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It is very obvious that humans like to track things. It gives us a sense of control in an often chaotic world. And, fortunately, there are a number of new apps that allow us to achieve ultimate control via keeping tabs on anything. Worried about your teenage kids driving recklessly? Yes, you can track them now. Are you an iPhone addict ready to make the jump to Verizon? Well, you can now track real-world cell phone strength. Want to track your pets, and well just about anything that you deem precious? You can do that too. In this post we examine the latest and greatest geolocation apps that are giving us the ultimate control of our lives. And, a reminder to check out USGIF President Keith Masback provide an insightful presentation on the “introduction to geospatial intelligence” at the International Spy Museum this evening. We hope you enjoy and happy Tuesday!

Track Anything Anytime with This With GPS Locator and App
The Garmin Tracker, along with the Garmin GTU 10, allows you to keep track of your kids and pets with real-time GPS tracking, navigation, and interactivity. However, though the app is free, the $200 device with service will cost you. Garmin Tracker, released for iOS and Android, works by communicating through AT&T’s network with the tracking device. It lets you see what you’re keeping track of via your typical smartphone map app, giving you turn-by-turn directions to your precious whatevers should they be lost, in trouble, stolen, or in need of a ride. And with the bonus geofencing feature, you can create boundaries on the map for what you’re keeping an eye on, letting you know when those boundaries are crossed with a notification email. And that $200 are only for the first year. After that, you’ll need to pay $50 for every year you use the service. Read the full Gizmodo post here.

iGuardianTeen App Spies on Your Kid’s Driving Habits
Want to make sure your teenager is driving safely? A new Android app called iGuardianTeen purports to do just that, acting like Big Brother for young drivers, logging speed, GPS, acceleration, location, and distance traveled and sending information via email to worried parents after each drive (or after an accident). And that’s just the beginning of the app’s monitoring features. Drivers mount the app on their dashboard, where it continuously logs video (the last five minutes of each session are saved to the SD card), reports any phone use during the drive, monitors for hard turns, acceleration and braking, provides a warning sound when teens are engaging in unsafe driving behavior, and even gives parents the option to receive constant text message updates during the drive. Read the full Fast Company post here.

Crowdsourced Map Shows Real-World Cellphone Signal Strength
Want to know just how strong your cellphone signal is? It turns out there’s a map and an app for that. OpenSignalMaps uses Android smartphones as probes, crowdsourcing locations of cellular towers and their strength. Finally, you’ll get a real answer to why those calls keep dropping when you pass through certain areas. Developed by Staircase 3, the company plans to create accurate signal maps with its Android app and OpenSignalMaps website. The company says the beta version of its Android app OpenSignalMaps has been downloaded more than 80,000 times, as you can see by its maps, the crowd of Android users has already contributed millions of signal strength readings. Read the full Mashable post here.

Android GPS App – How to Track a Cheating Spouse Using an Android GPS App
An Android GPS app, often called Android tracking location apps, is a small software application that is installed on any cell phone using the Android OS. This includes many of the hot new cell phones such as the Verizon DROID, HTC DROID Incredible, Nexus One, My Touch 3G, Motorola BackFlip, and many many more. Once installed, the Android GPS app logs GPS coordinates of the Android cell phone. The GPS logs are then uploaded to an online account where you can log on and view the specific location of the Android cell phone you are tracking. Many of the Android tracking apps found on the Android app store reveal to the user they are being tracked, but there are several that remain hidden, thus providing a suspicious spouse an excellent way to track their partner to determine if they are cheating. Read more here.

Geolocation Apps Causing New Privacy and Safety Fears for Smartphone Users
Smartphone users are becoming more concerned about their privacy when using geolocation apps, according to a survey released by Microsoft this week to coincide with Data Privacy Day. The survey found that users have a host of concerns for their privacy when using location based phone apps Some 84% of respondents said that they fear such applications could be used to help unknown people steal personal information or identities. The same number, 84%, also said that they feared that these apps will share their location without their knowledge or consent while a slightly larger number, 87%, said they were scared that these apps would share their location with people or organizations they do not know. Read more from Sociable here.

Tags: Garmin Tracker, GPS tracking of cheating spouse, GPS tracking of kids, iGuardianTeen, iGuardianTeen App, International Spy Museum, Keith Masback USGIF President and International Spy Museum, OpenSignalMaps, Tracking Kids Driving habits