Company tracks my ipad

[Mark661]

So I have a company ipad and I work in sales. I visit locations all day, do a survey on the ipad, and submit it. The app to do this requires and internet connection. Many of these locations I do not get a connection because my company choose the wrong cell company and their is no connection. The company claims to be able to use GPS to see if I actually went to a location.

Here is my question. If I have "no service" how can they tell where I am? I have requested an ipad on a different cell company and was told no.

I am NOT trying to cheat them in anyway. I just want credit for the surveys I do.

What's your take?

 

[ardchoille]

The smart thing to do would be to have their app track your location at certain intervals, store that information and send it when you do have an Internet connection. But I could be totally wrong.

 

[willerz2]

Once you're within the range of a supported cellular tower, your device will ping its location once you have signal again. Like that of cellular signal, pinging uses triangulation/approximation, and does it at regular intervals. So if you're off the grid (because of lack of signal) for say 30 minutes or however long it takes to perform the survey, then you suddenly get a ping from another cellular tower say 30 minutes later at X distance, then they'll have a range of where you were for X amount of time. If you have to debate the issue with your company of whether or not you've done it, ask them to check your location ping of that day, and match that with your other survey times. If you're performing the survey and they all take X amount of time and you do it within a negligible +/- of that time, and you're moving from one location to another as you should be, they can't say you're not doing your job.

 

[LannyC]

All cellular iPads have GPS receivers. All it would take is an app that records your GPS track, then transmits the record at the end of the day (or whenever). GPS does not require continuous cell coverage, though your initial location may be established more quickly if several cell towers are in range.

I can't say that your company's app does this, but it's certainly possible.

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[twerppoet]

A cellular iPad uses three methods to determine your location. In order of best to worst for accuracy they are:

GPS (AGPS when available)
Cellular tower triangulation
Wi-Fi network triangulation.

AGPS (Assisted GPS) will use both cellular and wi-fi to increase the accuracy and speed of the basic GPS system, but will still work with neither available.

Cellular triangulation does not require you to actually have a usable cell signal from your carrier. Any towers in range that are compatible with your device will be detected. Your device will use a database of known towers to guesstimate your position. This database is downloaded periodically and usually includes a 30 to 50 mile radius of your current position. As long as you've had an internet connection in the recent past, you iPad can probably guess your location to within a few miles. The more cell towers (the more urban the area) the more accurate it will tend to be.

Wi-Fi, does not require a current connection, only that the wi-fi radio be turned on. Like the tower triangulation it depends on a database of known wi-fi networks to estimate your location. Provided you are in range of enough known networks it can be more accurate than the towers, since wi-fi has a smaller physical range. You have to be within a few hundred meters to get a signal. However, the accuracy of the database is less reliable than the cell towers, so you occasionally see some odd results when this is your only location resource (as it is in wi-fi only iPads).


Combine all of these, and assuming you don't turn off any of the radios off, the iPad almost always has a fair idea of where you are, within a mile or two at the worst. Usually much better. Unless something goes seriously wrong your boss is going to know you were at least in the general area of your assignment.


But: If in doubt, fire up the Maps app. Tap on the arrow at the bottom left of the screen (so the icon is a gray square with the arrow in the middle) and the map will center on where it thinks you are (blue dot). If it is surrounded with a faint blue circle, that is the iPad's estimate of how accurate the location data is. It's saying, it thinks you are the blue dot, but you may be anywhere in the faint blue circle. If you can't see the blue circle, just zoom in some more.

Mine currently shows me in my neighbors house, though the circle admits I might be next door to them.

 

[zstairlessone]

Make sure the tagging function is on for the camera and take pictures when you are where you are (wherever you're at, there you are ) and you will have a geo/time tagged record attached to visible proof you were there.

One possible solution