Monitored Alarm Systems

In the developing world and in fragile states and conflict, however, the technology is put to use less controversial. A project in Nigeria by the Department for International Development, for example, which funds a program to reduce infant and maternal mortality in childbirth by encouraging more women to give birth in hospitals, has managed to combine the GPS data during interviews with satellite images clearly show the effect of distance on mortality.

• "We knew there was a big difference between the Muslim north and the Christian" South said Johnny Heald ORB International, the research firm opinion that the interviews were conducted in using PDA with GPS. "When you ask people who knew we were funded clinics, as well as a sample of congruence when they were not, then superimpose the satellite data, which can illustrate the effect of the distance on mortality very efficiently. "

ORB, which specializes in research in fragile states and conflict, has also worked with satellite images and information from the U.S. company Digital Globe in a complex project that uses so-called "spatial analysis" to predict where the Army notorious resistance Ugandan rebel group Lord Joseph Kony, would be the next hit. The data-rich satellite maps and location information of the locations of previous attacks have been introduced in a model with learning objectives for future possible machine. The technology is not without dangers for investigators and respondents, Heald said: "In some countries, such as Somalia or Afghanistan, if you are caught with a GPS device and a mobile phone particularly advanced, you are automatically a spy in the same way. because clearly people with high precision GPS, some people in a sample may be at risk if, for example, expressing political opinions. We must present the views of, say, eight or 10 people in a village collectively. There is an ethical problem. "