GPS Tracking ROI

… We developed a new dispatching control system as an application of the radio dispatching systems — particularly GPS and automatic vehicle monitoring (AVM) systems — that are widely used in the Japanese market and developed a methodology for operating taxis as an element of the public transport system. The goal of our study is to maximize the use of taxis as urban transportation, even though they tend to be viewed as for-profit businesses rather than public transportation because of their user cost…

Full article with references and illustrations here:

After writing twice about the cool visualization tool www.cabspotting.org I spent enough time on the site to notice two important things that would make me dig much deeper into business issues if I either ran a cab company or was trying to earn my living as a cab driver. (more…)

I didn’t think I’d write so quickly about GPS and taxis, but my old favorite newspaper, the Philadelphia Enquirer (I lived in the South Jersey Pine Barrens for years, to those of you who know about ‘Pineys’, this will explain a lot) showed up in the top of my Google News this morning with this piece from the “City of Brotherly Love”.

Yesterday, a group of Philadelphia taxi drivers demonstrated for more than three hours against changes being imposed by the Parking Authority, which drivers say will make it even harder for them to make a living.

Estimates of the number of protesters ranged from 89 by the Parking Authority to more than 200 by the Brotherhood of Unified Taxi Drivers/Owners, which organized the event.

Drivers object to the Parking Authority’s decision to link the city’s 1,600 cabs with 17 dispatchers by installing global positioning systems in the vehicles. They also oppose a rule that would take cabs off the road after 250,000 miles…

Rest of article here:

Apparently these guys were looking at my Sunday post about Cab Tracking

At least the equipment involved is half the price of the same contentious accessory in New York currently … perhaps I should go back there and make a living selling Philly units to New York drivers, it’s only a little more than an hour on the Turnpike. (more…)

I was recently talking to a pilot who uses GPS in his work and the subject of map projections and datums came to mind. There’s a lot of technical ground here that goes way beyond what the average GPS user knows or even wants to know, but like any technical subject, the way to get started is to take the first step. I came upon this excellent beginner’s synopsis:

FAQ: WHAT ARE MAP DATUMS AND PROJECTIONS?
“NON-TECHNICAL ANSWER” (14 June 1999)
Different datums are based on different mathematical models of the
earth’s shape and dimensions (ELLIPSOIDS) plus an additional factor of
PROJECTION.

In Japan, say, they used a projection point that isn’t at
the center of the earth, but somewhere under Japan. This gives less
distortion of projecting a sphere onto a “flat map” there, but using
that projection for the US would result in a very weird map!…

Read more at the gpsinformation.net site, an excellent reference I came across today.  I was particularly taken by the reference in the article to the Japanese projection system.  I happened to be around for a real-world incident that cost a pilot’s life and I never understood why until I read this tutorial. (more…)