In a country like South Africa where crime has been known to spiral out of control, the safety of loved ones will always be of paramount concern. In keep with that sentiment, Integrat started researching the feasibility of developing a product that allows for the sending of panic alerts to family and friends.
However, they discovered that although it is undeniably useful in itself to send an alert, it is not nearly effective enough if the recipient of the signal is unable to determine the whereabouts of the sender. And wouldn't it be a lot more effective if the person who is going to receive the distress signal could somehow be more involved, say, by setting up the parameters for doing a track on a person (especially useful in the case of minors)?
If a person then steps out of that demarcated zone, a distress signal gets sent to the receiver. That, in essence, is what led to the development of myTrack.
Product introduction
myTrack is a cellphone location-based service (LBS), which allows for user friendly tracking of cellphones and GPS devices, and is by far the most advanced cellphone tracking system of its kind.
The key to myTrack is that it allows you to track the mobile phones of your family, friends, staff and loved ones in order to provide, among other benefits, personal proactive safety and awareness.
Once registered, a subscriber can track another phone from their own cellphone by simply SMSing 'track 082 ### ####' to 32908. The response from the system will display the tracked devices' location positioned on a map on the original cellphone screen.
myTrack is accessible through the Internet, the mobile Internet as well as SMS.
Product features
myProfile:
myProfile is where the user's profile details and other important information are kept. Updates for personal information, credit purchases to use the system, deactivation and password changes can be made here.
myDevices:
myDevices is an important feature, which allows the actual tracking of the cellphone. This is where the user uploads the phone and its details to be able to track them. It shows history of tracks to each specific phone and offers editing functions to change cellphone numbers and parameters around the main feature of tracking. Under this heading, one can also find the location co-ordinates of specific 'points of interest' that the user may require. This could include anything from ATMs to public swimming pools!
myGroups:
myGroups is another unique function that allows the account holder to group users with similar attributes in one 'group'. An example would be a parent that has four children and would like to track all four; instead of tracking all four individuals separately; they can group the children into one group and track simultaneously with all four children showing up on the digital map.
myZones:
myZone is a crucial function of the myTrack product. This function makes use of technology that allows the locator to carefully mark out zones. The next function, myRules, will allow the user to apply certain rules, which incorporate the zones that they may have just set up. Rules could include an alert sent out to the chosen recipients should a device pass in or out of a plotted zone that has a rule assigned to it.
myRules:
This function allows users to set up rules for devices in the system and also the zones that have been created within the system. These rules then trigger certain actions to take place at self-programmed times.
myAlerts:
This was the function the whole idea took shape around. myAlert is the proactive self-policing safety tool mentioned at the start of this article. Ideally, this alert function should be listed under the cellphone's speed dial. When this is done, the cellphone now has an 'alert' function, much like a 911 service, which is easily accessible and used in case of an emergency. If this alert function is activated, the recipient receives a map and location of the user who sent the alert.
myInfo:
myInfo includes all pricing information and instruction manuals on how to use the myTrack system. A glossary of the industry and product specific terms can be found here.
myContact:
This is a feedback page where suggestions, complaints, comments or compliments about myTrack can be logged. The call centre will immediately action requests/calls and respond accordingly.
How to register:
Please visit http://www.mytrack.co.za on the Internet or http:mobile.mytrack.co.za on your cellphone to open a myTrack account.
For further information, please e-mail Richard Middleton on richard@integrat.co.za.
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