GPS tracking for elderly

Hannibal6.0 · 14-01-2011 5:45pm #1

Grandfather has symptoms of dementia and family are concerned as he can wander off at times and forget where he was going, was just wondering if there are any gps tracking devices available in Ireland for him to have on his person, in case the family are unable to find him? Any help or suggestions really would be appreciated..

Alun · 14-01-2011 5:58pm

Garmin have recently introduced this ... http://www.garmin.com/uk/gtu/ Not available until February though.

coylemj · 14-01-2011 8:30pm

It's generically known as GPS Tracking and is used to track the movement of vehicles, either expensive cars liable to be stolen or trucks with valuable cargoes, plus children and pets.

What you will need is a device with a GPS unit and that is equipped with a mobile phone SIMM so that it can receive and respond to SMS messages in order to report it's location either direct to you or to a service provider's base station.

Google 'gps tracker' and you'll get lots of hits, there are Irish companies who do it, primarily for valuable cars and trucks but the technology would be more or less the same for an elderly person or a child though in the case of vehicle trackers, the devices are designed to be installed in vehicles so would assume a 12V source. However I found this product on an Irish website which does not need an external power source, I have no connection with this company by the way..

http://www.************/Tracking/Self-Powered-Asset-Tracking-tag.html

Otherwise you'll need to find a supplier who manufactures trackers for children or pets, that will be the type of technology you need.

Alun · 14-01-2011 8:33pm

That link doesn't work, the site name has been replaced by *'s ... swear filter in operation somehow?

In this particular application it's also probably fairly important to be able to set up geofences so that you get alerts when he steps outside a particular boundary, say his house and garden. The Garmin device I referenced above does that as well as being able to get on-demand positions.

coylemj · 14-01-2011 9:10pm

Try this instead....

http://tinyurl.com/4tsg8pz

Alun · 14-01-2011 9:32pm

Looks interesting, though I'd be concerned about size and weight if it's designed for tracking assets like plant machinery etc.

I've some relevant experience in this field ... using relatively compact (roughly 5x5x2cm) and light weight (<50g) WiFi based tracking devices for tracking patients in hospitals, and even these were considered by some patients to be a little on the cumbersome side for comfort during patient trials.

Especially if you're talking about placing such a device on someone with dementia who may not be entirely happy about it it's vitally important it's as unobtrusive as possible and doesn't cause any distress.

KoolKid · 14-01-2011 10:07pm

What about an android phone with latitude set up to share street level position.

Hannibal6.0 · 14-01-2011 11:29pm

Thank you for all the replys so far, and yeah I got the idea from using latitude myself but my query would be how often that refreshes I have often gone on and seen friends locations that where stale for more than six hours, this is what lead me to ask about a tracker in itself. but as other posters have said trackers have to be as unobtrusive as possible, so the android might have to be the best bet if there is not anything else out there.

Alun · 15-01-2011 6:27pm

I'd wait and see what the specs (size, weight etc) are on that Garmin unit when it comes on the market.

gbee · 18-01-2011 12:27pm

Don't forget that GPS tracking is now available on some phones ~ maybe not a perfect solution but worth exploring.

KoolKid · 18-01-2011 1:11pm

He already mentioned that above but he had concerns re the refresh rate.

uRbaN · 18-01-2011 5:38pm

Well my 2 cents on a portable type unit:

I have experience with this device:

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Alaska-Vehicle-Personal-GPS-GSM-Tracker-/250758214287?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_GPSSystems_GPSSystems&hash=item3a625ab28f

I didn't buy it on ebay I think I purchased it on Alibaba or some such for around €50-€60 Euro at the time.

The unit is alright, wouln't be the greatest quality gadget I ever purchased but very inexpensive to buy and operate.

It possible would do the trick, particualry as you can text it to recieve a Google Map location & GPS coordinates of the device. You can also make it text you on regular intervals (say every 5 minutes) if you are trying to locate it.
It also has geofencing as mentioned earlier (receive texts if the unit moves outside a certain area).

On the downside, I can only assume if your Grandfather is indoors something like this will be rendered useless.

dellboy · 22-01-2011 11:03pm

Same as the android and you can use the "Find iPhone" app on another iphone. You just have to register your grandads iPhone with your mobile me account, which is no free for tracking purposes.

Of course, he could forget to take his phone with him if he goes wandering but that's a problem with all devices.

At least there are now solutions for this type of thing. Best of luck with it.

molly09 · 09-06-2015 10:35pm

Hi
I hope it's ok to add to this old thread. I am wondering could someone send me in the right direction to get a reasonable and very discrete gps tracker for person with dementia

Thank you

KoolKid · 09-06-2015 11:42pm

What would you consider reasonable?
G4S do a good system called PAL, @ around €350 per annum.
It also has a panic button & can open up 2 way speech.

GPS tracking for elderly

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