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Tracking types

Video tutorial | Breaking down the different tracking types

What's the difference between bar code tracking, RFID tracking and GPS tracking? In the video at right, Ben Townsend, Managing Partner at Tracker Products, quickly reviews some of the major differences between the tracking types and outlines some of the benefits and drawbacks to each.

Bar code tracking

A bar code is simply a string of numbers represented by varying widths of bars readable by a scanner and translated to a computer. One could simply enter the numbers of the items manually and achieve the same result as using a bar code scanner to enter the item's unique number, but an optical scanner makes it significantly faster and removes the possibility of human error. Tracker Products utilizes bar code tracking technology because it's a proven method of ensuring 100% accuracy in the tracking of items. With bar code tracking, each individual bar code must be scanned for a transaction to take place in the system. Because each item must be visually verified by the person performing transactions, the likelihood of an item failing to scan properly unnoticed is significantly lower than with RFID.

RFID tracking

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a very popular buzzword in today's business environment. Essentially, a chip inserted in a tag and applied to items can emit radio frequencies and be read by a device that hovers over it, allowing for multiple items to be scanned without even having to be seen. The major drawback to RFID technology is that it is always accompanied by an error rate. A certain percentage of the items run through a scanner will fail to scan properly. Some business can accept a rate of error because it's offset by the time saved scanning many thousands of items. We've found, however, that our clients (especially those in law enforcement tracking evidence) can not accept even a small rate of error.

GPS tracking

Global positioning tracking (GPS) essentially allows a chip to be tracked via satellite to provide up-to-the-second wherabouts of an item. The chip is plotted on a map and updated as the satellite tracks its movement in real time. Tracker Products doesn't utilize GPS in the sense that items can be tracked between their destinations - but instead utilizes a system of point-to-point tracking, allowing the user to review the item's outgoing and incoming positions, along with the who, what, when, where and why accompanying each transaction.