Recently, a series of satellites were launched with the view to improve GPS reception within Australia and the Pacific region. We have observed a dramatic improvement in the signal strength and the accuracy of coordinate estimates on Benefon devices in general.

Generally, positioning information must be received from at least three suitably positioned satellites for correct position calculation. The signals sent by the GPS satellites do not travel through solid objects. Usually, it is not possible to lock onto the signal through walls (indoors) although this is not the case while travelling in a typical Australian car.

In order to track Benefon devices, it is not necessary to own any additional software or subscribe to extra services. The handsets will return their current position upon request sent via the Telematics protocol. The important feature here is that this positioning request will only be answered to authorised numbers - it is also possible to disable the ability to respond to anyone and have the positioning feature available only to the carrier of the handset.

Therefore, the general concerns over the privacy of the GPS devices in general are eliminated.

Of course, the information relayed by the handset merely specifies the coordinates in the longitude/latitude format. It is possible to retrieve the numbers manually, however in order to see the exact position of the device on a locality map it is necessary to enter the data into a suitable mapping program. This can be done by hand if the handset position is only required on an irregualr basis or automatically with various server packages.

If the handsets are regularly tracked, we are happy to provide access to our Benefon handset monitoring server - BeneTrack.