The Guard Tour Tracking System's accuracy can be within 20 feet of the officer's exact location, but it can also be 10's of yards off as well.  There are many factors that affect the accuracy of determining GPS position including whether or not the officer is indoors or outdoors, the accuracy of the mobile device (phones more accurate than tablets), as well as environmental factors.

OfficerReports.com uses a combination of GPS, Wifi, and cell tower signals to try to determine your officers exact location but we cannot guarantee an exact position. As a result we provide accuracy ratings for all tour scans. As such, OfficerReports.com only gathers and provides the officers approximate GPS location to ensure that the officer performed the scan at the site and not from another location.

Although GPS tracking is the most accurate compared to WiFi based and cell tower-based tracking techniques, there are a few factors could affect the accuracy of GPS positioning accuracy which could affect cell phone GPS tracking.


  •  SUN  Yes, the sun almost affects everything in the solar system. The magnetic field generated by the sun could have a direct impact on the GPS system and our cellular network.
  • WEATHER    As the radio signal travels between the earth and the satellites, bad weather like rain, storm could cause signal attenuation, while we have better signal when it’s sunny and cloudless.
  •  BUILDINGS   As we live in the city full of high buildings, this could reflect the signals. If you could barely see the sky, neither could your GPS or cell phone.
  •  CONTAINERS  Although you have a handset, you do not hold it in your hand all the time. In most cases, we put it in our pocket or bag which could reflect signal as well, luckily people do not use metal bags.
  • OUR BODY   Yes, our body absorbs signal too, if you are in a crowded bus, the signal fades. Hey buddy, you stopped my signal.
  • METAL  Metals could not only reflect signal, but also absorb it. So never put your mobile device in an area full of metallic or electronic products.
  • MULTI-PATH  The GPS receiver could receive radio signals following multi-path, as buildings, trees and other things can reflect radios. 
  •  GPS CHIP    Now the mostly used GPS chip is SiRFstar III (GSW 3.0/3.1), it has lot improvements in the hardware and software to provide better sensitivity and anti-interference.
  • CLOCK ERRORS   Timing is critical to GPS, and the GPS satellites are equipped with very accurate atomic clocks, but they are not perfect and slight inaccuracies can lead to errors.
  • TREE FOLIAGE - is found to have a significant effect on positioning accuracy. The more leaves a tree or surrounding forest may have can, effect GPS signaling.