WISL Person Finder: Tracking for safety

It is summer once again and for teenagers, it is a refreshing experience as they pause from their strenuous work at school.

However, summer vacations sometimes become nightmares for many parents. Out-of-town invitations from friends or relatives pop like pimples, always building worries and concerns on the safety of their children.

Many parents have bought mobile phones to monitor their children’s whereabouts. Sometimes, these phones produce more worries when the child is unable – or even worse, refuses – to answer calls or send text messages.

Calling and text messaging also produce further uncertainties because of unavoidable pressure of using mobiles in crowded places. Parents are paranoid with the child losing the mobile phone or being robbed of it.

Fortunately, there’s an alternative to calling and text messaging to ensure the safety of your children. A location-based service that gives the convenience of tracking loved ones through the use of mobile phones is now at your fingertips.

If you are a Smart and Talk N’ Text subscriber and you want to monitor the whereabouts of your daughter Nina, for example, simply use her phone and type a message – WIS, space, Mom, space, (your number) and send to 288 – authorizing you to locate Nina.

Meanwhile, on your phone, type WIS, space, Nina, space, (Nina’s number), and send to 288. After this, you can now locate each other without calling or sending each other text messages.

To locate your daughter, type WIS, space, Nina, and send to 288. In seconds, you can have a message like this, "Nina is near SANTRANS TERMINAL, in the vicinity of QUIRINO HI-WAY cor ASCENSION AVE, BRGY GREATER LAGRO, Quezon City, Metro Manila."

The mobile phone has already established its distinct position in many countries around the world. In the United States, the use of a mobile phone as a tracking device enables emergency service personnel to get information on the location of a mobile phone user in case of a 911 call. The mobile phone has then become an "ankle bracelet" as it is associated with the individual and the person’s minute-by-minute location to make it easier for medical, fire and police teams to locate and respond to callers.

As useful as it is in the US, location tracking through mobile phones is now creating a breakthrough in the Philippines. Recognizing parental concerns, Asian Navigation and Tracking Systems Inc. (ANTS) is leading the way in developing location-based technology for the Philippine market.

ANTS has developed Smart Zed WISL Person Finder, a location-based service that provides the advantage of tracking loved ones or friends through the use of mobile phones.

WISL – pronounced as "whistle" and a mnemonic device for "Where Is Locator" – allows a user to track people in any part of the country. Subscribers can actually locate family members or friends through SMS or text messaging, to within the vicinity of the nearest landmark where the individual is.

The precision of WISL is dependent on the number of Smart cellsites near the individual you are trying to locate. WISL is a convenient and non-intrusive alternative to calling and text messaging, particularly when your child deliberately ignores your calls or messages.

For inquiries, text WISL and send to 288. You may also call the ANTS customer service hotline at 888-9105.