GPS Tracking Benefits With Total Privacy
Who among us hasn’t seen a set of routing instructions from some GPS or mapping provider that hasn’t made us scratch our heads? “These guys are dumb” is a usual thought. “I wouldn’t go that way, I’ll hit way too much traffic” is a common fault. it’s one programming task to take a network of roads and write an algorithm to “build” a route from one point to another using the available network. Typically the programmer uses the existing speed limits on the known roads to calculate the time to travel by alternative paths and selects the one with the least time “cost”. But traffic, depending heavily upon time and day of the week doesn’t travel at the posted speed. We all know that … in fact travel at the posted speed is the exception that proves the rule. Sometimes traffic moves significantly faster. other time, of course, the times we remember, it slows down “big time”. How on earth can a programmer take that into consideration?
A company called Inrix has an interesting aid to this non-trivial task. I’ve written several times before … see here and here … about these folks. they aren’t the only company doing this, but they are certainly technically innovative and by far the best marketers … and sometimes that’s what makes the difference. How do they do it?
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? GPS Might Lead You There
Now this is kind of cute. You’re running a casino. The US is staggering under its load of un-ending Iraqi bush self-aggrandizement debt. Foreclosures are shooting through the roof. Outsourcing takes all the good jobs. Gas costs $3 a gallon and Ford keeps rolling out DUV’s. So what’s a casino operator to do? give away variable rate mortgages? naw, we did that last year. Give away iPhones? No, their sold out and besides, there’s nothing to connect them with the casino …Apple wasn’t even smart enough to include GPS mapping and/or tracking with them, like the other, ‘with it” cell manufacturers do. Ah … got it!
Do you think they will have these units pre-populated with a waypoint for the casino’s location? They will if they’re clever. Personally, I hate casinos, but I love smart marketing. Nice idea.
As always, I welcome comments, compliments, disagreements or clarifications. You can leave a comment or email me direct at: davestarr (at) gmail (dot) com or call me on 1-719-423-8872. If you liked this article, please subscribe to my RSS feed so you get all my news and views.
GPS Tracking Brings In The ROI For Service
Proof that there is money in service and GPS tracking can bring it to the bottom line.
OK, Quick, don;t look up at the top of the page … what’s the title of this blog? GPS ROI, right? I’ve written a lot of times how much money you can bring to the bottom line by treating your necessary service work not as an ‘evil” that must be minimized but as a bona fide business asset that can give you a real rate of return (ROI) on your investment. here’s a nice piece from a major UK company who has found their profit proof:
Masternaut has won a five year GBP 1million contract with Barloworld Handling to provide web-based vehicle tracking for 550 service vehicles. Barloworld is the largest independent distributor of fork lift trucks in the world and manages a fleet of over 30,000 fork lifts for customers in the UK alone. With fork lifts critical to many manufacturing, warehousing and other industrial operations, the company offers round-the-clock maintenance services through 23 regional support centres.
Masternaut is being fitted to Barloworld’s entire UK service fleet in order to boost customer service and improve efficiency. With live tracking over the web, despatchers are able to immediately assign the nearest engineer according to skills required and improve planning so that routes and schedules are optimised. Full Lift Truck Service Profit article here.
I have to admit I was a little mystified by the headline on this one. I don’t think the contract is about installing GPS tracking on 30,000 lift trucks (forklifts), I think it is about the efficiencies and thus profits gained by Barloworld handling equipping their 500-odd field service engineers with GPS tracking on the service vehicles. Savings? You betcha:
A Mile Is Still Not Always A Mile — But Closer Now
REAL-TIME ASSET TRACKING
03/14/2007
Stemco’s ‘BAT RF’ system has been teamed with the SkyBitz Global Locating System (GLS) to offer mileage readings in conjunction with real-time trailer tracking. They’ll provide a direct interface between the two to enable accurate trailer mileage readings. Availability is mid-year 2007.
Using a wireless module installed with the SkyBitz GLS 200 trailer-tracking unit, the Stemco TracBAT wireless hubodometer transmits mileage updates along with the vehicle location data to the SkyBitz website. These reports can easily be downloaded into Microsoft Excel for customer billing as well as preventive-maintenance scheduling.
SkyBitz says this makes it the first trailer-tracking provider to enable up-to-the-minute mileage reports. Having access to actual mileage readings will take the guesswork out of scheduling preventive maintenance, Stemco says…More here:
A mile is not always a mile … especially when you measure it with GPS. Only in some special cases (such as the GeoTab units I used to sell) can a GPS Tracking unit actually give you an accurate mileage readout. GPS is accurate enough but most units only computer their position every minute, two minute and even up to 15 or 30 or more minute intervals. because roads aren’t straight the line drawn between locations points is a straight line, but the vehicle’s path isn’t … leading GPS-obtained mileage to be significantly low.
