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More than just simple GPS Tracking

Sep
2018

Anyone can put dots on a map, what makes MarshallGIS unique is our ability to collect internal and external vehicle data. We translate “remotely sensed” data into useful metrics that managers can use in their day to day tasks. With early LiGO® development, technicians at MarshallGIS realized that the enormous value-add with telematics is to track and report any sensor in or near a vehicle. Moreover we realized a need for contextualizing this data with other geographic data.

Combining sensor data with geographic data – we can answer complex problems that our customers face. In New York DOT the manager asked if we could identify where all the salt was used, on roads by jurisdiction. Also, the operators were dumping salt back into inventory at the end of a run, back at the shop. By connecting to their different controllers we tracked all salt used, by jurisdiction. We then use a GeoFence at the shop to add back the salt dumped at the location — back into inventory!

Snow plows are just the beginning! Lawn mowers, emergency vehicles, garbage trucks, street cleaners… the list goes on and on. Combining sensors with other geospatial data opens a whole new world.

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MarshallGIS Customer Portal User Guide

Aug
2018

Portal Invitations

[CLICK PICTURES TO ENLARGE]

Once Logged in you should see your username in the top right hand corner of the page, this means that you are logged in.

Navigating the Portal

The navigation ribbon at the top of every web page is your guide to different areas of the Portal. Each tab on the ribbon will redirect you to a certain page

Performing Searches

Several Pages on the Portal have search bars. When searching from the ‘Knowledge Base’ page and ‘My Support Page’ the portal will begin to search its libraries for related articles that may resolve the issue or question you had. Note: the home page search bar does not have this functionality but you may still use it to search the Portal.

Knowledge Base

The knowledge base is the source for most information, articles, and documentation. This will likely be the most used feature of the Customer Service Self Help Portal and we encourage you to have a look at it and poke around, you may find something new that you didn’t know before!

My Support

For whenever the Knowledge base is unable to answer your questions, users may turn to the My Support page which also features a smart search functionality. In addition to the smart search, through My Support users are able to log cases directly to MarshallGIS which are handled in a prompt manner.

To log a new case simply click on the ‘Open a New Case’ button in the lower right hand side of the page.

For quicker response times, it’s helpful that users fill in the new case form with as much detail as possible.

Cases can be tracked on the My Support page you can filter the view of your cases by open cases, resolved cases, or all cases.

Forums

Forums are used for general discussion, and update information. Users can discuss amongst themselves and MarshallGIS staff about certain issues, suggestions, likes, dislikes etc. This is also the place where many of the LiGO updates will be posted. We highly recommend that users subscribe to the LiGO updates Forum Thread as so they can be notified of all LiGO update Information. To subscribe to a Forum thread simply click on the forum name:

Next click on the Forum Thread that you wish to receive notifications about (A thread simply means a running discussion related to the Forum topic).

Once in the Thread you have the option to subscribe or unsubscribe to Threads using the button on the upper right hand side of the page:

YouTube Channel

This tab will redirect you to our MarshallGIS YouTube channel where you can find a series of instructional videos as well as GeoKNX, and LiGO feature demos and webinars.

Contact Us

This tab gives you the opportunity to reach out to MarshallGIS directly, simply fill in the form as completely as possible and we will try get back to you promptly.

For any questions regarding the Portal feel free to contact me directly at support@marshallgis.com

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InsureTech; an Emerging Industry in the world of IoT

Jul
2018

It’s no secret that in the last couple of years Data and our ability to handle, disseminate, and organize it has become a key topic. This can be said of our political, social, and technological areas of our day to day lives. For the purpose of this article however, I would like to focus on how Data in the automotive sphere of industrial life, more specifically; how the emergence of InsureTech in the world of IoT has taken strides that may change many things about how we drive, manage drivers, and handle legal issues involving driving.

In spite of significant progress made in the InsureTech world, much is yet to be debated and eventually implemented in regards to how telematics are used by insurers. In a recent conference “Next Gen Analytics and IoT: Powering InsureTech” organized by the Center for Executive Education at St. Johns University in New York City; many standing questions were brought up about the unique relationship that Telematics, and Insurance companies should have. These are questions that arise from the almost inevitable collision course they are on. These questions were intended to ensure that the eventual collision of insurance and telematics industries happens in the most streamlined, fair, and effective way possible.

The questions revolved around three main issues. To begin with, privacy; with regards to how much information is disposable for policyholders with regards to the personal data being collected telematically and whether or not they understand how their respective insurers are using this data. Moreover, Pricing standards; this issue focuses on how these insurance companies are using data collected to leverage prices and/or settle claims. Lastly, also relating to price models; how insurers might use telematics predictive data to set policy plans and how these can be justified or explained. These are valid questions that will most certainly need answers sooner than later due to the merging of these two industries happening rather quickly.

