How did the police 'reverse gps' this car today, to track down thesuspect?

In this news article today, it says:
"Law enforcement officials told ABC News that authorities
tracked Barnes' car because he had GPS installed in it."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/woman-phila...ry?id=26706205

I thought gps was one way.
How do they 'reverse gps' your car?

On Thursday, November 6, 2014 4:49:05 AM UTC-10, Boris K. wrote:
> In this news article today, it says:
> "Law enforcement officials told ABC News that authorities
> tracked Barnes' car because he had GPS installed in it."
> http://abcnews.go.com/US/woman-phila...ry?id=26706205
>
> I thought gps was one way.
> How do they 'reverse gps' your car?

My guess is that there's several ways to do it and that the method used is deliberately kept vague. All I know is that is my location is being recorded during the day simply because I have a cell phone that automatically updates itself. Cell phone technology and GPS are great tools for law enforcement and other agencies.

On Thu, 06 Nov 2014 07:51:45 -0800, Evan Platt wrote:

> On Thu, 06 Nov 2014 08:49:02 -0600, "Boris K."
> > wrote:
>
>>In this news article today, it says:
>> "Law enforcement officials told ABC News that authorities
>> tracked Barnes' car because he had GPS installed in it."
>>http://abcnews.go.com/US/woman-phila...ry?id=26706205
>>
>>I thought gps was one way.
>>How do they 'reverse gps' your car?
>
> My guess is Onstar, or a similiar type technology. Yes, your average
> run of the mill GPS is one way, however there are two way solutions
> out there that sync to the cloud.
>
> For example, Metromile offers a free OBD GPS. Plug it in to your OBD
> port on your car, and it automatically (via 3G cellular) updates your
> cars location to the cloud, including mileage and other things.
>
> https://www.metromile.com
>
> The OBD device and service is 100% free.

I believe the units do send a signal that is used to help find where you
are.
But to track YOUR unit, they would have to know the make, model, and serial
number of the unit, then be in constant contact with the provider.
And the unit would have to be turned on and functioing.

If the unit was installed by the car maker, then that's no big deal.

All they would need is the VIN.
But I highly doubt that actually happened the way the claim.

It ain't like the HOllyvooe version of NCIS where they're showing tracking
someone's cellphone or car by gps.I think it's just a ploy to make the bad
guys think it can be done that way.

Boris K. wrote:
> In this news article today, it says:
> "Law enforcement officials told ABC News that authorities
> tracked Barnes' car because he had GPS installed in it."
> http://abcnews.go.com/US/woman-phila...ry?id=26706205

> I thought gps was one way.
> How do they 'reverse gps' your car?

True satellite GPS is from sat to rcvr only.
The article was written by reporters based on info given by police.
The first one does not have a clue about anything the least
bit technical and the other won't tell.

On Thu, 06 Nov 2014 12:21:28 -0600, Paul in Houston TX wrote:

> Boris K. wrote:
>> In this news article today, it says:
>> "Law enforcement officials told ABC News that authorities
>> tracked Barnes' car because he had GPS installed in it."
>> http://abcnews.go.com/US/woman-phila...ry?id=26706205
>
>> I thought gps was one way.
>> How do they 'reverse gps' your car?
>
> True satellite GPS is from sat to rcvr only.
> The article was written by reporters based on info given by police.
> The first one does not have a clue about anything the least
> bit technical and the other won't tell.

+1

I was going to say much the same, but I read your post first.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On 11/6/14 8:49 AM, Boris K. wrote:
> In this news article today, it says:
> "Law enforcement officials told ABC News that authorities
> tracked Barnes' car because he had GPS installed in it."
> http://abcnews.go.com/US/woman-phila...ry?id=26706205
>
> I thought gps was one way.
> How do they 'reverse gps' your car?

How do you suppose the satellite knows where the car is?

>>I believe the units do send a signal that is used to help find where you
>>are.

I think the FCC would be really upset about that. There's all these
Garmin and Tom Tom supposed transmitters that are not registered
as transmitters, only receivers.

> Are you talking about a run of the mill GPS? No, it does NOT send a
> signal.

Correct, but a lot of people seem to be confused between the "GPS"
part and the part that phones home in such gadgets as tracking
devices for commercial trucks, tracking devices that track your
car, including when your teenager is driving, On*Star, and some
anti-theft gadgets for cars like LoJack. They have GPS, and then
they have some radio to "phone home", either in real time or with
periodic reports.

If it's a cell phone, or contains one, it may be possible for someone
to remotely provoke a cell phone to send its GPS coordinates. This
is part of the law to support 911. There are several ways you can
make the position available (another is triangulating by cell towers)
and the manufacturer gets to choose.

>>But to track YOUR unit, they would have to know the make, model, and serial
>>number of the unit, then be in constant contact with the provider.
>
> And what provider would that be?

On*Star, for one, although it probably ends up being done by wireless
phone companies. Google "track your car" and there's lots of
tracking gadgets. No, they are not vanilla GPS units. The
manufacturer must either have, or have a deal with, something that
receives radio signals and ultimately makes the car position available
on some web site. Some may use cell phones, but it would seem that
those up-to-the-minute trackers use up too many minutes to make
cell phones profitable.

>>And the unit would have to be turned on and functioing.
>>
>>If the unit was installed by the car maker, then that's no big deal.
>>
>>All they would need is the VIN.
>>But I highly doubt that actually happened the way the claim.
>
> So, in your expert opinion, what did happen?
>
>>It ain't like the HOllyvooe version of NCIS where they're showing tracking
>>someone's cellphone or car by gps.I think it's just a ploy to make the bad
>>guys think it can be done that way.
>
> You do realize it is possible to track a cell phone, right?

Yes, and a number of "GPS trackers" are trackable because they
contain the equivalent of a cell phone, perhaps minus a screen,
speaker, microphone, and keyboard. Some "GPS trackers" aren't
trackable until the car comes back and you download the information
about where it's been.

Gordon Burditt wrote, on Thu, 06 Nov 2014 15:32:24 -0600:

> Yes, and a number of "GPS trackers" are trackable because they contain
> the equivalent of a cell phone, perhaps minus a screen,
> speaker, microphone, and keyboard.

Apparently, from the news reports, the car dealer installed the
hidden gps tracking device.

On 11/6/2014 2:00 PM, Jonathan Williams wrote:
> Gordon Burditt wrote, on Thu, 06 Nov 2014 15:32:24 -0600:
>
>> Yes, and a number of "GPS trackers" are trackable because they contain
>> the equivalent of a cell phone, perhaps minus a screen,
>> speaker, microphone, and keyboard.
>
> Apparently, from the news reports, the car dealer installed the
> hidden gps tracking device.
>

The TV news is reporting that the suspect had bad credit and the dealer
installed the tracker to allow them to repossess car if necessary. No
idea if the suspect agreed to this as part of the loan.

Also see

http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blog/20...r-repossession

On Thu, 06 Nov 2014 08:49:02 -0600, "Boris K." >
wrote:

> In this news article today, it says:
> "Law enforcement officials told ABC News that authorities
> tracked Barnes' car because he had GPS installed in it."
> http://abcnews.go.com/US/woman-phila...ry?id=26706205
>
> I thought gps was one way.
> How do they 'reverse gps' your car?

Many car manufacturer install systems that will report the location of any
automobile through cellular telephone networks.