While it seems rather simple, setting up a tracker can be time consuming and frustrating; ultimately you mail fail. We run our own servers and have complete control over the tracking process and troubleshooting when there are issues.

Here is a simple visual of how most land based GPS trackers work. Note that land based trackers can be used in local boating and will continue to report your track several miles offshore.

A real time GPS tracker requires a working sim card to deliver the GPS data to a cell tower, to a server, so you can view it on the Internet. These are specialized sim cards and are a cost of real time service.

A vehicle tracker is installed in/on vehicle – car, truck, boat, bus, service vehicle, motorcycle, trailer, jet ski, 4 wheeler etc. A cell phone can also be a personal tracker as GPS chips are installed in many cellphones. The tracker is programmed. Tracker receives GPS locational data from GPS satellite. Tracker takes GPS data and transmits that data via cell signal to internet server. Internet server transforms that data onto map or satellite image of earth matching location on map or image to that of vehicle. User can log into Internet website to see data or possibly see data on smartphone app.