2013 could be the year of the GPS, if several different companies have it their way. While global positioning system technology has been around for the better part of a decade, it seems as if people are finding new and interesting ways to use the tech. 

While GPS has usually been a technology that is limited to helping people find their ways to different destinations, the tech is being used to find people. One burgeoning use for GPS technology is a tracking system for convicted criminals who are on probation.

Using satellite tracking, probation officers don’t have to work nearly as hard to locate a probationary criminal under their charge. Satellite technology has been getting better and more intricate for years now, but it appears that using the tech has become that much easier. These new electronic tags are more accurate and harder to fool than the old anklets that had become so popular.


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The best part about these new GPS tags is that they can be set to sound alarms for a wide variety of situations. These new tags, which sit around the ankle just like the old tracking devices, can sound an alarm if a pedophile happens to get close to a school or a public park, where children are bound to hang out. 

The best part of using satellite technology is that it is far more accurate than what has been used in the past. It can also tell law enforcement officials how fast someone is moving. This means that people can tell if they are traveling by foot or in a vehicle. Where they are traveling and how fast they are going can tell them if they are on public transit or in a private car.

These new tags have not gone into wide use yet, but it appears that they will in 2013. Great Britain looks to be rolling out this technology more than any other government and the approach bears watching over the next year.

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