MarshallGIS telematics software solution LiGO® has been a key factor in a number of our customer’s settlement claims and have been key elements in police investigations into accident reconstruction situations which have later been used as proof for insurance companies. We sense that more of this is to come in the near future, and so should law enforcement and insurance companies alike. Asides from the grey areas yet to be defined by both there are strong arguments that support the fact that real-time tracking and other telematics features is really the only fair way for insures to set policies, as it offers a level of transparency and reliability previously unheard-of. Conferences like the one organized by St. Johns University in New York and the numerous other InsureTech events that are happening around the country are key in hashing out these guidelines to create a market that not only promotes safety but also has the potential of enabling insurers and insured individuals to save money.

Source

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More accountability through Telematics

May
2018

Let’s imagine a scenario; a four-way stop sign and your driver happens to be crossing through it. All you know is that during the intersection there was an accident, one vehicle hit another. The questions immediately arise, who made the mistake? Who didn’t stop? And who is responsible for the damages?

These are common issues that arise with any transportation organization, be it a delivery fleet, public service fleet, or private fleet. Knowing exactly the metrics of every vehicle under your control is very important. Often when high-value assets are at risk the likely hood of ‘he said, she said’ arguments increase dramatically, as does the likely hood of one or more of the parties involved skewing the recounts of the actual events.

Our clients have reported back to us on multiple occasions that the data collected by the telematics devices equipped on their vehicles, has been sufficient evidence for the police to work with in order to settle claims. As telematics becomes more mainstream and known by other sectors and industries such as Police departments and Insurance companies, increasingly it becomes a legitimate defense to legal claims.

This aspect of telematics is equally beneficial to employers and employees who are both granted an extra layer of protection when dealing with high valued assets like vehicles or trailers. This beneficial characteristic of telematics extends beyond accident reconstruction. With features like GeoFences and Points of Interest, claims about work completion on sites can much more easily be disputed. As well as the accuracy of time on deliverance jobs and work projects.

Once again, we urge you to check out our services and products on our website. Furthermore, we invite you to let us walk you through a LiGO® demo in which we take you through an introductory walkthrough of our software, as well as the key areas of growth it promotes.

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More on Telematics Hardware Devices

Mar
2018

There are many types of telematics Hardware devices, cables, tablets, and sensors that exist in the market that all serve different purposes. Often certain vehicles require completely different specs to perform their duty. For example, a snowplow is going to require a much sturdier and durable device which has the ability to identify when a snowplows arm and plow is in the down position or not, whereas a delivery vehicle would most likely not.

There are two main categories of questions to determine when making the decision on which devices to equip.

Equipment/ Vehicle Information
- The model/make of the vehicle (a Prius and a Ford are inherently different so might require different devices).
- The year of manufacture is also important (cars older than 1996 require different hardware)
- Is the device going to need to be inside or outside of the cab?
- Is power needed or not
Functional Information
- What is the goal? Do we just need to track or is more functionality needed?
- How many inputs are needed (e.g., right broom)?
- Will you be needing engine diagnostics?
- Do you need to identify the driver using the vehicle?
- Staff to install or not?

These questions help narrow down the needs of your fleet and can identify the types of devices to be used. Below is a list of the different types of devices which each serve different purposes.

Hardware varies in the complexity of installation, some are a simple plug and play while others may require more technical knowledge of how to properly integrate the devices with the respective vehicles.

For more information on the different devices and capabilities please feel free to request a demo in which we can go in depth about all the different hardware, you may also want to check out our recorded Webinar in which we also explore these devices and more.

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LiGO® Features: Driver ID

Feb
2018

Where are my drivers?!

This Driver ID feature provides those concerned the ability to track the driver of the vehicle, report on drivers associated with the vehicle, and draw the vehicle track by the driver. There are three main hardware components which are:

Above are the three (3) parts that come included with all Driver ID purchases. The first item is the “Adv. Power Cable”, this is a more functional I/O power harness that allows the use of our Driver ID system and is installed similarly to the basic power cable harne. Next is the “Driver ID Reader” it will plug into the 2 pin connector that is included on the Adv. Power Cable. The reader will need to be secured to the vehicle and typically gets installed on the dash near the ignition. The final item is the “ID Key Fob” this is assigned to either the driver, or a value supplied by the customer. Once the vehicle is turned on simply tap the ID Key Fob to the ID Reader and hold for a several seconds

All components are industry standard (no proprietary components). In addition we can bring a wide variety of sensors and GPS telematics devices later in 2017 as part of our cooperative research grant with BSU for a new Sensor Adapter – to streamline in and near cab sensor data to LiGO®. We can track not just calamp, but your phones, tablets, Cradlepoint, and many other vendors. These tools can be used to provide more organized and personalized work-flow, but also serve as a precautionary step in dealing with any legal issues regarding drivers and operations.

