Yes, it's all very CSI, but it's real. In fact the article from researchers at the University of Utah published the article in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. The bottom line, the amount of hydrogen and oxygen isotopes in your hair reflect where you've been. So, after analysis in a mass spectrometer the "fingerprint" of your hair is matched to a map that shows, regionally, where you've been. Mostly, the impact comes on differences in the water you drink, though there are other factors. And, since hair is a record of your diet, the longer the hair, the further back in time your location can be traced.

- Tech Review (lots of maps)

I noted Domino's offering for pizza tracking last week: basically, you know what stage your pie is at in the process, not where it is. Papa John's is going with another technology, at least one 11 store group in Huntsville. (Joe will need to test this!)

The group is using technology from Trackmypizza a startup built by "two telemetry scientists who spent 10 years tracking defense missiles for the U.S. government." They use GPS enabled phones that travel with the drivers.

About 18% of all orders (phone and Internet) in the last 60 days are using the service and amazingly, online orders are up 100%. Part of the return on investment seems to be getting more folks to order online - they order more because they can see the whole menu.

Another tidbit - the tracking seems to use TIGER data: "TrackMyPizza itself relies on a mapping engine built by Randy Younger, the company's chief operating officer, and Ken Blankshain, its CTO, using geo data available from the U.S. government." The site is funded by Papa Johns and ads. And, the maps are pretty basic.

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InformationWeek