Here I am, there I go and now you know. My GPS told you so.

Posted on December 12, 2011 by GPS Tech

Expect crowd-based problem solving to fuel endless innovations in 2012, especially as for consumers, contributing will be more effortless than ever.

However the reality is that most consumers- while they might want to contribute- find that it a hassle. You can expect to see more IDLE SOURCING initiatives in 2012: products and services that make it simple to contribute to anything, from pinpointing roads in need of repairs to finding signs of extraterrestrial life.

Making this technological possible is the ubiquity of always-on, GPS and accelerometer-enabled smartphones. In 2012, consumers can and will increasingly broadcast data about where and what they are doing.

Two IDLE SOURCING examples that show the way:

Test launched back in March 2011, the Boston based Street Bump app takes advantage of the sensors on smartphones to give city officials a real-time map of road conditions. The Android app uses the accelerometers and GPS technology in users’ phones to register when and where the user’s car has experienced a pothole, which it logs and reports automatically.

Israeli crowd-sourced traffic navigation app Waze reached seven million users across 45 countries in October 2011. The app provides free turn-by-turn navigation alongside live information about road conditions, crowdsourced from other users. Users can also sign-in and view their friends’ locations.

GTXCorp continues to offer its patented 2-way GPS people finding solutions – including its life saving GPS Smart Shoe through Aetrex Worldwide – that instantly locates the victims of Alzheimer’s Disease that have eloped or wandered from their caregivers. Talk is that a kids version is on the drawing boards for a similar solution. Remember, dementia is not age biased.

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Posted on November 30, 2011 by GPS Tech

GTX Corp receives new order for 1,500 GPS devices from AETREX Worldwide as GPS SHOES become available online to consumers

Los Angeles, CA – November 30, 2011 – GTX Corp (OTCBB: GTXO), a leader in customizable, patented two-way GPS Tracking Personal Location Services (PLS) solutions, received its second commercial order from Aetrex Worldwide, Inc. a global leader in comfort and wellness footwear products. GTX recently shipped 3,000 devices to Aetrex and plans to ship these additional 1,500 units in January of 2012. The GTX Corp miniaturized 2 way GPS tracking devices are embedded in the Aetrex Ambulator® collection bringing a reliable solution for monitoring the location of the 5.3 million seniors in theUS afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.

The GPS Shoe has captured the imagination of the world. The Company’s flagship product has over 20 patents and patents pending, received the Peoples Choice award for most innovative connected device, has been featured on numerous television shows across the globe and now available to consumers in the United States at www.aetrex.com/gps

GTX Corp’s international licensing strategy will make available the GPS Shoes to additional countries beginning first quarter of 2012. There are already 4 countries with another 6 in consideration and a goal to have at least 12 countries up and running by year end 2012. For information about becoming an international distributor you can contact [email protected] or go visit www.gpsshoe.com or www.gtxcorp.com

In addition to international expansion, the Company has begun developing prototypes of an even smaller device configuration, for the children’s market, which it plans to unveil at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on January 11th inLas Vegas.

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GPS Shoe Tracks Alzheimer’s and Dementia Patients’ Whereabouts

Posted on November 29, 2011 by GPS Tech

Location-mapping footwear can help caretakers keep their charges safe.

By Melissa Romero Posted at 11:20 AM/ET, 10/28/2011

 

There's a GPS tracker hidden inside this shoe.

The GPS shoe features a built-in tracking system for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients. Photograph courtesy of GTX

When someone suffering from a memory-loss disease such as Alzheimer’s wanders off, it can throw relatives and caregivers into a state of panic. The GPS shoe, equipped with a built-in tracking system, aims to eliminate that problem.

The shoe, developed by GTX Corporation in Los Angeles and Aetrex Worldwide, holds the GPS tracking system in its midsole. Caregivers receive alerts on their smartphone or computer when the shoe wearer wanders past a preset distance. The alerts include a link to a Google map pinpointing the exact location of the wearer.

