Global Positioning System Tracking Devices Research Articles

Use of a Global Positioning System (GPS) to Manage Extensive Sheep Farming and Pasture Land

The terrestrial climate is not sufficient to produce enough food to meet the roughage needs of the animals benefiting from the pasture lands because of excessive and early grazing of those areas. Plant growth is adversely affected in pastures that are not uniformly grazed. Tracking animals using the Global Positioning System (GPS) is a very important factor in determining the uniform distribution of grazing animals in a pasture, increasing the utilization rate of the pasture, and saving costs and time. With GPS tracking systems, establishing more effective pasture-use systems by monitoring the feeding regimes of small animals, the status of feed in the pasture, and the grazing behavior of the animals would be possible. The present study aimed to investigate the use of GPS for pasture and herd management in Turkey in addition to using the traditional techniques.In the present study conducted in the village of Köseyusuflu in Yozgat Province in May 2017, 2018, and 2019, grazing benefits that were determined from the pasture containing two Akkaraman sheep herds were recorded using GPS tracking devices. The results suggested that the area covered with vegetation along the sheep’s spring grazing routes varied between 43.6 and 62.9%, the ratio of legumes in the pasture grass in the low grazing areas was between 0.50 and 4.10%, and the grass species were between 12.75 and 44.50%. We determined that the sheep in herd A traveled between 7.6 and 9.9 km, while the sheep in herd B traveled between 4.7 and 5.7 km daily, and the two herds grazed an average of between 122 and 254 daa.

Always Eyes Watching You: United States v. Jones and Congress's Attempts to Stop Warrantless Government Surveillance

In recent years, technology has advanced to new levels. Technology that was exclusively used by government officials is now available to the general public. Unfortunately, law enforcement officials have taken advantage of technology's availability to prey on unsuspecting citizens and invade privacy protected by the Fourth Amendment. Governmental use of Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking devices has invaded the privacy of unsuspecting citizens, and in the absence of precedent, officials have continued to invade privacy. In United States v. Jones, the United States Supreme Court got its opportunity to halt governmental abuse of technology; however, the Court only addressed the physical element of Fourth Amendment searches instead of its presence through the use of GPS tracking devices without a physical trespass. As Associate Justice Samuel Alito suggests, Congress is an appropriate body to address the issue. Currently, the Senate Judiciary Committee is considering the Geolocational Privacy and Surveillance Act (GPS) Act. In 2011, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) introduced the bill to require officials to show probable cause before obtaining a GPS tracking device. This article will explore the jurisprudence leading up to the Court's decision in Jones while emphasizing the Court's failure to fully address an expectation of privacy concerning abuse of GPS tracking devices. This article will also discuss the GPS Act and government officials' response to the Act. The article will analyze the strength and weaknesses of the Act and how Congress can address the Act's weaknesses before enactment. The author concludes by suggesting that Congress must act now to enact a law that not only strikes a balance between effective law enforcement investigations and privacy expectations, but also provides guidance for future cases involving governmental abuse of advancing technology.

Movement ecology of human resource users: using net squared displacement, biased random bridges and resource utilization functions to quantify hunter and gatherer behaviour

Summary1. Understanding human resource extraction is crucial for conservation science, allowing accurate assessments of system sustainability and testing key assumptions about human resource users.2. We apply ecological methods and principles to Global Positioning System (GPS) data on human movement to investigate the ecological and behavioural differences between human hunters and non‐hunters, a method which can be reproduced with any species which routinely return to a central place. The integration of movement ecology and habitat selection can greatly augment the applicability and scope of both disciplines, and we explore the issues that arise from integration, because of the differing data types and methods used by each approach.3. We propose an adaptable methodological framework which can be used to combine movement ecology and habitat selection when using data from GPS tracking devices, whether from human or animal foragers. The methodology is based on three steps and can be implemented in the free downloadable statistical program R, using the full code in the Data S1.4. First, we show that net squared displacement, coupled with nonlinear mixed‐effects models, is suitable for quantifying characteristics of small‐scale movement, such as daily travel patterns, and extracting parts of these journeys for analysis.5. Secondly, having extracted part of a journey, biased random bridges use the auto‐correlated GIS tracking data to create a utilization distribution (UD) for each individual. This method includes movement between known locations to estimate use intensity in an area.6. Finally, the UD can be analysed by a resource utilization function which relates the intensity of use to landscape features of an area to identify habitats selected by an individual. This can be used to predict use of the landscape at larger scales for both individuals and an entire population.7. This methodological framework is a flexible method to accurately assess human and animal resource use and movement through the natural environment.

The Fourth Amendment in an Age of New Technologies: Circuits Split Over Warrantless Gps Tracking

