GPS monitoring for personal use (part 4. Systems Overview)

This part of the article presents two Life360 and Glympse systems .

In the previous parts were considered:

Part 1: General Considerations on Using GPS Monitoring Systems for Personal Monitoring
Part 2: Considered the system "WHERE MY", "GPSHome" and "GPS-Trace Orange"
Part 3: The systems "Live GPS Tracking" and "M2M gps-tracker.com.ua"
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I did not manage to find in the European and American markets systems similar to those discussed in the previous parts. Of course, there are similar systems, but: either they do not provide free access, or they have much poorer functionality in comparison with the above ones.

The systems reviewed here are oriented and provide maximum efficiency when working with them on smartphones.

Family Locator http://life360.com/ (USA)

The company was founded in San Francisco (California) in 2009.

There are free apps for iPhone, Android and Windows Phone.

Application downloads on Google Play from 10 to 50 million.

The application has a Russian interface.

The system can be used to monitor the safety of family members and loved ones.

Limitations of the free version : you can create 2 geofences ("Places"); relocation history is available only for the last 3 days (in the paid version - for 30 days); There are no non-smartphone location and search functions for lost (stolen) smartphones (in the paid version, these features are available for the United States and Canada for certain AT & T, Verizon, TMobile and Sprint providers).

Useful features of the system

• Mapping: Google.
• In the settings, in the map settings, you can set the display of local services: hospitals, fire stations, police stations, which will be visible in the immediate vicinity of the application user.
• In the map parameters, you can set the indication of the display of sexual crimes for locations on the map, as well as show offenses at specific time intervals (from one week to one year). This feature does not work for all geographic regions.
• A convenient way to stay in touch with important people in selected closed groups (“Circles”) has been developed. You can create separate groups: for children, work buddies, friends and others. One account can belong to one or several groups. Account holder can create new groups.
• Only group administrators can invite new people to groups, create and edit geofences in groups, and remove members from a group. The account owner can assign additional administrators from among other users of the group.
• The account holder can fill out his profile (which may be required in emergency situations), indicating in it information about his state of health, allergies, blood type and other information.
• A convenient tool for creating and editing geozones (“Places”) has been developed. For a geofence, the center and radius of the circle are specified. Zones are created and linked to the current group.
• For the created or edited zone, the address of its center is always determined and displayed.
• The list (for each geofence) displays: which of the members of the selected group are in this geofence.
• For group members and a selected geofence, you can set the need for notifications about entrances and / or exits from it.
• Information about the registration of the current location occurs at specified time intervals. The account owner can manually make a mark about his current location (“CheckIn”), the information goes to all members of the group. Team members can request other members to register their current location.
• You can configure the transmission of notifications by e-mail, through the application or via SMS channels.
• You can request transmission of crime alerts around your current location.
• Notifications from the list are removed by “swiping” it on the screen to the right.
• You can display the participant's movement log for a specific day in a specified time interval.
• An alarm is sent to the members of the group. To prevent sending messages when accidentally pressing the SOS button for 10 seconds. You can cancel the sending of this signal.
• A group chat is built into the system. As a recipient, you can select a specific member of the group or send a message to everyone.

Glympse http://glympse.com (USA)

The company was founded on February 22, 2008. The main office is located in Seattle (WA).

Free apps designed for iPhone, Android and Windows Phone.

Application downloads on Google Play from 1 to 5 million.

The application has a Russian interface.

The system can be used for a simple and secure way to share your location in real time with family and friends.

There are no restrictions on free use.

The company has developed and provides an SDK that allows you to quickly and easily add Glympse features to existing IOS and Android applications. Excellent descriptions, tutorials and instructions for all supported platforms are available.

Recently, the company has been actively cooperating with major auto manufacturers and suppliers of navigation services to integrate their developments into joint products.

Useful features of the system

• Mapping: Google; road traffic (google).
• The application does not require registration. Just install it on your smartphone.
• To transfer your location, a special link to glympse.com is generated (no registration is required to access this link).
• Information about the current location of the link creator is displayed in real time.
• The link can be sent to someone via SMS, email or using any other service installed on the smartphone.
• You can configure the time interval during which the link is valid.
• The sender can specify the destination of his route on the map.
• Access to the link may be terminated (temporarily or completely) by the sender at any time.
• Access to the link can be automatically terminated upon reaching the final destination of the route.
• You can set the option to transfer speed data.
• You can set the battery saving mode - location data is transmitted only when someone watches the movement.
• Good integration with social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Evernote). You can set your social network account as a recipient.
• You can see those Glympse users who are watching your current movement.
• There is a special mode that facilitates work with the application while driving.
• You can request information about the current location of users (according to the address book of the smartphone) that have the Glympse application installed.
• You can create open groups. All who know the name of the group can follow the objects that publish information about their location in this group.

In the final part of the article, I will talk about our ViaLatM system and announce our new personal monitoring application for Android-based smartphones.