“There are five million people with Alzheimer’s who routinely get lost”, says Andrew Carle, who consulted with GTX for the project and developed the microchip-based “Nana” Technology, designed for people 75 years and older. (More than 60 percent of dementia patients tend wander at some point, and many times repeatedly, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.) “You can call their name all day long, but number one, they don’t think they’re lost, and two, they don’t recognize their own name,” says Carle, who also serves as the director of the Senior Housing Administration program at George Mason University. Paranoia is another issue for Alzheimer’s sufferers, he says: “Sometimes people are found a mile from where they were last seen, but they were in hiding.”

The biggest benefit of the GPS shoe and tracking service is the ability for caregivers to create a “geo-fence,” a set of pinpoints on a Google map. For instance, say an older relative takes the same walk every night around the neighborhood. Caregivers can create a geo-fence that tracks the exact route. “So, Dad takes his walk one night. The second he breaks that geo-fence, I’ll get a Google alert that will pop up on my computer or phone showing me exactly where he is,” explains Carle. “If I’m not in town, I can immediately contact my neighbor or local police and tell them where to find him.”

The alerts can turn three days of searching into just three minutes, according to Carle, which saves not only time but potentially lives, as well. “Unfortunately, when these people aren’t found within 24 hours, there’s a much higher rate of injuries or death.”

Other technologies, such as Comfort Zone, involve pagers or wrist-worn devices with location-mapping systems, but the shoe is less conspicuous and is designed by Aetrex to be medically appropriate for older people.

As long as the person is wearing the shoe, caregivers will be able to track his or her whereabouts whenever they have access to the tracking service on their phone or computer. The wearer’s routes will show up on the Google map in a dotted line dubbed the “cookie trail.”

The shoe was just approved for sale by the FCC, and will be available soon through Aextrex’s Web site for approximately $200 to $300. The corresponding alert system will fall in the $20 to $30 range.

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A GPS-Enabled Shoe to Track Wandering Alzheimer’s Patients

Posted on November 29, 2011 by GPS Tech

By Sora Song Thursday, October 27, 2011

People with Alzheimer's or Dementia often wander.

Now this sounds like a good idea: use GPS-enabled shoes to track the whereabouts of elderly people with Alzheimer’s who may be prone to wandering.

Some 60% of patients with Alzheimer’s will get confused and wander off, sometimes without warning, and become lost. They’re not always easy to find — because paranoia is a common symptom of the disease, wandering patients may purposefully hide. Up to half of those who are lost and not found within 24 hours may die from dehydration, exposure or injury, AFP reports.

The new GPS-enabled walking shoe is a collaboration between Los Angeles-based GTX Corporation, which specializes in mini-GPS technology, and the footwear company Aetrex, with guidance from Andrew Carle, director of the senior housing program at George Mason University. They came up with walking shoes that look just like the typical shoe you’d see on many seniors’ feet, with the GPS device hidden in a heel.

“It’s especially important for people in the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s who are at the highest risk,” Carle told AFP. “They might be living in their home but they’re confused. They go for a walk and they can get lost for days.”

If you’ve ever used a GPS-enabled smartphone or other device, you’re well-acquainted with the the new shoe’s technology. Reported the New York Times earlier this month:

A family member sets a perimeter, a “geo-fence,” so that the wearer can freely move around the house, around the yard, perhaps around a familiar immediate neighborhood. “But if he breaks the fence, Google maps pops up on my computer or my phone to show me where he is,” explained Mr. Carle, now a consultant to GTX.

Even if your parent is in Tennessee and you’re not, “I can call the Memphis police and say, ‘My dad has Alzheimer’s and he’s wandering and he’s at the corner of Fifth and Elm. Could you go get him?'” Mr. Carle thinks that possibility could be enormously reassuring “for family caregivers who are afraid to go to the bathroom because when they get back, their loved one may be out the door.”

The advantage of putting GPS in shoes over, say, using a tracking bracelet or pendant is that patients with Alzheimer’s are apt to take these items off, especially if they’re unfamiliar, and discard them. Or they might lose them. People are less likely to take off their shoes.

The GPS shoes, which should be available online soon, will cost $299 per pair, plus a monthly fee of $34.99 for the monitoring service, NPR reports.

