GPS Navigation System Helps in Finding Location Of Stolen Truck

Possibility of finding a stolen or misplaced device is greater when we have GPS technology with us. And here’s another news on how a company used the modern GPS tracking technology and systems to find the exact location of their stolen truck.

MacKenzie Heating and Cooling Service installed GPS monitoring system in its fleet years ago. Fleetmatics, one of the most popular GPS fleet management system in US, was installed on every vehicle.

Truck which had this GPS technology installed (model 2013 Ford E-250) was stolen and reported to Karl Lohndorf, who works as a general manager at the company.

“Wickson, who also works at MacKenzie, reported the van missing. It was then Lohndorf whipped out his smartphone and began tracking the stolen van’s every move using the GPS system installed in the vehicle,” reports Sea Coast Online.

As GPS tracking technology is always accurate, finding out the exact location of the van didn’t take long. In a couple of seconds real-time location tracking was possible with this smartphone app. The van was apparently found in a parking lot at a hospital.

Effortless GPS Tracking Made It Possible

From WMUR:

“I could tell what time that vehicle started. I could tell where it went. I could tell how fast it went,” the general manager said.

Lohndorf said he saw the truck traveled north from Haverhill after 3 a.m. and passed almost directly by the company’s Seabrook headquarters before traveling on to Exeter.

“They did the speed limit the whole way, and they stopped on Thornton Street in Exeter, and they stopped for, I believe, 17 or 19 minutes. I forget,” Lohndorf said. “From there, they drove it to the back of the Exeter Hospital.”

Not All Was Lost & Found

Although the stolen van found, there were several items from the van that went missing. Computer tablet, tools, backpack and keys were not found even after a thorough research. So what went wrong?

Although GPS technology helps in tracking the location, unfortunately it is limited – meaning it cannot track the items that do are not GPS-enabled or do not have GPS chips wired into them.

Some other parts were found on the road, which makes it evident that the thief was in a hurry or probably found out about the GPS tracking system installed in the vehicle.

Tracking Route Was Never This Easy

Years ago such modern technology was never adopted. It was, to put it bluntly, expensive and big vehicles were rarely stolen in comparison to today’s world.

Times have changed. We have so many companies designing GPS monitoring and tracking devices that this healthy competition has only benefited the consumers.

And with the increase in smartphone adoption, tracking on-the-go is an effortless process. One can always find out the exact route using maps on mobile phone in real-time.

The third-party apps that act as GPS tracker are usually free, but the real cost is involved in buying and setting up the physical GPS device in the vehicle. Such GPS tracking systems are not free, but it is worth the investment — especially given that stealing of devices is on the rise.