In northern Canada, Global Positioning Systems are more than just dashboard decorations. Oil and gas companies are installing advanced GPS devices to track stolen vehicles in remote British Columbia and Alberta.

"We've had great success in locating vehicles with the systems," says Corporal Stephen Wile of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which has partnered with GPS clients. Wile says the mapping systems are especially effective on unmarked petroleum resource roads not routinely patrolled by RCMP officers.

When dispatcher Gary Lang of Raven Oilfield Rentals, Fort St. John, British Columbia, realized a truck was missing from his lot, he logged onto the vehicle's GPS map. He found it 500 kilometers south in Prince George, British Columbia, and knew it had been stolen. With RCMP on the phone and the satellite mapping at his fingertips, he was able to lead patrolmen road-by-road, landmark-by-landmark straight to the perpetrator's hideout. "I could even see how many spruce trees were in the guy's driveway," says Lang of the GPS map's detail. Within an hour, the pick-up truck was recovered along with several other vehicles.

"We're not preventing theft, but we are recovering it," says Kevin MacDonald, vice president of marketing and communication for Alberta, Canada-based GEOTrac International Inc.

RCMP officials say GEOTrac's cigarette pack-sized GPS devices have been instrumental in the recovery of stolen trucks and all-terrain vehicles in the Canadian North. "Our mapping solution is what sets us apart from other GPS systems," says MacDonald. The firm's proprietary road maps overlay Google Earth-type satellite images. The detailed road data include both public and private roads in the surrounding provinces. "We have the ability to locate customers on even the smallest lease roads," says MacDonald. He says this is important for oil and gas clients operating on private trails.

The devices operate off both cellular and satellite networks to provide two-way communication. Coverage is provided by Iridium Satellite LLC, Bethesda, Md., which also services the U.S. military.