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First GPS-Enabled Walking Shoes Help Caregivers Track Alzheimer’s Patients

Posted on November 29, 2011 by GPS Tech

By Rebecca Boyle Posted 10.26.2011 at 10:07 am

GPS Shoes The new walking shoes will have a GPS receiver embedded in the sole. GTX Corp.

New shoes with built-in GPS devices will go on sale this month to help track dementia patients who wander off and get lost. Caretakers can download a smartphone app that allows them to track the person wearing the shoes, which could help patients with Alzheimer’s disease stay in their homes and live autonomously for longer periods.

Caretakers or family members can even map out a “safe zone” in which their Alzheimer’s patient is free to walk without sparking worry. When the person wanders out of the safe zone, the GPS shoes will trigger an alert.

The shoes are finally going on sale two years after GTX Corp., maker of miniaturized GPS person-finder technology, announced their plans. The company said last week that the first shipment of 3,000 shoes has been distributed to the footwear company Aetrex Worldwide, which manufactures comfort shoes and orthotics. MedicAlert Foundation, which makes those eye-shapd engraved medical bracelets and operates a 24/7 emergency hotline, will provide location-based emergency services.

Walking Shoes With GPS: Designed for the elderly. GTX Corp.

GPS tracking of dementia patients is not a new idea, but it’s difficult to ensure that a patient is always wearing the right watch or gadget that will allow them to be tracked. Some Alzheimer’s patients become paranoid and confused by new jewelry or clothing and remove them, according to Andrew Carle, a professor at George Mason University’s College of Health and Human Services, who advised the project and discussed it with the AFP. The shoes could be a simpler way to track them — odds are better that a patient won’t walk out the door without his or her shoes, at least in the early stages of the disease when wandering is a problem. The shoes look like any other senior-specific walking shoe, with a small lip that juts out near the heel.

About 5.4 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s, a number that is expected to nearly quadruple in the next 40 years, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Many states have Silver Alert notifications to help search for wandering senior citizens, but time is of the essence — up to half of wandering seniors suffer serious injury or death within 24 hours — so GPS would be much quicker. The shoes were originally conceived for runners and children, according to the AFP, but GTX changed their plans when Carle advised them on the need for tracking Alzheimer’s patients.

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High-Tech Shoes Aim To Stop Wandering Alzheimer’s Patients

Posted on November 29, 2011 by GPS Tech

10:15 am October 27, 2011
by Jordan Calmes

There's a GPS tracker hidden inside this mild-mannered shoe.

Shoes that make the news often look funny.

Whether they’re touting health benefits like those toning shoes that didn’t quite pan out or the glove-like footwear being marketed as the anti-shoe.

But some GPS-enabled shoes designed to help keep track of people with Alzheimer’s, look exactly like some shoes already popular with the elderly.

And that sense of familiarity is no accident. The maker of the shoes, GTX Corp., has done its homework, working with senior care specialist Andrew Carle on a design that would be reasonably appealing and practical.

The system works with devices that the children and caretakers of Alzheimer’s patients are familiar with, too. The system uses a “geo-fence,” allowing the shoe’s wearer to move through their house, yard, or even a familiar neighborhood at will.

But once that line has been crossed, you get a computer or email alert and a Google maps update of the shoes’ location. Yes, there’s even an app for that.

The shoes should be on sale at the beginning of next week, and can be purchased online. The retail price is $299, which may be a little steep for some people. Then there’s a monthly service fee of $34.99 on top of that.

But wandering is a major problem for dementia patients. And some companies already offer bracelets that serve the same purpose as the new shoes.

As The New York Times points out, a bracelet is easy to take off and lose, and people with Alzheimer’s usually don’t like unfamiliar objects.

Ambling seniors may not shuck their shoes quite as easily.

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A Shoe for Wanderers

Posted on November 29, 2011 by GPS Tech

October 14, 2011, 12:59 pm
By PAULA SPAN

The diagram shows the location of the tracking device in the GPS Shoe.

I hear from lots of publicists touting technology products that supposedly help older adults, and I ignore most of the gizmos they’re promoting. Without a skilled and unbiased Consumer Reports-type lab to test these inventions — and could someone please create one soon? — it’s too hard to tell which actually work well.

