What are the causes of GPS Tracker Drifting
GPS drifting is a term that has nothing to do with the Fast and The Furious film series.
So what exactly is GPS drift?
Well, when the location data shown by a GPS tracker doesn’t match the exact location of your vehicle then the phenomenon is known as GPS drifting.
What are the causes of GPS drifting?
There are quite a few reasons that can lead to GPS drifting, but some of the most common reasons are as follows -
A low-quality GPS receiver could be a primary reason
Even if you have spent a lot of money to get your hands on a live GPS tracker, there is no guarantee that the device will not act out and show you the wrong location data.
You see, a GPS device could be well built, but if the quality of the internal electronic components such as the GPS antenna is poor then the chances of the GPS tracker showing wrong location data is high now, isn’t it?
There could be signal interferences
A vehicle tracker for cars can also suffer from drifting if the tracker is tracking the location of a vehicle that is in an underground parking space or amidst a bunch of skyscrapers.
The reason is simple – the signals from the GPS constellation could be reflected from the surfaces of multiple skyscrapers before reaching the trackers. Or the signals from the GPS constellation are unable to reach the tracker in the first place as the tracker is attached to the vehicle which in turn is parked in an underground parking space!
A storm or an overcast sky can also be a reason
A drifting GPS tracker is a common problem among users who are trying to find the location of their vehicle or simply to find the correct route to their destination when the sky above the tracker is overcast or there is an electrical storm developing over the same patch of sky.
The reason is simple. The signals coming from the GPS satellite constellation are getting deflected by the storm clouds or literally blocked by the layers of charged particles in an electrical storm front developing on the patch of sky over the GPS tracker
The sun – it could be a reason as well!
Believe it or not, the performance of a GPS vehicle tracker can also be negatively affected if the sun is acting out on that particular day.
What does the statement, ‘the sun is acting out at that particular day’ mean?
Well, often the sun emits streams of charged particles at all directions in space. This phenomenon is known as a solar storm. The Earth’s magnetic field does a great job of protecting life and electronics here on the Earth’s surface. However, the magnetic field is unable to protect the GPS signals from being literally lost during transmission. When the GPS tracker attached to your car, receives the solar storm scrambled GPS signals, the resulting location data is surely going to be haphazard and confusing, to state the least!
What are the side effects of GPS drifting on GPS trackers?
The side effects of GPS drifting are pretty annoying and straightforward to understand and they are as follows –
- You’d lose your way to your destination often.
- The location of your vehicle might not be correct and even if the vehicle is showing it is parked where you parked it, the vehicle might not be there.
- You, your vehicle, or your loved ones will be lost or venture far away from help or civilization.
- You will lose trust in tracking solution providers.
- If you run a business and it has an in-house fleet of delivery vehicles, shipments will arrive in their respective destinations well beyond the time you have promised to your clients.
- If you are on a road trip and have relied on a GPS tracker that has been feeding you wrong information, your car might end up burning all of its fuel reserves and leave you stranded in the middle of nowhere. Big yikes!
GPS drift is a preventable problem
GPS drift is a problem but you can save yourself the trouble of facing it when you are out with your loved ones on a trip.
How?
Well, you can always spend your hard-earned money on a tracker that is quality-assured and is made by a brand with a decade’s worth of stellar reputation among its clients.
While searching for a car GPS with a tracking device, you can always take your time to research the brand and then buy their product so that your money doesn’t go to waste and you don’t get lost during a road trip.