Location sharing and tracking using mobile phones or other wireless devices

A method for sending a GPS (Global Positioning System) position data from a first wireless device to one or more second wireless devices, the method comprising:

• receiving in the first wireless device a position update request;
• looking up addresses of the one or more second wireless devices to which a position update is to be sent;
• reading and encrypting GPS information to generate encrypted GPS information;
• encapsulating the encrypted GPS information into payload portions of one or more packets in a message protocol format and addressing the one or more packets to the one or more second wireless devices to which position updates are to be sent;
• transmitting the packet data to a first transceiver in a first cell in which the first wireless device is registered;
• receiving signals containing the packet data and recovering the one or more packets of the packet data at the transceiver;
• routing the one or more packets to a central switching unit;
• in the central switching unit routing each packet of the one or more packets to one or more transceivers in one or more corresponding cells in which the one or more second wireless devices to which the packet are addressed is registered;
• in each of the one or more transceivers which received the one or more packets from the central switching unit, processing the data of the one or more packets to generate radio frequency signals and transmitting the radio frequency signals to the one or more second wireless devices in their corresponding cells;
• in the one or more second wireless devices to which the packet is addressed, recovering the packet data of the one or more packets and reassembling the packets;
• reading the header data of the one or more packets and routing the one or more packets to a GPS position data sharing software application;
• and
• in the GPS position data sharing software application decrypting the GPS information and using the header information of the one or more packets to determine the identity of a person whose GPS position data was decrypted and using the decrypted GPS information to update displayed position data of the person.