The possibility of tracking workers on jobsites by remote sensing got a leg up in October with the release of a new homing device. Through a web browser used by an authorized employee, it can report a worker's location.
The PocketFinder Personal GPS Locator is like a GPS-enabled cell phone—without the phone. The device uses global positioning satellites to find its location and a GSM-based cell-phone network to call that location in every five minutes. If satellites are blocked by foliage or other obstructions, the device can triangulate its location with cell towers. It will capture up to about 2,400 waypoints and can display by the hour or the day. History reports of days, weeks or months can be generated as PDFs.