How did the police 'reverse gps' this car today, to track down the suspect?

Most days my cell phone's GPS shows me on or near the correct side of the street when I am on a walk, but a couple of days ago, it had me walking through the houses across the street from where I was walking.

It wasn't me - I was in a pretty good mood that day.

Even when I'm inside my house, it often will usually show me within two or three meters of the correct part of the house. Rather amazing, IMO.

This is on an Android home; the maps show outlines of the houses, which is why I can see where I am with respect to them.

Well, *I* could care less (yes, I mean it literally). I enjoyed the clip (I watched the whole thing), but I have to say some of the puns and other wordplay went by too quickly for just one viewing and listening :-)

Here's some payback:

Oddly, just a week ago some friends and I were discussing the two Yankovices...

Most likely, more accurate reporting would have said asked the dealer to "start monitoring" rather than "turn on" the GPS.

I was once interviewed by a reporter, and what was printed was so different from what I said that my confidence in reporters' accuracy was ruined forever :-)

I do wonder how the device was powered, however. Infinite-life batteries? (That's a joke.)

My actual guess: wired into the downstream side of the ignition switch.

LO-JACK batteries last 5 years. They only use significant power when triggered on. Same probably goes for this tracking device.

/d

I'm my own best audience - the above typo cracked me up :-)

How about this instead: "This is on an Android phone".

Thanks, that's good to know.

Looks like my joke was accidentally close to the truth :-)

I don't given that they did find the car and the kidnapper.

Yes, but clearly that sort of system would be no use for finding the car if the individual who is supposed to be paying for the car stops making payments on the car. That's why it was in the car, so they can do that.

It wasn't onstar, it was PassTime which was installed by the dealer.

The cops used what had been attached by the dealer.

Google maps on the iphone has no such setting and shows me off the road when I am in my house.

More likely to be powered all the time regardless of the ignition switch so they can find and take back the car even when its parked etc.

I don't know what "normal business" means here. The man essentially did a search at the request of the police. (As opposed to doing the search when compelled by a court order.) This is more than answering a question from first-hand knowledge, but see below.

I think the police were on firm ground because, as you pointed out, the man had already agreed to be tracked and in any case, he could hold no expectation of privacy in his public location.

The courts haven't caught up to the technology. Can the police pinpoint your location right now without a warrant using an external tracking device? Probably. Can they track you for weeks on end so that they know your schedule and activities? Not clear.

Suppose that the police know you have a sensitive infrared camera, and they suspect that your neighbor is growing marijuana in his attic under grow lights. Can they ask you to take a picture of your neighbor's roof?

Wait - lo jack isn't hard wired?

It is electrically connected to the GPS navigation system, or contains a second GPS unit. It's also connected to various engine diagnostics and can detect air bag deployment.

OnStar says it needs GPS in order for all the functions to work properly. You can get it added to your car even if it didn't come with OnStar (at least in 2011).

OnStar uses GPS for a number of services they offer:

- Giving directions (which requires knowing where you are).

- Finding services nearby (e.g. gas station, restaurant, motel)

- Calling a tow truck / ambulance if you are in an accident.

For the above, the driver is in the driver's seat, but he may not know accurately where he is (er, um, about 2 miles past the Winstar exit on I-20 eastbound, um, no, Winstar is a casino, maybe it was Winscott?)

- Finding your car (whether it was stolen, you forgot where you parked, or you got drunk and don't remember any of the evening before your friends or the cops gave you a ride home.)

- Various tracking services, including alerts if it goes outside certain areas which you can program. It's useful for teenagers to track when their parents are about to arrive home.

I once connected a portable GPS unit to my computer to see if the computer could properly interpret the NMEA output that gives location. I generated a plot of where it went, knowing it generally indicated it was in the center of my property, and wondered how much it would wander. One day my bed table with the GPS unit on it wandered into low earth orbit, according to the GPS. That was a day when they were doing some maintenance on the satellites and took one out of service.

This can get fun if the maps are out of date. A few years back the exit and entrance to I-20 near my neighborhood were moved about a quarter-mile. This was mostly to accomodate property owners along the I-20 access road so they could enter and exit without having to go almost full-circle on the access road. The maps have not updated to reflect this, even though I reported it to Tom Tom.

The GPS says to turn left onto the entrance ramp. By the time I get to the entrance ramp, it assumes I'm on the access road and suggests a U turn. Then I enter the access ramp and a bit later it finally thinks I am on I-20. As map errors go, this one is pretty minor.

Isn't retaining title to a car which will be driven by a deadbeat dangerous from a liability point of view? Suppose the deadbeat drives through a restaurant full of people (there have been a few videos of that happening on the TV news lately)? The deadbeat probably has the minimum amount of liability insurance he can get away with. The victims (or their next of kin) will go after the owner of the car next. That's the dealer.

Gordon Burditt wrote

Nope.

You just tell the cops that the deadbeat had the car.

That's his problem, not yours.

He has no liability for what the deadbeat does with the car.

See above.

GPS is one of the features of Onstar.

They use it when sending directions to another location as well. The current location is necessary in order to give proper directions.

The down side to what I have is no actual map. I get voice instructions from Onstar regarding turns. And the display shows an arrow (in case I've forgotten which way is left?), but I wouldn't object to an actual map.

I am not an attorney but my understanding is that the jerk is the owner of record (for liability purposes) and the dealer has a lien against that title so it cannot be resold/transferred until/unless the debt is satisfied.

No, think about it. All the thief would have to do is disconnect the battery.

/d