Latitude Tracking started nine years ago with the idea that we could track DofE participants with GPS enabled devices.
We looked at how this might work with old phones, but these didn’t work out. We very quickly moved to dedicated ‘black box’ trackers which had both a GPS and mobile chipset. These initial devices could be called and returned a map location.
It became apparent that while this was acceptable, there must be a better way to do this.
The web based tracking portal was born, hosted on Amazon Web Services and run for our leaders and participants on the open source Traccar engine.
Since then, we have provided tracking services to Scout Groups, DofE leaders and events in the Essex area. We have helped other to start their own tracking systems and supported those who have wanted advice and guidance on how this works. We have fed our experience into DofE feedback forums and have tuned our platform to cover the needs of those who use it in earnest.
We believe that tracking shouldn’t be difficult. At it’s heart, what works is a simple representation of where a team is on a map. This fundamental principle needs to work and be reliable.
We now also offer the ability to upload routes, and to view participants against these routes. Reports can be generated to show where groups have walked, which we find great for training and review purposes. As well as to ensure future expeditions can be made better for those who are partaking in them.
Why a Business Now?
We have seen a great number of leaders and groups asking about tracking in social media groups, DofE, Scouting, Schools and youth service forums. Even after 9 years of running this platform ourselves, how we do our tracking is still one of the most frequently asked questions we are asked.
In addition, the service we were using to provide Ordnance Survey mapping has exited this market. We would like to continue using Ordnance Survey mapping ourselves and this has resulted in a considerable additional coding and hosting to allow us to keep offering this to our own users. This all costs money, so running commercially helps us to offer what our existing users want from us.
Experience
Aside from our nine years experience in tracking, we have over seventeen years in web hosting, and over fourteen years experience in cloud computing. Our team have worked with some of the largest institutions in the UK to help them to migrate services to the cloud, or to adapt their systems to make them work smoothly in the cloud.
The owner of Latitude Tracking is an Explorer Scout leader with over 17 years experience who is also a trained Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) supervisor and accredited assessor with the Scout Association.
Registered address:
Latitude Tracking Limited,
Unit A,
82, James Carter Road,
Mildenhall,
IP28 7DE
Please note, Latitude tracking is not affiliated with Duke of Edinburgh (DofE), the Scout Association or Girl Guiding UK.