Some are clearly too complicated or too expensive. A lot rely on sending alerts — of falls, health problems, missed medications — and thus are only as helpful and reliable as whoever supposedly responds. Some are based on very questionable science, or no science.

A diagram shows the location of the tracking device in the GPS Shoe.

But I’m intrigued by the GPS Shoe. Andrew Carle, a former rehab hospital director who now directs a senior housing program at George Mason University, coined the term “nana technologies” for such things. (A play on nanotechnology and grandmas – get it?) It was Mr. Carle who alerted GTX Corporation, already developing location-tracking shoes for marathon runners and children, that it was missing a key market.

“I pointed out why this was an ideal technology for people with dementia who wander,” Mr. Carle explained to me. “Little kids can carry cellphones with GPS. We have far more seniors wandering off every day who don’t call for help.”

When people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias walk off — quickly, sometimes — “they don’t think they’re lost,” Mr. Carle pointed out. “They may actually hide. Paranoia is a manifestation of the disease. So search and rescue is hard to do.” Even when wanderers are found, by the police or friendly strangers, they may be unable to supply their names or addresses.

GPS devices carried in pockets, worn on wristbands or clipped to clothing are less reliable aids, Mr. Carle said, because people can and do lose or remove them. Ditto for bracelets or pendants bearing their names and family contact numbers. They may be less likely, however, to take off their shoes. The GPS Shoe, manufactured by a New Jersey company, hides a miniature locator in the heel of one shoe and counterweighs the other so they feel balanced.

A family member sets a perimeter, a “geo-fence,” so that the wearer can freely move around the house, around the yard, perhaps around a familiar immediate neighborhood. “But if he breaks the fence, Google maps pops up on my computer or my phone to show me where he is,” explained Mr. Carle, now a consultant to GTX.

Even if your parent is in Tennessee and you’re not, “I can call the Memphis police and say, ‘My dad has Alzheimer’s and he’s wandering and he’s at the corner of Fifth and Elm. Could you go get him?’” Mr. Carle thinks that possibility could be enormously reassuring “for family caregivers who are afraid to go to the bathroom because when they get back, their loved one may be out the door.”

The device will work wherever and as often as cellphones — which is to say, not every moment in every location, but most of the time (including in a car). The shoes, going on the market at the end of this month, won’t come cheap: They cost almost $300, plus a monthly subscription fee of $30 to $40.

Of course, it’s still best to try to prevent wandering; the Alzheimer’s Association has published some apt suggestions.

But whenever I drive the highways of New Jersey and see a “Silver Alert” on the overhead signs, I think there have to be better ways to find vulnerable elderly wanderers. Maybe a shoe with a locator will prove to be one.

Paula Span is the author of “When the Time Comes: Families With Aging Parents Share Their Struggles and Solutions.”

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Shoes designed with tracking device to help families of Alzheimer’s sufferers

Posted on November 29, 2011 by GPS Tech

By Paul Thompson

Last updated at 7:34 PM on 27th October 2011

One of the most common concerns for families of an Alzheimer’s sufferer is that they often find themselves lost after getting confused and disoriented.

But a U.S. company aims to solve the problem by selling the first shoes with a built-in tracking device.

The £200 shoes are fitted with a miniature GPS system - similar to those used in sat nav systems found in cars - that allows its wearer’s location to be accurately pinpointed.

GPS Smart Shoe by GTX Corp

The shoes have a GPS system built into the heel to track the wearer’s exact location at all times

The GPS system, which is implanted in the heel of what appears to be a normal walking shoe, allows family members or carers to constantly monitor the wearer.

They are even able to set up a designated ‘safe’ area and if the person strayed beyond those boundaries it would trigger an alert. Family members use an app downloaded to a smart phone or computer to find out the location of the missing person.

The American company marketing the shoe claim it is the first in the world to aid Alzheimer’s victims.

Andrew Carle, a professor at George Mason University’s College of Health and Human Services in Washington DC, said the shoes will save lives and avoid embarrassing and costly incidents with the elderly.

