GPS Tracking ROI

Today I saw some troubling new news regarding the Federal Hours Of Service (HOS) regulations for commercial trucking. The law was changed at the beginning of the year, with wrenching results to some areas of the industry. The reason for the change in the law was trumpeted as a step to reduce drivers working too many hours and having fatigue and sleep related accidents. Well, as recorded in the Electric Trucker:

Not only are more drivers suffering drowsiness and sleep incidents at the wheel, but at least 25% are violating the law, to drive longer, make more money and put themselves and others at risk. For years the law has been enforced by self-recorded paper log books, maintained by the drivers themselves. See an excellent example and explanation here:

It’s no coincidence that for years these books have carried the name “swindle sheets”. Sometimes this appellation is earned by cheating people but much more often it’s a case of everything being so darned complicated and hard to check up on. You would think, giving the huge costs and serious safety issues involved that this would be handled by computers. Well, you’d be wrong. Exactly 1 (yes one) major long haul carrier keeps their drivers safe and legal solely by means of on-board GPS tracking and a computerized log program. (The company is Werner Enterprises and their GPS tracking partner, Qualcomm, and hats off to them for doing it). There are tons of logging programs that keep the “swindle Sheet” electronically, but the data is still dependent on the drivers memory, integrity and ability to code with the ever more complex regulations.

The purpose of today’s rant is to wonder why more companies don’t make use of simple, cheap GPS logging systems that could save lives and millions of dollars per year? Perhaps they are waiting for even more government regulations?

Dave
www.satviz.com

Let me go on record about something here.  I am against speeding in the majority of cases.  yes, I certainly have gone over the speed limit and may certainly do so again.  But I don’t make a practice of any sort of outlandish speeding and normally on a trip I just have my speed control set at a reasonable number and don’t even watch for cops … in front or behind … because I’m within the limit or not enough over that they are going to other with me.

And in today’s $4 dollar gas it’s even more important to watch your speed, just for the good of the environment and your own (and your business’s) wallet.

But that being said, I can not abide the blatant and often highly suspect way that law enforcement is shirking their real duties and automating the process of criminalizing driving.

Often these cameras have been found to be suspect if not out and out inaccurate … and localizing enforcement only inhibits the potential for proper, active law enforcement to increase safety on all roads … not just where it’s convenient to hang a speed camera.

So here’s a site who feels similar to me … putting incar and hand held GPS to good use.  I applaud their efforts.  And, while again, I advise don’t be reckless, if this tip helps you avoid a ticket, you’re welcome … come back to www.satviz.com often … or better yet, Subscribe to GPS Tracking ROI by Email">Subscribe to GPS Tracking ROI by Email’>subscribe.

The PocketGPSWorld.com International Speed Camera Database Has Just Been Updated
Version 6.063 - 12 Jun 08
This release sees 361 static and mobile speed cameras added/modified across the various speed camera databases by 91 users. We have also banned 2 users for breach of copyright. Please click here for the full breakdown of country, speed camera type and number. All members submitting qualifying reports of static/mobile speed cameras will be credited with lifetime memberships by 17:00 13 Jun 08.
Please keep submitting all sightings of mobile speed cameras so we can keep our database up to date with active sites. 125 Apparently-inactive sites have been removed from the database and more will be removed in the coming weeks and months.
The Garmin GPSR database is currently 6.054 (21st May 08)
The NavigationMaster database is currently 5.113 (13th Nov 07)
The MapFactor/Directions database is currently 5.124 (18th Dec 07)
Don’t forget our RSS feed which is updated every time we release the speed camera database. Simply right click on the RSS image and select copy shortcut, then post the link into your favourite RSS reader.

The speed camera submission page and download page can be found by clicking here. You can submit new speed cameras in one of two ways - either an OV2 file or individual camera locations.
A beginner’s guide to the speed camera database can be found here, and some installation instructions for most units can be found here.
Please watch for further announcements on the homepage or sign up to our occasional newsletter alerts which carry full details of future speed camera database releases. The newsletter signup box is located on the top left of all site pages. Your privacy is important to us, we do not sell on your email details.

