System and method for tracking the relative location of mobile stations belonging to a pre-defined group of mobile stations

A method for determining whether each mobile station in a pre-defined group is in compliance with an acceptable location criteria, the method comprising:

• receiving mobile station tracking information including a mobile station identifier for each mobile station in the pre-defined group;
• receiving current location coordinates corresponding to the mobile station identifier for each mobile station from a locator device;
• calculating a relative location of each mobile station relative to at least one pre-determined target;
• retrieving the acceptable location criteria for each mobile station relative to the one pre-determined target from a location criteria database;
• comparing the calculated relative location of each mobile station relative to the one pre-determined target, with the retrieved location criteria to determine whether the calculated relative location is in compliance with the acceptable location criteria;
• notifying a subscriber if the calculated relative location is in compliance with the acceptable location criteria;
• identifying at least one mobile station having the calculated relative location that is not in compliance with the location criteria;
• alerting a user of the identified at least one mobile station that the calculated relative location of the at least one mobile station is outside an area of interest;
• and
• alerting the user of the identified at least one mobile station that the calculated relative location of the one mobile station is less than a minimum distance requirement relative to another mobile station.

A method for monitoring a relative geographical location for a plurality of mobile stations identified in a pre-defined group comprising:

• identifying a present geographical location for each of the mobile stations identified in the pre-defined group;
• retrieving location criteria information for the plurality of mobile stations identified in the pre-defined group, the location criteria information indicating acceptable geographic proximity criteria for each mobile station relative to one or more pre-determined targets;
• comparing the identified present geographical location for each mobile station relative to one or more pre-determined targets with the retrieved location criteria information for each mobile station identified in the pre-defined group to determine whether the present geographic location is within acceptable limits of the location criteria;
• and
• outputting an alert indication to an output terminal for each one of the plurality of mobile stations whose present geographic location relative to the one or more pre-determined targets is not within acceptable limits of the location criteria.