‘It’s especially important for people in the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s who are at the highest risk,’ said Carle, who was an adviser on the project.

‘They might be living in their home but they’re confused. They go for a walk and they can get lost for days.’

Carle said there were similar GPS tracking devices available, but these were often rejected by dementia sufferers. ‘The primary reason is that paranoia is a manifestation of the disease,’ Carle said.

GPS Smart Shoes

The shoes are to go on sale in the U.S. later this month

‘If you put something on someone with Alzheimer’s that they don’t recognize, they remove it. If it’s a wristwatch and it’s not their wristwatch, they will take it off. So you have to hide it.’

There are an estimated 500,000 people in the UK who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s while in the US there are more than five million.

The tracking device for shoes is a joint development between Los Angeles based GTX Corp,who make miniature tracking devices, and Aetrex shoes.

Patrick Bertagna, chief executive of GTX Corp, said the mini GPS system was initially being made for training shoes for long distance runners. But he said production was changed after tests showed the benefit to sufferers of the disease.

The first batch of 3,0000 shoes go on sale in the U.S. later this month and can be bought from the company’s website.

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GPS Shoes Could Help Track Alzheimer’s Patients

Posted on November 29, 2011 by GPS Tech

The Huffington Post Tara Kelly First Posted: 10/27/11 05:23 PM ET Updated: 10/28/11 05:57 PM ET

Caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease can now breathe a sigh of relief.

Next month, shoes fitted with GPS tracking systems will hit store shelves in the U.S., reports Agence France Presse. The shoes have the potential to help the 5.4 million people in the United States with Alzheimer’s.

Priced at $300 and created by GTX, the shoes’ heels hold a global positioning system (GPS) to track a wandering patient with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, notes USA Today.

The shoes were first announced back in 2009.

Project adviser Andrew Carle of George Mason University’s College of Health and Human Services, first suggested GTX create a GPS shoes for tracking Alzheimer’s patients. He told AFP that 60 percent of those who suffer from the disease wander, and about half of them who aren’t found in 24 hours may risk death because of dehydration or injury.

The New York Times explains the shoes require a $30 to $40 dollar subscription monitoring service, but they’ll certainly give caregivers peace of mind as the GPS transmitters will work anywhere a cell phone receives a signal.

While there are some products, like wristbands, on the market to track people with dementia and Alzheimer’s, there’s no guaranteeing people will keep these devices on, says Carle on PhysOrg.com.

With the Alzheimer’s Association reporting that the disease could affect 11 to 16 million people by 2050, the GPS shoe could signify a supply and demand for products that cater to the world’s growing aging population, particularly those with memory loss.

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GPS shoes marketed for Alzheimer’s patients: Will they save lives?

Posted on November 29, 2011 by GPS Tech

October 28, 2011 11:11 AM
By Ryan Jaslow
GTX Corp. GPS shoe

(CBS) Move over medical ID bracelets. A Los Angeles-based company has developed shoes with a GPS tracking system for dementia sufferers.

GTX Corp. has developed 3,000 pairs which will be sold online and at select retailers by Aetrex Worldwide, the AFP reported. The $300 shoes contain a GPS system in the heel that lets family members track the location of the wearer.

Family members can also establish a safe zone which will set off an alert if a family member steps out of it, Katie Lindendoll, CBS The Early Show’s tech expert , said in a segment.

Who can the shoes help?

This shoe could be especially beneficial for people in the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s, according to Dr. Andrew Carle, director of the senior housing administration at George Mason University’s College of Health and Human Services, who served as an advisor to the project.

“They might be living in their home but they’re confused,” Carle told the AFP. “They go for a walk and they can get lost for days.” Carle said some studies show up to 60 percent of Alzheimer’s sufferers will wander and become lost - and half of those who are not found within 24 hours might die.

This isn’t the first device to ensure Alzheimer’s patients safety. There are bracelets and pendants that contain address information in case a person wanders, and some are equipped with tracking devices. But sometimes sufferers rip those off since the disease triggers paranoia, so they might dislike the unfamiliar object. Shoes on the other hand might not be so unfamiliar.

Nearly 6 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

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