A new locally developed location tracking app for Android devices, Pinpoint, has been launched by a Cape Town based company, Motillion, which enables its users to track their loved ones as well as important assets and staff while on the move using just their smartphone.

The app, which will shortly be available for the iOS platform as well, uses Google Maps with Street View, has both personal and business uses, and was developed with the goal of making tracking easy, accurate and affordable.

“Pinpoint is a permission based tracking application with numerous features built-in to ensure that the person being tracked has full control over their location data,” elaborated Shaun Adler, co-founder of Motillion, the South African company behind the app.

 

“Security and privacy is paramount to us and we have put strict protocols in place to ensure that data and tracking information is only available between devices that have opted-in to be tracked,” he continued.

 

 

Pinpoint comprises two components; Streamer, which is the location transmitter and Tracker, which allows users to view location streams.

With Streamers, users can choose who sees their location stream, as well as set how frequently their location is broadcast, ranging from as frequently as every 15 seconds to a more battery conserving 12 hour periods. Additionally, the Streamer component allows users to switch their location stream on or off manually.
 
The company elaborated that the second component, Tracker, boasts an intuitive user interface with a detailed status bar, intended to make it easy to see important data about the device being tracked. 

To this end, the status bar shows the type of device being used, the person’s name, the tracker’s status, the reliability of the position and the date and time of the last detected position. The status bar also shows whether the device’s position has changed since the last location fix, the battery state and the estimated speed of the device being tracked.

It not just personal, its business

Users can further check historical location data to see where the device has been. With the correct access permissions, Tracker may even remotely activate another device’s location stream. According to the company, this is particularly useful to track a lost or stolen phone.

Additionally, thanks to the use of Google Maps with Street View, Pinpoint further enables users to navigate directly to the person or smartphone being tracked

“Although Pinpoint was developed to keep track of loved ones, it is perfect for business use,” said Adler. “You have the ability to see historical data and you can track sales people or other assets in real-time. Pinpoint gives you the edge to effectively manage and direct your supply of resources,” he added.
 
To the point

While the features are certainly interesting, of greater concern for anything these days is invariably its pricing. However, the company’s pricing model certainly seems reasonable and affordable. Firstly, users can create as many location streams as they desire free of charge.