Mobiles in hospitals

[felix]

Porker is correct. The accuracy of location is not great but it was good enough to nail at least one major criminal. The police had to swarm all over the place looking for the missing phone but they got it in the end.

Could your phone's location (not yours) be tracked in the past? That rather depends on the phone company and how long their computer retains the data. From a phone network point of view it's only the present location that matters so why clog your computer's memory with obsolete data. If the police wanted to track all future movements of a particular mobile phone then I've no doubt they could do it - but I'd like to think they'd need a court order first!

 

[pipme]

I believe that the ban on mobiles in garages is about to be lifted. Due to the fact it was a load of horse s**t in the first place.

I watched a builder type, having completed his diesel fill the pay process, he then spent the whole time it took me to fill 45 litres, pay, return and reset computer trip ......... Talking on his mobile whilst standing half in his cab .. unmoved from the pump.... So maybe there is a more pressing reason for having a ban !!
Oh, and the important ones, are still driving using a handheld, usually straddling the white line ...

 

[Thermo]

kendor its more than a possibilty its a very real tool that can be used, and we used it on several high profile missing children cases. There is an extremly clever guy from southampton university that can interpolate the data to within a few metres. Its not the kind of thing thats used every day, but nevertheless the ability is still there to do it

 

[kendor]

kendor its more than a possibilty its a very real tool that can be used, and we used it on several high profile missing children cases. There is an extremly clever guy from southampton university that can interpolate the data to within a few metres. Its not the kind of thing thats used every day, but nevertheless the ability is still there to do it

I can believe it can be done once you are after a particular person though it would be a nightmare to use it as evidence of a past crime easily unless there was a massive database that stored all positional data of everyone for an indefinite time.

 

[jtaunton]

To recap a bit of old ground, your mobile phone normally makes some contact with the 3 nearest masts, and then selects the best one to make your call through. Knowing the masts that your phone is looking at can give a good approximation of your position. Cell records are kept for some time, so alibis can be verified or disporved for quite some time.

(This is also the real reason, IMHO, that you aren't allowed to use a phone in a plane. Being above the masts, rather than between them, you illuminate far more than the three nearest masts and cause all sorts of problems for their software. Passing from cell to cell at plane speeds means that you need lots of handovers too, which is always a source of call drop-outs. If there was any danger that pressing 5 on your phone was going to make your plane turn left, you wouldn't be allowed anywhere near a plane with them.)

It is also increasingly an issue that, whereas in the past, 999 calls were always made from a landline then you always knew where the emergency was. That is no longer the case and people don't always know, or say, where they are. Greater positioning accuracy is vital in these applications. This could even come down to knowing what side of the road you are on in a motorway smash for the emergency services to approach you from.

There is talk of a future system that is more accurate, but I believe this requires either a hardware or software upgrade for the handsets themselves, so don't expect it to be quick......

 

[Porker]

jtaunton is correct. The whole compulsory positioning thing in the US was in fact the E911 directive. (E standing for Emergency) although there are a host of people who have their own conspiracy theories. There was a deadline set and handset manufacturers were bending over themselves to get a solution in place. The problem was that nobody using GSM could get well inside the figures mandated. GPS was the most accurate solution but costly in terms of hardware. The deadline loomed and then... it was dropped.

BTW - EOTD requires a handset upgrade, TOA needs a network upgrade and no handset changes and GPS requires a hardware upgrade.

 

[pipme]

What is this all about then guys ?

http://www.wayhey.com/index.html

Reckons, accurate from 50m to 1Km ...

oops then it says '..the WayHey Service is currently Suspended and will not be accepting any further registrations. Current subscriptions suspended.. blah, blah'
Why is this ?
------
Another .. http://www.mapamobile.com/index.php

 

[Porker]

Cell ID only at a guess. i.e. it locates you to the cell that is hooked onto the call. The distances quoted would be typical of this accuracy due to the variable density of cells. In built up areas cells tend to be closer together, in rural areas they can be miles apart. Some buildings have there own dedicated cell. (Where I work is).

 

[kendor]

I was not questioning the possibilities of positional data as has been shown by the mapping software what i was questioning was the collection of all this data for everyone 24 hrs a day 7 days a week it would take massive storage( or massive printout ) so although it could be used as a location tool on a suspect, for the about to become suspect, there would be no past evidence except for occassions when he/she made a call.

 

[Porker]

The amount of storage is relative although I think you are right, I don't think it is kept by the networks in such detail (yet!).

The other thing though is that you do not have to be making a call for the network to know where your phone is. It is being tracked all the time it is on and can establish a radio link. The service pipme pointed to must use this method I would assume.

 

[felix]

If you're investigating a crime, the greatest advantage of phone tracking might not be to place a suspect at a scene in the past - that kind of evidence is too easily contested - but to find the actual phone. From this you might get valuable forensic evidence. Finding the suspect's fingerprints on the victim's stolen phone would be pretty damning stuff.

 

[kendor]

The amount of storage is relative although I think you are right, I don't think it is kept by the networks in such detail (yet!).

The other thing though is that you do not have to be making a call for the network to know where your phone is. It is being tracked all the time it is on and can establish a radio link. The service pipme pointed to must use this method I would assume.

point i was making was that at this time as it stands, that to know there is a record of your whereabouts a call would have to be made as opposed to positional data being recorded otherwise at all times.

 

[pipme]

....How do you find the van that's the nearest to your customer demanding a delivery now?
How do you keep track of your field sales force
mapAmobile Corporate Edition locates your mobile workforce at anytime without interruption
It uses the existing mobile phone network to provide location data within seconds
No need to invest in any extra hardware
Works for a fraction of the cost of GPS tracking systems

 

[kendor]

....How do you find the van that's the nearest to your customer demanding a delivery now?
How do you keep track of your field sales force
mapAmobile Corporate Edition locates your mobile workforce at anytime without interruption
It uses the existing mobile phone network to provide location data within seconds
No need to invest in any extra hardware
Works for a fraction of the cost of GPS tracking systems

yes but thats a pay for use system with a given number of participants, it doesn't apply to all mobile users everywhere.
Again i don't deny the possibilities of the system merely the logistics

 

[pipme]

yes but thats a pay for use system with a given number of participants,

Didn't say it was not.

it doesn't apply to all mobile users everywhere.

Didn't say it did.

Again i don't deny the possibilities of the system merely the logistics

Didn't say you did !

Didn't say FA really ...... But some poor, lost surfer may have happened upon this misbegotten, thread been thankful for the knowledge that someone out there cares where his wallet and underlings may be located.