Some of you young “whipper-snappers” out there may not realize that there was once a significant industry in the US comprised of companies making horse whips and riding crops in all shapes and sizes.  Week after week, years after year they just kept cranking out those whips.  To them “innovation” was making the same size whip with less leather, or perhaps “designer colors” to appeal to the young singles among the buggy set.

Guys like Henry Ford, Charles and Frank Duryea., Ransom Olds and many others started producing these noisy, cantankerous and smelly “horseless carriages”, but nobody in the “real” industries of the day took much notice.

Got any buggy whips stock in your 401K portfolio?  Hope not.  But don’t be too sure.

When names like Control Data, Digital Equipment Corporation, Data General and Sperry/Univac where the blue chips of the computer industry a technology known as magnetic tape data storage came into its own.  There were even hot companies like Storage Technology Corporation who made millions emulating just the magnetic storage devices … mainly tape … of the “big guys” and selling their product as better, faster, cheaper.  If you travel in the circles that sometimes gets you access to the IT facilities of big corporations today you’ll often see magnetic tape “monsters” still grinding away. “making do” with the technology of the CIO’s fathers, simply because change is hard … just as very few buggy whip CEOs had enough foresight to get their product designers working on something 20th century.

OK, Dave, what has all this to do with GPS Tracking ROI?  Fair question, and here’s what prompted me to take this trip down memory (no pun intended) lane:

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I’m not a big believer in radar detectors.  In general I think we should drive close enough to the speed limit to avoid tickets the ‘natural way”.  But I’m no fool … people will drive as they want to, and I’m no “goody two shoes’ either, I’ve had a few speeding tickets myself, and they hurt, and they aren’t always fair.  Unlike the other 99% of males on the road, i am not the world’s best driver, either.  If you want help, good radar detectors are useful.

In Japan the police seldom use mobile radar but they do have an extensive network of roadside speed cameras that measure a vehicle’s speed, and take a picture and mail a ticket to offenders.  More than 10 years ago one could buy a GPS warning tool to alert when near the location of speed cameras.  What on earth has taken so long for the industry in the US to catch up?

Drivers equipped with the new Cobra Electronics’ wireless remote controlled radar/laser detector with speed and red light camera location alerts will no longer be caught off guard at dangerous intersections. The virtually undetectable XRS R9G is the first radar detector to be paired with a GPS locator in the United States . Read more about the XRS R9G here.

If it will keep you from getting a ticket, and if it will keep you more aware of your surroundings and how you’re driving, who am I to argue. Recommended.

My good friends at Engadget don’t think much of GPS, and when it comes to this “gimmick” product I wonder if they don’t have their mind right after all:

Just when were beginning to think that PMP/DMB/GPS combo units couldn’t offer any more driving distractions, along comes the iNavi G1, which boasts all of the aforementioned acronyms and adds some sorely-lacking karaoke to the mix. Apart from that notable distinction, the device looks to be a fairly ordinary one, boasting a 7-inch widescreen display, an SD card slot for expansion, support for all the usual audio and video formats (including DivX), and a so-called “G-Sensor” that promises to aid in navigation where GPS signals are weak. No word on price or availability, although you can be fairly sure that we won’t be seeing one ’round these parts anytime soon.

Folks, it’s well known that I like GPS technology in basically all its forms. And this tool/toy certainly does pack a lot into one package. But if you’re considering a GPS for your driving use … and you should, there are a lot of advantages … please think wisely. Sometimes packing 10 pounds into a five pound sack isn’t always the best solution to a problem. At the very, very least, keep it in the back seat for the kids only, ok. GPS can enhance safety, let’s not contribute to driving hazards with it.

… Those who man the combat operations centers of U.S. Navy ships use the term “having the bubble” to indicate that they have been able to construct and maintain the cognitive map that allows them to integrate such diverse inputs as combat status, information flows from sensors and remote observation, and the real-time status and performance of the various weapons and systems into a single picture of the ship’s overall situation and operational status.

