Newsletter 46

A network-independent GSM phone tracking service that is said to be up to six times as accurate as typical location-based services has been launched by Tariffman, a mobile communications specialist and SIM supplier. It is called Pingz.

It works through a small application that is downloaded to each tracked phone, and detects the signal strength of up to six mobile phone masts in the vicinity of the phone, regardless of which network provider operates them and without using their own location services. From this information, it can triangulate its location.

The system is said to work with the majority of mobile phones, and can also be linked with GPS to provide enhanced positioning accuracy. As standard it is supplied as a web service; the application download costs £10 per mobile, and there's a monthly licence fee of £1 each, plus small messaging fees per location fix. A version for hosting by user-companies is also available.

A broadly comparable cell tracking system for data-only devices was announced last year by Podsystem, another SIM supplier and a tracking systems specialist. We described it in m.logistics, issue 36 (August-September 2008).