The codes of practice and our own internal policy do not allow you to locate people without their knowledge. The procedures that we have put in place ensure that this is the case.

Although you may own the phone, and pay the bills, by locating a mobile phone or other device that is carried by a person you are effectively locating that person and therefore we will not condone or allow employers to locate their staff without informing the staff and complying to all our procedures.

By locating someone's phone it is our view that you are locating the person and the standard codes for use still apply.

There is no audible or visible evidence of a location request on a mobile phone, and so the answer is no. However TrackaPhone will send random notifications to the phone to let the end user that the phone has been registered for the service and is therefore locatable.

TrackaPhone have direct relationships with the major mobile networks which allows us to look up the location of the phone in relation to where it is connected to the Mobile Network, this technology is known as Cell ID Location.

The accuracy of Cell ID location is very variable and is dependant on the Network you use and the Number of base stations in the locale of the phone. Typically the locations are within a mile, but could show levels of accuracy between 100m and 10 miles. If accuracy is important to you then we would recommend GPS or a combination of other technologies to ensure your requirements are met.

Cell ID is available on most GSM networks, and TrackaPhone currently have the relationships with Vodafone, O2, BT-Mobile and Orange , with T-Mobile just about to go live which allow us to deliver the location data through the People Locator Platform.

Cell ID is the location information held by the mobile phone networks. In order to route a mobile call to the right mobile phone, the network needs to know which base station the mobile phone is connected to on the network. This information is used to approximate where your phone is by giving a range of possibilities related to the coverage of the mobile base station you are connected to. This is normally represented by a circle on a map, however some networks also deliver Enhanced Cell ID, which gives an approximate direction and distance from the base station, giving improved accuracy.

The TrackaPhone solutions exploit multiple location technologies including GPS. Therefore if you require GPS accuracy, all you need is a GPS enabled device and we will deliver the location capability through our platforms. GPS stands for Global Positioning Satellites, and is the same technology that is used for In Car Satellite Navigation systems. If you have a GPS enabled device it can calculate its position by looking for geostationary satellites. Depending on which satellites it can see and how far away they are, the device can calculate it's position with around 10m accuracy. Assisted GPS comes in many flavours, but all act by reducing the workload on the device to improve battery life, time to first fix, and can improve the likelihood of a fix when visibility of the satellites is impaired. This makes it ideal for handheld devices.

TrackaPhone will work on any mobile phone using Cell ID, so there is no need to change your mobile, or tamper with it in any way, simply register and start using the service. If you require GPS accuracy you will need to purchase a GPS phone or a GPS receiver to connect to your phone.

Matrix is one of many new technologies that are emerging, and it enables phones with special software installed at manufacturing level to deliver locations accurate to around 100m any where in the UK using the Mobile phone networks. The technology relies on calculating the phones position in relation to multiple base stations and also other matrix phones. The more base stations, and matrix phones there are in the area the more accurate the location will be, even down to around 10m accuracy. The devices are not currently readily available, but TrackaPhone are already in a position to deliver this technology through our platforms.

In order to comply with the codes of practice, in order to locate your relatives you need to subscribe to the service first, and go through our sign up procedures to ensure that you are the parent or legal guardian of the child, and that the relative has given permission to be located, including children over the age of 12 years old.

The platform software is provided free of charge and can be put on multiple computers. You can also have multiple logins with different levels of access, such as department level access for departmental managers and Company level access for the main administrator.

Each time you logon on to the service the software automatically downloads any updates ensuring that the service is always up to date and delivering the best service available for no extra charge.

In order to prevent False alarms TrackaPhone have built in checks to all the procedures which ensure that the end user is constantly informed of any change in status. We also advise that the first response to an alarm should be to try and contact the user to confirm the threat, before escalating to the emergency services.

There are certainly instances where using a mobile phone to make a call could make a threatening situation worse. In order to combat this TrackaPhone have introduced our ADVANCE service which enables a user to set off an alarm by discreetly pressing a single button on their mobile. Also we have a passive alarm which allows users to set a timer prior to going into a potentially dangerous situation. Failure to then delay the timer, or turn the time off from the mobile will result in a red alarm, enabling the user to rally help without reaching for their phone at all.

If your phone is switched off we will be able to determine the last position of the phone before it was switched off, but of course will not be able to update locations or communicate with the phone. If your phone is also your lone worker protection device you should always keep it on, and ensure that it has plenty of battery life.

If your phone is out of coverage, then it is effectively switched off to the network and we cannot communicate or locate the phone. In order to combat this you should always check the signal before you go into a potentially dangerous situation so that you are not reliant on a device that is not going to work.

If you have pre-registered your phone with TrackaPhone, you will be able to locate it if it is lost or stolen, as long as it switched on and has the same SIM card that you registered in the phone.

The service is subscriber led, and the user has the ability to activate and deactivate the service at will with a simple text message. This means that you can deactivate the ability to locate your phone while off duty for example. However if your phone is also your lone worker protection device we would advise against deactivating the service, as it forgetting to reactivate it could increase the risks to the end user.

Our platforms are supported by a comprehensive help function that explains how to use every element of the service. However, if training is required we can supply either on-site training or staff can attend training days at our offices in Newcastle.

Our standard telephone support is 9-5 Monday to Friday, however we will happily discuss other arrangements if required.

The flexibility of our software means it can be delivered almost anywhere, many of our customers already outsource to a call centre or alarm response centre to monitor activity and report alarms on a 24/7 basis.

When contacting the police or other emergency services we would recommend that you have first gone through our recommended procedures to ensure an alarm is genuine. Should you potentially have cause to contact the police on a regular basis we would recommend prior communication with your local force and we would be happy to support you with this if required.

If you have a requirement abroad we would recommend that you invest in a GPS device which delivers global location capability. You will need to ensure that your SIM card permits roaming and then the service will work abroad. Cell ID is technically capable of working abroad, however the delivery of location information from non UK networks is patchy at present and GPS is the only sure way to get peace of mind.

TrackaPhone has already begun discussions with the partners who are developing the system, expected to be operational in 2010. It is estimated that it will provide a €10 billion Euro market place, with over 5 billion global users and creating 140,000 new job opportunities across Europe . We are also taking part in the www.galileomasters.co.uk 2006 competition to provide a strong UK entry to show an effective commercial application for the system.