Container cargo tracking occurs when someone observes or watches the shipping of a cargo vessel (that which holds the possessions or goods) as it leaves from the place of origin to the cargo’s destination. Cargo containers are large boxes (often metal) that are placed in massive shipping vessels and shipped to an intended place. “Container cargo tracking,” refers to the monitoring of shipping containers by way of the Apple iPhone.
Apple iPhones contain global positioning system (GPS) capability, which means they can send signals to and receive signals from satellites that are placed all across the globe. These signals allow you to see where any given object is at any given time on earth. All that is needed for the IPhone GPS capability to function is a GPS mobile phone application. Mobile phone applications often comes as downloads. With your IPhone, you can actually download a mobile phone application from the Internet directly onto your IPhone! The GPS application serves as a window or “server” by which the GPS function operates.
In the same way you need a GPS mobile phone application to experience GPS capability, you also need a mobile phone application in order to track cargo containers. The following are examples of container cargo tracking mobile phone applications:
- TrackThat
- gTrax (AIS Vessel Tracking)
- Safmarine Freight Tracking App for IPhone
- TrackThis
TrackThis has 13 carriers, chief among them FedEx, UPS, USPS, DHL, TNT, Aramex, Smartpost, Canada Post, CEVA, DHL UK, UK City Link, and UPS Mail Innovations. TrackThat provides what are called “push updates,” where you receive a notification via your cell phone every time a package or shipment of yours moves from one county, city, or state to another. To access the TrackThis container tracker, you must create a TrackThis account and download the TrackThis mobile phone application.
How does TrackThis work? First, go to the TrackThis website (http://www.usetrackthis.com/) on your IPhone and place your tracking code in the section labeled “start tracking.” You can choose a nickname for your package or not. There are other features on the page, such as deciding whether or not you will track your packages on facebook and twitter as well.
The advantages of TrackThis are that 1) you can track all of your packages in the same place because of the various carriers the mobile phone application can track, and 2) you can track your packages by way of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter.
GTrax is another container cargo tracking mobile phone application put out by MIS Development and Refresh Media that tracks cargo containers in sea vessels to aid mariners in ocean shipping. GTrax uses certain antennas to find a commercial vessel in the water and send a signal back to your iPhone as to the location of the cargo container and vessel carrier. Once the antennas find the commercial vessel within the range, the iPhone will show the vessel location via Google maps.
Both TrackThis and gTrax are examples of container cargo trackers that have been turned into mobile phone applications for your Apple iPhone. There are many container cargo tracker mobile phone applications out on the market…but you will not know what they are, how they work, and which ones are best until you get out there and try them. To use the French wishing-well, “Bonne chance!”
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The article is written by Calvin Scott. Calvin has fascination for new and emerging technologies. He basically wants to transform the landscape of education and learning. Visit his site for container verhuur and zeecontainer huren.