For as connected as we all to each other these days, it never ceases to amaze me how incredibly easy it is to lose track of somebody. I don’t mean falling out of touch after you haven’t talked for a few years: I’m talking about literally being in a public venue, like a concert, and completely losing your friends.
Location tracking platforms are one of those things that could be incredibly useful in a situation like this, but for whatever reason I don’t hear too much about them in my day to day. Perhaps it’s because there are still some glaring issues when it comes to building and developing these platforms.
According to GeoZilla, a UK based location tracking app, the biggest issue current offerings have to deal with is battery drain. That is, when a development team builds in constant GPS connection, battery life suffers exponentially because it’s constantly searching for a signal, even when your phone is locked.
This can be extra problematic when you look at the demographic which GeoZilla caters towards: parents and kids. It’s why they decided to build GeoZilla with different methods of location tracking in mind.
To that end, instead of maintaining constant GPS connection, GeoZilla uses Wi-Fi and cellphone towers to track users on the platform. It will, however, resort to GPS tracking but only as a last resort option.
As the team says, GeoZilla uses far less battery power via these methods than their competition. For example, GeoZilla solicits location based on user demand versus constant querying behind the scenes: you know where your family is when you ask to know where they are. Further, the platform integrates directly with Facebook and Swarm so you can track location via social media check-ins.
Consider the benefits here for a moment. This alternative functionality works without kids having to open and use the GeoZilla app themselves and allows parents to find out where their kids are without having to dig through Facebook. Essentially the app bridges the social media communications gap between kids and parents. GeoZilla also offers group and individual chat functionality as well as location change alerts when somebody enters or leaves a geofenced area, like school, home, or work.
“It’s not easy to convince children to use a separate app just to let parents know they’re all right. Other location tracking apps offer indirect social media integration, or else they require parents to login to social media with their child’s account credentials,” says Alex Sharov, GeoZilla CEO and cofounder. “GeoZilla offers one-click social media integration that’s convenient and agreeable for parents and kids alike.”
They’ve had some initial traction with the idea so far, bringing in $450,000 from Werocks and independent angel investors after launching into beta for Android and iOS. It’ll be interesting to see if their app can change the paradigm of current location tracking services and gain widespread adoption. We’ll be sure to keep you updated on any future news concerning the matter.
Image Credit: GeoZilla press team
