GPS Tracking ROI

Automotive Resources International (ARI), a leading global fleet solutions provider specializing in complex car and truck fleets, announced the integration of its web-based ARI ACCESS System to the Wright Express’ portal. ARI is the first Wright Express co-branded partner to integrate in a real-time transaction processing mode, providing seamless integration…

A nice article for the start of the business week. A component vendor and an intelligent consumer went through the dance of investigation, specification, selection, negotiation and implementation.

So why isn’t “old Dave” all kinds of beaming over this announcement?

Long time readers will know … there’s a huge component of this system missing … GPS tracking! (more…)

Only on my second cup of coffee, early this Sunday morning, and I came across this nice site that makes art out of an information tool

Go take a look at: Cabspotting.org

And you can see who’s riding cabs in San Francisco, why doscount flights from Oakland airport are good business for SF cabs, and where the best spots are for Sunday morning coffee when things are slow.

Some other excellent examples of technology paitning its own pictures are on line. You’ll like some of the artistic slants, and if you’ve always wondered about how live tracking might look, here’s a nice view.

(Sorry this post exacped from it’s cage alittle before it was cooked …second try)

By Erik Linask
Associate Editor

It’s good to know where you’re going — it’s even better to know how to get there. All too frequently, business travelers, vacationers, and visiting family members find themselves on the road without adequate driving directions. They could have MapQuested their destination before leaving. They could have made sure to have a map in the car. But that is of little use now.

For these people — in fact, for any traveler — ROUTE 66 has launched its latest product, Mobile 7 for Windows Mobile smartphones. ROUTE 66 Mobile 7 determines its position using an advanced, highly sensitive wireless GPS receiver, using that information to guide the user with turn by turn voice instructions supplemented with on-screen visual directions….

Full article here:

The past few days I have been ragging on reporters whom I personally felt didn’t “cut the mustard”. Lest I be dismissed as nothing but a malcontent, I decided to add in this little review that I felt was very well done.

(more…)

This $857 device is quite impressive. But who’s got that kind of money lying around?

James A. Martin

PC World
Friday, April 7, 2006; 12:10 AM

Years ago, when the Earth was still cooling, I had an appointment with the CEO of a software company in Tampa. Not having been there before, I missed a freeway exit and became horribly lost. To make a long story short, I was over two hours late for my interview (at that time, cell phones weren’t common).

I thought of this incident several times recently while testing Garmin’s Nuvi 350 , a sleek, pocket-sized Global Positioning System device. If only I’d had such a gadget back then, I would never have been so late for that interview…..

Well, yesterday I was picking on a reporter for blaming the GPS for a problem that wasn’t caused by GPS at all.  Today, we have a guy who claims to be a long-time reporter covering business and technology, who has no idea how to figure the return on an investment (that’s ROI, James).

The report is actually well written and presents the Nuvi in a very favorable light.  The features, including tracking accuracy, seem to have been well explored and the evaluation has a definite ring of authority.  (more…)

GPS could drive you off a cliff in England

Humphrey Cheung

April 7, 2006 00:22

GPS units are usually great for navigation. But these devices atre stil far from being perfect and can provide wrong information and directions. An extreme example has shown up in England, where drivers have almost driven off a 100 foot cliff because of GPS guidance. Drivers going to the village of Crackpot are routed onto a dirt road that ends in a 100 foot drop. While no one has actually tumbled down the cliff yet, several apparently have come perilously close….  Original article here:

I’m not sure what Humphrey Cheung’s educational background is, nor do I particularly care.  This article, however, just burns me up because it takes some interesting facts and twists them around in order to try to ’simplify’ a story and sensationalize it.  No one minds reporters finding interesting slants, after all, news reportage is a form of entertainment, and if no one reads an article it is a waste to write it.  But these ’slants’ and ‘angles’ have to be based on the truth.  If the GPS (Global Positioning System) were a person it would probably have the right to sue for libel here. (more…)

Here’s some great news that popped up this morning. I’m thinking especially of Minnesota, who, a few months ago, found they were “missing” something like 7,000 state vehicles. I chide public officials all the time for neglecting to gte their hands around that which they are getting paid to manage … so this is indeed a step, a big step, in the right direction.

Of course you don’t notice California in that list, do you? Last time they let any news on this escape to the public, Governor Schwarzenegger was missing something like 13,000! vehicles .. but hey, Arnold doesn’t worry about triviality like that (or triviality like having a driver’s license), he’s a fiscal conservative, right? (more…)

Prepared Response, Inc., a Seattle-based developer of crisis management planning and response systems, announced today it has added Geographic Information System (GIS) functionality to the Web-based version of its Rapid Responder crisis management system…

Additional GIS functionality under development, through GPS integration, includes the cataloguing and tracking of mobile infrastructure such as ships, containers, rail, and fleet assets…..

Read the rest of this announcement here:

OK, I guess I’m not in the best of moods today, so I better try to reel in my fishline hooks and as an old boss once advised me, take some of the wire brush bristles out of my writing. But it’s really hard not to throw out a comment like my 1996 dig when I see 2006 companies still trying to spin new thread out of old. (more…)