[¶6.] For the casual visitor to the operations center, the multitude of charts and radar displays, the continuous flow of information from console operators and remote sources of surveillance and intelligence, the various displays that indicate weapons systems status, what aircraft are aloft, and who is in them, the inputs from ship and senior staff, are overwhelming. What surprised us at first was that even experienced officers did not attempt to make overall status assessments on the basis of a casual visit. Only when you have the bubble do these pieces begin to fall into place as parts of a large, coherent picture. … Expert Operators and Critical Tasks  © Copyright 1997 Princeton University Press

“Having The Bubble” is obviously very critical to many tasks, even to running a multi-billion dollar corporation.  And especially when you are a guy brought it to run that corporation buy the founders (who actually, we assume, “had the bubble” and you have a history of losing the bubble like Eric: Novell (once “owned” the LAN market …used them lately?), Sun Microsystems (once “owned” the high-end server and workstation market … wanna bet your web site runs on Dell nowadays?), (PARC (Palo Alto Research Center)(these guys invented so much, even the mouse, they could have a huge presence in today’s Web, and I bet half of you never heard of them), and last but not least, Zilog Semiconductor (These guys used to own the high performance processor market … nothing that Intel or AMD produced even came close … where are they now?) … I didn’t start this off as a diatribe against Eric Schmidt but doing research to get my facts right I find that with his history I wouldn’t hire him to walk my dog, he’d probably let the leash go and forget where it happened.  This is really a post about Google and GPS.  Here’s the blog posting that prompted me to dig into this:

….Are Schmidt’s dreams of personalization fantasies, or realizable realities?

Friday, Schmidt echoed a similar personalized for Eric â€wish” he “shared” almost one year ago, in NYC as well, as I reported at the time in â€Google targets GPS-based in-car personalized advertising“:

Eric Schmidt, Google CEO, believes that when he is listening to the radio in his car, radio ads should personally address him about his needs. For example, while driving past a clothing store, a radio ad should remind Eric that he needs a pair of pants and instruct him to turn left at the upcoming clothing store.

Schmidt shared his vision for GPS location-based delivery of highly targeted and personalized advertising via in-car radios at a luncheon with a group of publishing executives in New York City yesterday.

While Schmidt predicted a realization of his vision within the next one to two years, he did not share his vision for how the Google owned dMarc Broadcasting, a “digital solutions provider for the radio broadcast industry,” would enable such digital ad delivery via car radios. Google acquired dMarc in January to bring “radio advertising to Google AdWords advertisers.”

Well, the year has come and gone. What is the status of the Google CEO’s “wish” for made for Eric radio ads?

Personalized radio ads by Google?

Google has not even mastered old school pay for placement radio advertising, as I have been reporting and analyzing extensively over the past week, as well…  Read the full entry about Google’s failure to deliver advertising on ZDNet here

This post is already too long, and I really don’t want to look liked I’m a one-man crusade against the Borg )ooops), Google, (I’m a Google Publisher and they even pay me) but there’s some more that needs to be said from recent personal experience … Google has definitely lost sight of how to run a business and they need to get a grip … or risk becoming another Microsoft.  Tune in again tomorrow for part 2.

Here’s an item again from my frequent search queries. One of the most popular Google searches that lands here at the “ROI Place” is one form or another of the question “Cant we make tracking others illegal”? or at the very least “defeat GPS” at will?

I’m sure many of the folks who do come here under that banner leave in a huff when they get the impression that I am pretty much a dyed-in-the-wool supporter of the technology. But I’m not a rabid supporter and I have written a number of articles that counsel against thinking that GPS Tracking is the one-size-fits-all solution to every problem. Even my friends at the Phoenix Insurgent sometimes agree with me. You might want to review some of my articles in the GPS Help or Hurt or GPS and PAYD categories.

But even though GPS Tracking is not always the best solution to every problem, should it be made illegal? Here are some pros and cons as I see them: (more…)