On August 6, 2010, the District of Columbia Circuit Court held in United States v. Maynard that law enforcement agents’ use of a Global Positioning System (GPS) device to monitor the location of a car on public roads constitutes a Fourth Amendment search and seizure when conducted over a long period of time. Thus, the D.C. Circuit held that police must obtain a warrant before using GPS device to monitor vehicles.The D.C. Circuit decision directly contradicts a recent decision in the Eight Circuit and a 2007 decision in the Seventh Circuit, respectively United States v. Marquez and United States v. Garcia. Additionally, last month the Ninth Circuit refused to re-hear a ruling upholding the warrantless use of GPS devices in United States v. Pineda-Moreno over the dissent of five judges. The Circuit sets up a potentially landmark Supreme Court decision and the reexamination of United States v. Knotts which held that law enforcement agents’ use of a beeper device to aid the tracking of a suspect to his drug lab was not a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. The D.C. Circuit refused to apply Knotts to law enforcement agents’ use of a GPS device, determining Knotts reserved the question at issue, while the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Circuits found Knotts controlling.This Comment will first examine the history of the Supreme Court’s Fourth Amendment landmark decisions, examining United States v. Katz, Kyllo v. United States, and Knotts. Second, this Comment will discuss the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Circuits’ rulings that law enforcement agents use of a GPS tracking device does not require a warrant and the D.C. Circuit’s contradictory ruling that requires a warrant.Third, this Comment will analyze the current state of the law, determining that while Knotts is distinguishable, the Court must decide whether law enforcement agents’ use of a GPS tracking device requires a warrant within the framework handed down in Knotts. This Comment will especially focus on the D.C. Circuit’s contrasting decision in United States v. Maynard and its potential to reshape Fourth Amendment jurisprudence.Fourth, this Comment will argue that under the Knotts framework, the Supreme Court should rule that the warrantless use of a GPS tracking device to track a suspect’s movements outside his home does not constitute a “search” or “seizure” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, and examine the potential impact of the Supreme Court’s acceptance of the flawed reasoning in Maynard. In conclusion, this Comment will emphasize the magnitude of the potential Supreme Court decision and analyze its effects on law enforcement as well as individual privacy.

Performance Characteristics of Small Global-Positioning-System Tracking Collars

Recent technological advances have made possible the development of animal-tracking devices based on the global positioning system (GPS) that are much smaller than what were available previously. However, potential limitations in size-dependent technologies and differences in patterns of behavior between small and large animals could mean that miniaturized GPS tracking devices may not function as well as their larger counterparts. Here, we evaluate the performance characteristics of 105-g GPS collars suitable for prolonged use on animals weighing as little as 2.5 kg. We tested 9 collars in stationary trials at a single reference site and in field deployments on common brushtail possums ( Trichosurus vulpecula/ ), a semi-arboreal, nocturnal marsupial. We found in both trials that individual collars differed in several measures of positional accuracy and precision, yet overall the small collars compared favorably with published results of larger devices in similar habitats. Differences in operational characteristics between the two trials were mainly in the number and spatial configuration of satellites used to calculate position fixes, resulting in an increase in median location error from 9.8 m in the stationary tests to an estimated 14.7 m in the field trials. Most probably, these effects were due to dissimilarities in microhabitat features and variation in the orientation of GPS antennae which occurred when the possums changed their body posture during movement. The collars evaluated in this study promise to be a valuable tool for the study of the ecology, behavior, and conservation of many small-to-medium sized animals.

GPS tracking devices reveal foraging strategies of Black-legged Kittiwakes

The Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla is the most abundant gull species in the world, but some populations have declined in recent years, apparently due to food shortage. Kittiwakes are surface feeders and thus can compensate for low food availability only by increasing their foraging range and/or devoting more time to foraging. The species is widely studied in many respects, but long-distance foraging and the limitations of conventional radio telemetry have kept its foraging behavior largely out of view. The development of Global Positioning System (GPS) loggers is advancing rapidly. With devices as small as 8 g now available, it is possible to use this technology for tracking relatively small species of oceanic birds like kittiwakes. Here we present the first results of GPS telemetry applied to Black-legged Kittiwakes in 2007 in the North Pacific. All but one individual foraged in the neritic zone north of the island. Three birds performed foraging trips only close to the colony (within 13 km), while six birds had foraging ranges averaging about 40 km. The maximum foraging range was 59 km, and the maximum distance traveled was 165 km. Maximum trip duration was 17 h (mean 8 h). An apparently bimodal distribution of foraging ranges affords new insight on the variable foraging behaviour of Black-legged Kittiwakes. Our successful deployment of GPS loggers on kittiwakes holds much promise for telemetry studies on many other bird species of similar size and provides an incentive for applying this new approach in future studies.

Tire pressure-monitoring systems rollout [Automotive Electronics

Presents several news items about automotive electronics, including ones on tire pressure-monitoring systems, energy-harvesting shock absorbers, electronics in race cars, in-vehicle navigation systems, Global Positioning System (GPS), and legislation banning GPS tracking devices.

Comparison of global positioning system (GPS) tracking and parent-report diaries to characterize children's time–location patterns

Respondent error, low resolution, and study participant burden are known limitations of diary timelines used in exposure studies such as the National Human Exposure Assessment Survey (NHEXAS). Recent advances in global positioning system (GPS) technology have produced tracking devices sufficiently portable, functional and affordable to utilize in exposure assessment science. In this study, a differentially corrected GPS (dGPS) tracking device was compared to the NHEXAS diary timeline. The study also explored how GPS can be used to evaluate and improve such diary timelines by determining which location categories and which respondents are least likely to record "correct" time-location responses. A total of 31 children ages 3-5 years old wore a dGPS device for all waking hours on a weekend day while their parents completed the NHEXAS diary timeline to document the child's time-location pattern. Parents misclassified child time-location approximately 48% of the time using the NHEXAS timeline in comparison to dGPS. Overall concordance between methods was marginal (kappa=0.33-0.35). The dGPS device found that on average, children spent 76% of the 24-h study period in the home. The diary underestimated time the child spent in the home by 17%, while overestimating time spent inside other locations, outside at home, outside in other locations, and time spent in transit. Diary data for time spent outside at home and time in transit had the lowest response concordance with dGPS. The diaries of stay-at-home mothers and mothers working unskilled labor jobs had lower concordance with dGPS than did those of the other participants. The ability of dGPS tracking to collect continuous rather than categorical (ordinal) data was also demonstrated. It is concluded that automated GPS tracking measurements can improve the quality and collection efficiency of time-location data in exposure assessment studies, albeit for small cohorts.