LiGO® Driver ID feature allows for much more flexibility and opportunities to more strategically deploy crews with specific information about the driver and the vehicle. Furthermore, there is an added ability of security to vulnerabilities like theft, which is a valued characteristic of any telematics solution. Customization, as always is an option, specific roles can be placed on users by ID that restrict or enable the access of information and more.

Standard role setup:

Role Name	Role Description
View Only	Role which has view only permissions and a simlified view of the application (e.g., map and vehicles only)
Operator	Role which has all the viewing capabilities, but can also run/create reports, view geofences, view events & alarms, interact with tracks and track points. No access to Administrator type features like Add Users, manage Event rules and Create Views.
Administrator	Role has all capabilities above plus the ability to add, modify and delete users. All features and rights are enabled by default.
Developer	Role which has access to API, HTTP expression, terminal, LiGO Access, Icon Library and other developer options.

With constant updates to LiGO®, we expect to see more connector tools arise as our customers define workflows and applications for this integration, as well as more integration and accessibility between wired, and wireless devices and LiGO®.

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LiGO Benefits

Feb
2018

Having trouble on deciding whether to make the switch to implementing telematics? Better Management = Smarter Government you need information and metrics to manage! LiGO enables operations managers and workers in the field to have up to date and useful information.

Know where your resources are

At any point in time know where your valuable resources (vehicles and people) are.

“Trust but verify”.

Mobile Resource history

Look at where a vehicle or crew traveled throughout a particular day, week or month.

Fuel Savings – Idling, Speeding

Reduce fuel costs & “Go Green” by reducing driver idling time, speeding, fast acceleration, and more. Savings and ROI can be derived in just days!

Regulatory Compliance

Help meet NPDES MS4 Stormwater and other regulatory compliance requirements with accurate daily, monthly yearly record keeping and reporting.

Route Optimization for Better Dispatching

Efficiently dispatching drivers on optimized routes will reduce fuel consumption, enhance productivity and reduce overtime. LiGO will help you find the right resources that are the closest to the work site.

Prevent Vehicle Abuse and Wear and Tear

Monitoring and reporting of aggressive driving combined with the use of in vehicle audible warnings feedback will reduce wear and tear on your fleet vehicle.

Safety = Saving

The tracking of speeding and aggressive driving events can modify driver behavior. This reduces accidents and insurance rates as well as vehicle and driver down time.

Stop Unauthorized Vehicle Use

Detail time and trip history reports will reduce drivers wasting time, unauthorized trip and stops. Report after hour’s vehicle usage and provide vehicle location for theft recovery.

Schedule Vehicle Maintenance and Reminders

Prioritize vehicles for repair and maintenance based on live vehicle Odometer readings, fuel usage and engine hours. Schedule maintenance reminders for your entire fleet.

Detect Engine Issues and Monitor Fault Codes

With engine fault code information (most vehicles), you can now stop engine issues before they become costly to manage and repair.

Defend yourself against frivolous lawsuits

Cities and counties are easy targets for driving related lawsuits. Can you prove where your vehicles have been and when?

Insurance Discounts

Many insurance companies have telematics programs that offer a 15% to 40% discount for sharing your fleet’s driver behavior.

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Facilitating the transition to Telematics

Feb
2018

We’ve explored in previous blogs, the different ways in which technologies like ELDs are becoming a norm in the fleet management industry. We also understand that change in business operations can often be repelling for managers and employees. Part of our job as service providers is to ensure that all our customers go through the smoothest of transitions and receive the best preparation and training when making the shift to implementing any of our software & hardware in their operations. This transition is approached through 8 intuitive steps that will, at the end have your operations running more proficiently than ever before!

Project initiation: The first step comes after a contract is signed and a PO or project notice to proceed has been issued. The first project kick-off meeting is held in which together we review the scope of work and perform an initial assessment of your company’s current systems. Ultimately the goal in this first step is to establish the project plans and understanding of communications and responsibilities.

Planning: In this phase our own Delivery Services Manager will ideally work with your own company’s Project manager to finalize a schedule which would be based on tentative schedules discussed in the project initiation phase. In planning we would also require a vehicle list provided by your Project Manager so that we can acquire the devices that will best fit your operations.

Implementation: This might be the phase most feared by our customers, which is why MarshallGIS works closely with the implementation team and your own project team. Our goal here is to design the initial configuration and ensure that through training and implementation your company smoothly integrates and grows in the ability to use the systems.

Training: Training is essential to allow our customers to feel comfortable with the systems which is why this phase essentially never stops. We keep communication with our customers throughout the entire process and focus on allowing your staff to utilize the full potential of our software to inevitably boost productivity while cutting costs.

