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Watch with mother: GPS beams home gap-year son’s every move
Mark Prigg, Science and Technology Correspondent27.05.09
A 19-year-old student travelling the world on a gap-year adventure is being tracked at all times by his mother.
Harry Wilder is travelling in Australia — and his mother, Rachel, is watching his every move via Global Positioning System satellite technology.
The teenager, who will start his studies at Oxford Brookes University in September, has a device called a Traakit.
The credit card-sized computer, which is about two inches thick, sends a GPS satellite signal which his parents can monitor via the internet.
Harry says the 24-hour global surveillance system has meant less intrusion from his parents. He said: “It doesn't bother me. It has actually worked in my favour because I don't get constant phone calls asking how I am.”
Harry started his travels in Kenya in January and was today travelling from Sydney to Cairns. A friend joined him in Australia at the end of last month and took the device to Harry. Mrs Wilder had been worried for her son's safety and her brother-in-law, inventor David Clayton, suggested using the Traakit, which he had initially created to keep track of animals such as horses.
Harry said: “In somewhere like Thailand, if you were to get kidnapped or driven into the jungle, people would be able to find you. One of my friends was killed in Australia a month ago falling off a waterfall, so people are worrying.”
The £279 gadget also keeps a record of exactly where Harry has been — so at the end of his trip he will be able to print a map of his travels. Mrs Wilder, of Wallingford, Oxfordshire, said: “The point of a gap year is to not be hounded by parents but, as parents, it's nice to know where they are without ringing up.
“If one ever was in a situation where you couldn't get hold of him, it would probably give me greater peace of mind just knowing where he was.”
