart enough or rich enough to own a computer (unless he stole that too) much less be online with it and bright enough to download the update application for the GPS device. As a TomTom owner, I am not even sure they have a list my device as stolen facility. The thief has probably pawned it for a few dollars at the nearest pawn shop. The only person you would aprehend would be a user who bought it at the shop.

Depending on the brand, your GPS device may or may not have an emitter, FM radio channel emission of cell phone connections, BlueTooth to your phone, but none of them can be tracked directly since GPS is one-way. You would have to be within a few yards of the lost and powered-up GPS to find it.

GPS works by measuring the time delay of signals emitted by the GPS satellites. The orbital parameters of the satellites are precisely known and their positions are calculated inside the GPS, knowing the time delay, the slant range (line of sight) to the satellite is calculated as c * t and the different slant ranges allow computations of the receiver's position relative to the postions of the orbiting satellites.

File a police report, if it's pawned it might be recovered. Otherwise, consider it lost forever.

[reaper]

smartguard.com can track your cell phone, blackberries right now.  It triangulates the cell phone's position to the radio towers.  Maybe they should put the GPS's on a similar system, it would upload it's data and say where it is.

[QwazyWabbit]

Blackberries equipped with EGPS can be tracked from the Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES). They ping the BB and it reports it's nearest cell site. Some businesses can track their units from the cell phones. I believe iPhones also have this capability and can be used to locate your "buddies". A more precise location can be obtained from the built-in GPS. But this still requires a cell phone connection, something most GPS don't do.

[|iR|Focalor]

Hi! I'm the Anti-Christ! How are you! I think the government should install sim cards in every person at birth so that you can track the location of a person. I think that would prove to be very useful in missing persons and child abduction cases. I think it should also be updated in real-time with a persons current religious affiliation... just in case that were to ever come in handy.

[[BTF] Reflex]

Psssst, they already do that.   

[playboy]

smartguard.com ?