Pros and Cons of Active vs. Passive GPS Tracking

You’ve probably heard by now that GPS tracking offers many potential benefits to businesses and individuals alike. Depending on your needs, the decision you must make is whether active or passive GPS tracking is the best choice for you. Understanding a few key details can help you make the right decision to protect your investments, your people (family or employees), and your interests. This is what you need to know.

Active GPS or Passive GPS – What’s the Difference?

Both active and passive GPS systems record important data about movements, speed, stops, and starts. The difference is that with active GPS tracking you can monitor these events in real time – or as they occur – because the information is transmitted continuously.

With passive GPS tracking the information is stored in the device and must be retrieved manually after the fact. It works very much like the flight recorders used to determine what happened in airplane crashes. The devices must be retrieved in order to obtain the information stored on them.

Pros and Cons of Active GPS Tracking

Active GPS tracking offers many impressive benefits – especially to people who own fleets or are attempting to protect investments in expensive equipment, machinery, vehicles, or cargo. Active GPS allows you to set up alerts that notify you instantly if the tracked item is moved outside of certain hours, goes beyond certain boundaries, deviates from the assigned routes, is driven at excessive speeds (or recklessly), and for other designated reasons. This allows you to be warned quickly if your possessions, business equipment, etc. is being moved when you’re not prepared. It also allows business owners to keep better tabs on workers who spend the bulk of their time out of the office and provides the means for faster response times during emergencies.

These benefits come at a higher price for initial installation and higher network costs. They are also dependent upon networks operating efficiently to ensure the right information gets to the right places.

Pros and Cons of Passive GPS Tracking

Passive GPS tracking doesn’t have the real-time tracking capabilities that active GPS offers, but it does allow you to monitor the same information, after the fact, at a much lower initial and ongoing price for your business. They are ideal for smaller fleets with smaller budgets and can help promote employee compliance because employees know you have access to the exact routes they’ve taken, speeds they’ve travelled, and more.

The real key is to determine your budget and choose the right GPS tracking system to meet the needs of your business, protect your investment, and promote safety and accountability for everyone – that will work within your budget.

If you have any questions about LiveViewGPS active or passive GPS tracking products, speak to one of our representatives by calling 1-888-544-0494 or use our live chat.

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