The latest news out of China concerns the safety of that nation’s children. Parents try to protect their children as much as possible by making sure they follow curfews and stay in designated geographical areas. The advent of smartphones and simple geo-fencing technology has made it possible for parents to monitor their children remotely. Now, Edusafety, a child safety and well-being advocate in China, has partnered with W-Locate to extend location monitoring services to approximately four million parents of children in Guandong Province.
According to a report at M2M World News, China’s Ministry of Education supports the W-Locate XimLoc product that uses SIM-based technology to accurately monitor locations. Edusafety and W-Locate have reportedly been working together for several months and have completed a trial run of the service that ended in September. Full release of the product is expected to arise by the end of November. Chen Jin, the general manager of Edusafety, said the safety group chose W-Locate’s SIM product because of its unique ability to operate inside and outside buildings.
“Child safety is of paramount importance to us,” Jun said. “We looked at a number of different technologies to decide on what solution would provide parents with peace of mind. W-Locate’s solution was a cut above the rest. What made it stand-out was its ability to provide accurate location information in both outdoor and indoor environments – ideal for schools. This is not something GPS can deliver.”
W-Locate indicted that another feature of SIM tracking that GPS cannot match is its low power consumption. This makes it ideal for smartphones that may only have battery power to operate normally for a few days at most. With GPS location constantly turned on, kids’ phones may only operate for a few hours at a time. This could limit the ability for parents to locate their children and also limit children’s abilities to use their phones for essential services such as emergency calls.
XimLoc works with the GSMA OneAPI initiative that pushes for interoperability across many different types of phones and networks. Therefore, many people across several networks can potentially take advantage of the technology without having to worry about whether or not their phones will be compatible. SIM cards may be found in features phones, as well, so families without smartphones can still access the service and receive updates by way of their SIM cards.
Edited by
Maurice Nagle
