I think while this sounds like a good idea, it actually hinders the learning process. Struggling is necessary in the learning experience, but you just don't want too much struggle (there's a balance). I think if your kids are old enough that you're comfortable letting them navigate an area on their own, they are old enough to "fend for themselves" in this way. Just make sure they have your phone number and know the name of the hotel or some clear landmark (even in a foreign land you can often stumble about your confusion and say a landmark and people will be able to give you directions. Most of the time).

I think it is better for both the kids and parents. Kids need to learn independence, parents need to learn to trust their kids and that they can be independent (that is the goal after all, right?). I know it is hard as a parent but that is something that needs to be learned too, for the betterment of kids.

A tracker can reproduce this experience without the help of an boy scout camp. It is just about how the tracker is used. It can be used for constant, intrusive monitoring, or it can be used for emergencies only. It is just a tool, it also doesn't have to be used 24/7.

This comment surprises me and I suggests to me that you were not in Boy Scouts (I even worked at a camp for several summers when I was 18/19). Tbh, most of the people in charge of groups are just figuring it out themselves (camps/OOTA/Varsity tend to be a bit better, but I mean camps are run by teenagers and people in their early 20's). The danger isn't actually that high, though it may appear that way to those with no experience.

IME I had more issues with adults than the scouts. As an example, I had several adults point an (unloaded![0]) shotgun in the direction of people, but never had a scout do this. Often because they wanted pictures...

Of course, if someone gets seriously lost, there are means to get help. But that's most likely the forestry service.

[0] We only load a single round and only when the person is ready to fire. So there is only one weapon loaded at any given time but weapons are __strictly__ treated as if loaded at all times. Weapons must also strictly be pointed down range (and not at the ground and not at the sky). Breaking these rules results in an immediate ejection from the range, and unfortunately has lead to troops being ejected because their leaders were (age requirements).

Fwiw, you're not going to have this restriction at a standard range. Same with the rules of loading.

When the child is very young, this is maybe (maybe) fine, but as the child gets older -- likely before their teen years -- there's really no difference between the two from the kid's perspective. They know that, regardless of their parents' stated intentions (the latter, hopefully), they are just a few taps away from knowing the kid is not quite exactly where they're supposed to be. It's stifling.

I frankly feel so lucky that I grew up when I did, in the 80s and 90s, when technology was just starting to get really cool, but not quite into this dystopian panopticon 1984 nightmare that we seem to be getting into today.

Is the fear of getting lost really what's responsible for kids having less freedom? It seems to me that the fear is inspired by the remnants of the stranger danger panic and the very real threat of cars everywhere. Watches don't really help alleviate any of those fears, nor replace the video games and other digital activities that would keep them in the house to begin with. Most of the rest of the world can't afford tracking, and yet their kids tend to have more freedom (though I doubt this correlation has any meaning).

I'm not a parent though so I'm genuinely asking out of ignorance.

I took a motorized avalanche course in Canada the end of this last winter season. One of the most surprising things in the class was how easy it was to get in. I talked to the instructor (world renowned in the space of motorized avalanche training) about it and asked why there weren't more students. He said that people buy the tools (avy beacon, probe, shovel, air bag, etc) but they no longer feel the need to learn how to use them. Over the weekend we did about a half dozen real world scenarios and it was shocking to see how the theory was hard to execute the first few times. The thing about an avalanche is that it doesn't matter how good I am with my tools when I'm buried. The last thing he mentioned in that part of our conversation was that people had recently started buying satellite communicators and that his theory was that it was enough of a security blanket for a lot of people who would have taken his classes like wilderness first aid.

The back country isn't much different than a kid in a busy metro. If someone is going to take the child the watch isn't going to do anything. That's the first thing the assailant will get rid of. At that point it's up to your kid to know what move to make next.

Technology is continually being used as a crutch, especially with regard to our kids. There's no other way to describe it other than absolutely disgusting.

I'm not sure this is a good thing. This is similar to the observation that cyclists who wear helmets engage in more risky behavior. But helmets are meant to be a fail-safe, not a primary line of defense. Maybe the same should go for tracking...