Mobile - Cell phone tracking using Google maps

Did you know that your mobile phone sends out details on your whereabouts every second to the world? If you haven’t heard of it, then its high time to realize that the cell phone in your pocket is tracking every move of yours and sharing the data with third party apps. Just like a GPS system or any other much powerful and better system, it is tracking your every move. S60 (Symbian 60) based mobile phones report location using cell tower based location tracking system and it is possible to trace the location on Google maps.

Install ‘Google maps’ on any S60 based mobile phone (like Nokia E51, E71, N73, N96) and press the option “My Location” from the “Options” menu. It will show you the location within 100 meters to 2 km depending on the cell tower and network availability. In places where there is good connectivity, it will track you down more efficiently than any GPS device, which won’t work indoor.

“Google maps” is distributed free by Google and you can install it without any hassle by visiting

http://m.google.com

. All you need is an active GPRS/ EDGE /3G connection to make it work. Nokia maps and other mapping software do not have this feature and it works only via a GPS device at the moment.

Give it a try.

What does it mean to Google? Why they want to track mobile users?

Google as always wants to sell its advertisements through all mediums practically possible. The multi billion giant wants to know ‘what you want’ (Google search); ‘what you do’ (Gmail, Calendar, Docs etc); what you see- ‘(YouTube) to sell their so called targeted ads. Imagine the possibility of displaying the ads about your local coffee shop on your mobile; imagine the reach and relevance of the advts you will be seeing. So they are simply enhancing their ‘free’ software and want to track you even without GPS

Is it possible to track a GSM/ CDMA cellular phone? Is there a software in market which tracking the location of the phone? Is it possible to track lost mobile?

The one word answer is YES and the descriptive answer is as follows

Tracking cell phone without any software

Any GSM/ CDMA cellular service providers can pin point the location of the users within a certain area. Every few minutes cell phone sends the signal back to the service provider announcing the location of the handset. The nearest cell/ mobile tower picks the signal and alerts the central server that the user is within that certain cell site and all calls should be routed to that site. The same information can be used by service providers to track the cell phone. Though they won’t publish the information publically, they used to co-operate with law enforcement officers to track suspicious mobile numbers.

Tracking cell phone with software

Companies like this

http://www.microlmts.net

provide software’s (LMTS) which can be installed in a mobile phone. This type of software’s are meant to track the phone if it’s stolen and not used for tracking the location of the mobile phone. The software works like this. The software once installed sits silently in the phone memory and detect any change in mobile number. When ever we replace the SIM (or if the thief does), it prepares an SMS and send the new mobile number to two (or more) predefined numbers set by the original owner of the phone.(or the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI)).

Powered with the above information we can contact law enforcement officers to track the location of the cell phone. This is not a foul proof method as it’s quite possible that the person who took the phone can start the phone without a SIM card and then format the phone memory to wipe out any existing software or data. (Without SIM card means no SMS sent out)

Using IMEI number

International Mobile Equipment Identity or the IMEI number can also be used to track stolen cell phone if we are getting good support from law enforcement officers and service providers. Each GSM mobile phone has a unique number which is called IMEI number. The service provider keeps track of this number to identify the phone in the network.

Suppose if the phone is stolen and we are giving the instruction in writing to all the service providers to track the cell phone, the providers can easily find the location or disable the phone to function in that particular network. This makes the phone practically useless and thereby discourages further theft.

But for this method we need lot of support from the service providers. As every city might be having 6-10 providers and each of them having its on rules, it will be a haunting process to make it work.

Other than that there are no viable solution available at the moment which tracks the location of the cell phone on a GSM or a CDMA network