GPS Prevents Lightning — Or Something Like That
MONTREAL, QUEBEC — (MARKET WIRE) — 03/13/07 — In the early morning of February 12th a Vigil client awoke in horror to realize his beloved 2003 Toyota Rav4 had been stolen from right out front of his home. Within seconds the client was in contact with Vigil’s ULC approved monitoring center, Protectron. The vehicle was swiftly located with pin-point accuracy using Vigil’s state of the art GPS/GSM technology and the police where quickly dispatched to recover the vehicle. The Rav4 was tracked to a location in Sainte Sophie where the vehicle was recovered and 7 other stolen vehicles where discovered. Amongst the vehicles found where 5 Toyota Camry’s, 1 Mazda Tribute and another Toyota Rav4. Estimated value of the recovery was over $180,000.But that’s not the end of the story!
Feb 15, 2007 - Lightning struck once again. From inside his office the Vigil client could see that something was awry, he realized that instead of his Rav4, there was an unknown truck parked in his assigned parking space. Once again with the help of Protectron and Marc Ethier, Vigil’s vehicle theft recovery specialist, the vehicle was recovered in less than 30 minutes. Read the Sys-Con Media story here:
I’ve written a few times before about how GPS tracking is making it easier for police to crack down on the worthless slugs who make their living invading our privacy and making us feel much less secure in or lives by stealing our property. maybe when someone steals your car from your parking space you aren’t in any physical danger, but the very act makes you feel used, helpless and “creepy” … it’s like someone bringing the network TV cameras into the bathroom for an interview while you’re sitting on the pot … yuk! Read more
What Parents Ought to Know About Teens, Driving, Cell Phones — And GPS
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNewsIt made national headlines, five cheerleaders killed in a car crash after going out to celebrate their graduation. But cell phone records show the phone was being used for text messaging right before the accident.
Cell phone records show a text message was sent from the phone belonging to the driver, Bailey Goodman, at 10:05:52. A reply was sent to her phone at 10:06:29. Thirty-eight seconds later, someone called 911 to report the accident that killed Bailey and her friends.
“Cell phone records indicate the phone was in use,” Povero said. “We’ll never be able to clearly state that she was the one doing the text messages.” Source: ABC News
We Say: Because there was more than one person in the car, there’s no way to say who was doing the text messaging. We’ve see this before, though, someone killed, though not the driver, because of an accident caused by text messaging while driving. As someone who is connected via email and a PDA phone to his office, I will admit that I have emailed while driving … I will also admit it’s not a smart thing to do, and it should be outlawed nationally, IMHO.
Can’t say I agree with Michael’s last sentence … I think we in the United States … and most countries for that matter … already have far too many things “outlawed nationally”. Laws can not replace parental guidance. Laws can not cure the problems of the “hard of thinking” which seems to be the case in this tragedy. But I fully agree with his frustration and horror at the tragedy here. Yes, we adult, experienced drivers have all done things behind the wheel we’re not proud of. And we, too, could have killed people “on mistake”. But we generally think a little longer and harder now before we do, we often don’t repeat the same idiotic maneuvers and we can at least pass on the knowledge we’ve gained to those “coming up”. Do we?
Talk to your kids. Set a good example. Warn them of the dangers when there are more than one in the car … who hasn’t seen 5 teenage girls “carrying on”, laughing, joking, teasing, having a great time, yet oblivious to their surroundings … before another tradegy happens, impress upon them that even though fun is fun, and life is wonderful when you’re 18 and the whole world is spread out before you … one person has to keep their mind on driving.
And put a GPS tracker in their car and use it for it’s best and highest purpose. Go over the records with them every week … praise the good things you see, highlight and give guidance about the places they seem to be straying from your bounds. You are not being an ogre, and you are not playing “big brother” … you’re doing what you should be doing as a parent to protect the great blessing you have been entrusted with. Remember, “Big Brother” was built upon “Big Lies”, GPS and parental love are built on truth.
As always, I welcome comments, compliments, disagreements or clarifications. You can leave a comment or email me direct at: davestarr (at) gmail (dot) com or call me on 1-719-423-8872. If you liked this article, please subscribe to my RSS feed so you get all my news and views.
Who Else Wants A Radius Map?
Everything on the ‘Net is about niches. One subject is dull and boring (a speciality of mine?) and another subject clicks … who can say? But what people search for and read about, I write about.
I’ve mentioned the 100 and 150 air mile radius rules for “local” commercial vehicle operations a number of times … here, here, and here for a few of the more interesting entries. The basics are that commercial, goods carrying vehicles that do not require their drivers to have CDL’s (Commercial Driver Licenses) are still subject to many FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) rules regarding hours of service (HOS) and record-keeping requirements. Depending on several provisions of the law, businesses whose vehicles operate within 100 Air miles of the location where the vehicles regularly return, or 150 Air miles have rules different than the rules for all other commercial vehicles and drivers. These regulations are not road miles, read from vehicle odometers (thank goodness, more on that fallacy here) but should be measured by a radius drawn on a map. How does the average business get a map like this? Well, they can ask me, and I’ll furnish an electronic version, free … no links, no obligation … or they can buy Microsoft’s MapPoint, a tool I feel a business shouldn’t be without … 100 mile rule or no 100 mile rule.