Ask HN: What things would you put a gps on for $5? - dynofuz
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PaulHoule
I don't know if you can hit that price point, but looking at trade pubs I see
there is little on the market for the equestrian market.

I think there are several uncanny valleys that make the market hard to serve:

* many horse paddocks are only a modest multiple of the gps uncertainty for typical hardware * you can't count on cell service in rural areas * no unlicensed wireless technology has a range that is (consistently) a large multiple of the gps uncertainty, so if your horse is ranging in a large area you can't get the signal back * anything you interact with while riding is a no-no because misattention will have you on your ass in no time

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davismwfl
Actually a large part of the equestrian market could still use a form of this.
I am in Florida where places like Ocala and Central/South Florida as a whole
have a large number of equestrian activities. I could see a product that was
GPS enabled and sent a signal every few minutes via a cell network when in
range -- for large open pasture a cell repeater could help increase coverage.
And when out of cell range it sends a lower frequency signal broadcasting the
coordinates, e.g. 400Mhz or lower. This would let you have a tracking device
to find lost animals much faster. And if they get to a place where GPS is no
longer connecting, that's fine, the last known position plus signal strength
could still get you to the animal much faster.

The hard part is making it affordable, in a small enough form factor of low
weight but with reasonable battery life to matter. And then how to attach it
to the animal, using the halter is one idea, but most people don't like
leaving a halter on a horse in a pasture for safety reasons. So then how to
mount it without interfering with the animals movement or having it get ripped
off when the roll or scratch on a tree etc. When you are riding there are ways
to do it via the saddle, reins etc, but when they are out grazing it is a
tougher problem.

I guess another point though, some riders where safety vests, many wear
helmets, so a device for a rider could also be created along the same lines.
This would be nice for those trail rides when the horse gets spooked, drops
its rider and the rider isn't well enough to walk out. Happens more then
people realize.

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smt88
Do you mean a GPS tracker that can tell me where something is? Or do you just
mean a GPS receiver that can tell me where I am? There's a huge difference.

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dynofuz
tracker, you put it on something, and that something sends you its location
(any where in the world) via the internet.

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smt88
So it connects to the internet via... cellular networks? Is that possible for
$5 (and only $5) without a service fee and/or the costs of integrating with
multiple carriers?

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dynofuz
an annual cost of $5/tracker.

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mtmail
Cars, bikes, pets, anything that gets stolen or runs away. The existing cheap
tags are just beacons with short range. The apps overpromise using a network
(other people with apps) to continuously look for reported tags. In not
densely populated areas that's useless.

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thecupisblue
And without a single tag specification being widespread, it's barely useful
since the market is fragmented.

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Raed667
Wallet, keys, car, bike, skateboard, roller-blades etc.

This depends on how long does the battery last, and how easily the GPS
information is retrievable (APIs, etc)

Also is this based on something like LoRa or SigFox ?

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seanccox
I just came off a project in St. Eustatius, where I met a team of marine
biologists tracking sea turtles with some form of GPS device. They seemed to
be spending a lot on the devices, which were modified for underwater
conditions and algae growth and other problems. Still, $5/device is sounds
like a price point that would attract many people in the scientific community.

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smt88
Size matters a lot here. For $5, I'd put a tiny tracker on all my expensive
belongings. If the tracker is bigger than, say, a US quarter, then the number
of things I could put it on would be much smaller.

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hanniabu
Depends how accurate you can get it. I work in a large manufacturing plant and
am always losing clipboard/notepad and usually resort to walking around the
whole plant to find it.

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sharemywin
kids or some kind of belt or backpack watch

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codegeek
Sure, I have a list:

\- Laptop

\- Car

\- Kids (at least until they are teenagers.)

\- Wallet

\- Keys

\- Phone

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danbolt
Somewhat pricey bicycles.

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metynine
Drug dealers

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lovelearning
My cats

