tracking

The term tracking is used to refer to following the tracks or traces left behind by a given subject. Tracking in this sense has been mainly associated with hunting and is supposedly the first activity with definite scientific characteristics that prehistoric hunter-gatherers implemented.

The act of tracking does not mean simply following the tracks of the game, but also being able to observe, collect and analyze various traces of the hunted animal (scents, hairs or feathers, noises) and, by correlating those with information regarding the environment, like sounds made by other creatures or traces of disruption in the habitat, being able to predict or estimate its whereabouts or future actions.

As an extension of this, the term tracking has later on been applied to scouting activities for military or information gathering actions that made use of the same basic abilities employed in hunting for food.


Tracking can also mean to observe or plot the moving path of an object, in most cases with the help of certain instruments. While at first this was a rather specialized activity which involved the use of specific tools and information, like the tracking of the course of a ship or plane, this activity is more common nowadays, with the implementation of GPS tracking technology. The availability of GPS receiver units has made it possible for people to timely find the location of an object or person at a given time and has also extended the usage of GPS technology to more common activities.

The implementation of such technology has also led to the association of the term tracking with vehicle tracking, mainly due to the large scale use of GPS route plotting devices for both commercial and personal purposes. The capacity to obtain information on current location, speed and estimated times for travel for a specific vehicle, with the help of additional software, has also made this technology a must have in fleet tracking, be it vehicle fleet, air fleet or maritime transports.

In skydiving, tracking refers to one of the basic skills needed for free-falling. The technique requires the skydiver to assume a specific body position that should facilitate horizontal movement. This technique is considered to be very important for free-fall skydivers, as it allows them to gain distance from one another before opening the parachute.

You'll find bloggers talking about tracking at sites like blogs.census.gov and mda.gov.

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Original Technorati articles tagged “tracking”

• in Lifestyle
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