Vehicle Tracking System

A vehicle tracking system combines automatic vehicle location in individual vehicles with software that gathers this fleet data for a complete picture of vehicle locations. Other kinds of automatic vehicle location technology may also be utilized. However, modern car tracking systems frequently use GPS or GLONASS technology. You can view vehicle information on electronic maps with the Internet or specialized software. Urban public transit authorities are using vehicle tracking systems more frequently, especially in major cities.

There are various kinds of vehicle tracking technology. They are typically divided into “passive” and “active” categories. Devices that are “passive” store GPS location, speed, heading, and occasionally a trigger event like a key turned on or off or a door opened or closed. The device is taken out, and the data is downloaded to a computer for analysis after the car has reached a specific location. The auto-download variety of passive systems uses wireless download to transfer data. “Active” devices also gather the same data but typically send it near-real time to a computer or data center through satellite or cellular networks for analysis.

When a cellular network is available and a tracking device is connected, it transmits data to a server; when a network is unavailable, the device stores data in internal memory and will transmit stored data to the server later when the network becomes available again. Many modern vehicle tracking devices combine both active and passive tracking abilities.