Seven thousand or more kidnappings are reported to law enforcement agencies all over the world annually. That's just a tiny fraction of the total -- for almost every kidnapping reported, research show 11 or more go unreported. For such a depressing statistic, there's a happy ending, though. Progressively more we're hearing about how law enforcement officials were able to use mobile phones to search for victims of kidnappers and save them.
Kidnapping victims are not the only ones receiving the advantages of new cell phone location tech. In the typical app store there are hundreds of apps that use this powerful new feature of cellphone location to do loads of amazing things. They will help you see where your mates are in town. They'll enable you to play games where you can be mayor of your home filing cabinet. They'll note on your cellular phone photos where they were captured. They'll even identify when you go to various places and alter your cellphone's behaviors appropriately -- decreasing the ring volume when you are at the local library or launching your selected exercise tracking software when you hit the work-out center. So how does your cell phone know your location all of the time?
To be able to operate, your phone has to know which tower is nearby, and the cell company has to know which phones are near which tower. So your mobile phone spends all of its time either trying to find a tower or connected with a tower, even if the cell tower isn't operated by the mobile firm you use. The mobile phone companies take note of which cell phones are talking to which cell towers. That way when somebody telephones your cell, they'll know which cell tower should handle the connection. Cell phones keep listings of where each cell tower can be found. On top of that, mobile phone towers don't move around very much. So just by switching on your cell phone, both the wireless company and your cellphone know what your location is within a few thousand yards or so.
Practically all mobiles these days have a GPS processor chip within them, so as long as it's possible to get a signal from a satellite, the unit can determine within 75-125 feet what your location is. Usually the signal is inconsistent, but your cellular phone takes the signal when it can and averages it all out for you. That way you don't have to be concerned if you walk under an awing or inside a shop where the phone can't reach the satellite. Based on the GPS data quality, your cell phone won't understand what room you are in, but it'll be able to determine what building you're in.
Mobile handsets these days also connect over local WiFi access points, like you find at a favorite coffee house or nearby food court. This helps decrease your internet charges. Just like with cell phones and cell towers, if your WiFi is turned on, the phone knows which WiFi spots it is near and the WiFi spots know which phones are around even if you do not connect to the internet. Because these WiFi access points, like cellular towers, are fastened to the wall and don't move around, businesses like Google have gone throughout the country mapping them out. Once your cellular phone hooks up to a WiFi router and identifies it, it is able to use that knowledge to estimate your location inside of a few dozen feet or thereabouts.
Sound fingerprinting is a final way that some companies are using to find out precisely where you are. Say you're at a party with a big crowd of other folks. Your cellular can listen in on the audio, general conversation, and other environmental sounds and transform that to a signature, then match up this signature with many other cellphones within the room. In this way, it knows that you are near other folks in the rear of the room or that you've entered into the bathroom; perhaps changing from vibrate to a soft ring as you leave the noisy room.
Don't think that your phone only uses one system at a time. Smartphones use all of these working together in something generally known as location services. As you move about during the day, location services keeps a quite close eye on you, knowing where you are very easily within a hundred meters or so. New FCC polices call for all brand-new mobile handsets to be able to track you with even greater resolution by 2016.
As cell phones continuously get better and better at knowing exactly where you happen to be, look for more valuable and possibly life-saving applications to come along. It's a good time to own a cellular.
Kidnapping victims are not the only ones receiving the advantages of new cell phone location tech. In the typical app store there are hundreds of apps that use this powerful new feature of cellphone location to do loads of amazing things. They will help you see where your mates are in town. They'll enable you to play games where you can be mayor of your home filing cabinet. They'll note on your cellular phone photos where they were captured. They'll even identify when you go to various places and alter your cellphone's behaviors appropriately -- decreasing the ring volume when you are at the local library or launching your selected exercise tracking software when you hit the work-out center. So how does your cell phone know your location all of the time?
To be able to operate, your phone has to know which tower is nearby, and the cell company has to know which phones are near which tower. So your mobile phone spends all of its time either trying to find a tower or connected with a tower, even if the cell tower isn't operated by the mobile firm you use. The mobile phone companies take note of which cell phones are talking to which cell towers. That way when somebody telephones your cell, they'll know which cell tower should handle the connection. Cell phones keep listings of where each cell tower can be found. On top of that, mobile phone towers don't move around very much. So just by switching on your cell phone, both the wireless company and your cellphone know what your location is within a few thousand yards or so.
Practically all mobiles these days have a GPS processor chip within them, so as long as it's possible to get a signal from a satellite, the unit can determine within 75-125 feet what your location is. Usually the signal is inconsistent, but your cellular phone takes the signal when it can and averages it all out for you. That way you don't have to be concerned if you walk under an awing or inside a shop where the phone can't reach the satellite. Based on the GPS data quality, your cell phone won't understand what room you are in, but it'll be able to determine what building you're in.
Mobile handsets these days also connect over local WiFi access points, like you find at a favorite coffee house or nearby food court. This helps decrease your internet charges. Just like with cell phones and cell towers, if your WiFi is turned on, the phone knows which WiFi spots it is near and the WiFi spots know which phones are around even if you do not connect to the internet. Because these WiFi access points, like cellular towers, are fastened to the wall and don't move around, businesses like Google have gone throughout the country mapping them out. Once your cellular phone hooks up to a WiFi router and identifies it, it is able to use that knowledge to estimate your location inside of a few dozen feet or thereabouts.
Sound fingerprinting is a final way that some companies are using to find out precisely where you are. Say you're at a party with a big crowd of other folks. Your cellular can listen in on the audio, general conversation, and other environmental sounds and transform that to a signature, then match up this signature with many other cellphones within the room. In this way, it knows that you are near other folks in the rear of the room or that you've entered into the bathroom; perhaps changing from vibrate to a soft ring as you leave the noisy room.
Don't think that your phone only uses one system at a time. Smartphones use all of these working together in something generally known as location services. As you move about during the day, location services keeps a quite close eye on you, knowing where you are very easily within a hundred meters or so. New FCC polices call for all brand-new mobile handsets to be able to track you with even greater resolution by 2016.
As cell phones continuously get better and better at knowing exactly where you happen to be, look for more valuable and possibly life-saving applications to come along. It's a good time to own a cellular.
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