Integration Services: Though the scope of services requested or required will vary per customer, at this stage in a standard procedure, MarshallGIS will work with our customers to deploy the relevant integration modules.

Configuration Services: After installation of devices MarshallGIS project team with work in unison with our customer’s team to configure the different groups, roles, views, GeoFences, Points of Interests (Landmarks) and reports.

Monitoring: Our input and work put into making sure your operations run smoothly will never stop. We work continuously to monitor the hosted systems, and activated vehicles.

Closing: The initial deployment phase will close after the identified initial vehicles are live, tested and the introductory training is provided.

These intuitive steps to integrating our ELD technologies to your fleet/asset operations have been carefully thought out and crafted to ensure the smoothest and most cost benefiting solutions to our customers.

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Route Optimization Best Practices

Feb
2018

Some Important Notes about Automatic Route Optimization

The automatic optimization of Routes requires solving a notorious and complex problem in computer science called “The Travelling Salesman Problem”. Truly solving the problem and obtaining the guaranteed best route for a set of points on a map is an extremely time and resource consuming problem. It is even more complex on road networks where the distance between two points might be different depending on which direction you drive between them due to one way road systems.

For this reason, the automatic optimization feature uses an approach which performs an estimate and gets a result that is not necessarily the very best solution but should be a good one and should help give your fleet significant fuel savings over time when used for a workers daily set of jobs. If your route is optimized automatically by LiGO it will let you know how much time you saved when it is finished.

Below is an example of an optimized route in Boise – that reduced total drive time by 50% for interoffice mail delivery at the City, and an example of an auto generated route geofence that you can use for other reports. This route optimization that had such an impact on Boise mail delivery took 5 seconds, and no GIS data processing.

Our take on route optimization is that there are two basic types

GIS-based analytical optimization, similar to hydraulic modelling for water systems, that is complex, is done infrequently, and only as good as the underlying data.
Day-to-Day optimization that creates “pretty good” routes, perhaps originally created from complex routing (number 1 above) and/or human experience, but is setup for easy to manage day-to-day operations.

LiGO uses data from 1) above if you have it, but is designed to support 2) above. Please call to discuss if you have any questions – or need more information.

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Route Optimization, Save Time, Make Money

Jan
2018

Using OSM (openstreetmap.org) data, LiGO® is able to generate useful results for optimizing travel through a set of points. At no extra cost, the route management functionality allows you to see the estimated distance and journey time of your planned routes and lets you automatically optimize with the “Optimize” feature or you can configure them manually with your local area knowledge. Within LiGO® you can import a pre-existing route from GIS or similar geospatial systems, you can create the route manually, or you can drive a route and auto create the route. Routes can then be edited, deleted, and reassigned to workers.

How you can use this information

Reports can be created for total time in a route GeoFence, time stopped, time with “plow down”, or other onboard engine event within a route geofence. Other metrics such as time to job and time on job are auto calculated and turn by turn directions are provided via our free LiGO® Mobile app. Theses logistics will help you always be the most efficient manager possible, cutting time and costs at wherever necessary. This also opens avenues to improve customer relationships with more accurate info on the location and status of your crews in the field.

Viewing Route Details

After configuring Route Optimization, your new and existing routes will now contain an extra field called Route Details. Here you can see the current length and estimated journey time of the route with the stops in the order that they currently stand. The map also contains a track drawn with directional arrows showing you the optimal route to take between each stop.

Optimizing Your Route

If you drag the stops around in the Route window to reorder them, the track on the map and the Route Details field will update in real time to show the newly calculated route. This is ideal when you have local knowledge of the area and want to use this specialist knowledge to tune your routes.

If you would like LiGO® to optimize your route automatically, you can click the “Optimize” button in the lower left hand side of the Route

In most cases, a mixture of the two approaches will yield the best results. Try an automatic optimization of the route to get off to a good start and then experiment with switching some stops around in areas that you know have complex road structures.

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Blog

More than just simple GPS Tracking

MarshallGIS Customer Portal User Guide

Portal Invitations

Navigating the Portal

Performing Searches

Knowledge Base

My Support

Forums

YouTube Channel

Contact Us

InsureTech; an Emerging Industry in the world of IoT

More accountability through Telematics

More on Telematics Hardware Devices

Equipment/ Vehicle Information

Functional Information

LiGO® Features: Driver ID

LiGO Benefits

Know where your resources are

Mobile Resource history

Fuel Savings – Idling, Speeding

Regulatory Compliance

Route Optimization for Better Dispatching

Prevent Vehicle Abuse and Wear and Tear

Safety = Saving

Stop Unauthorized Vehicle Use

Schedule Vehicle Maintenance and Reminders

Detect Engine Issues and Monitor Fault Codes

Defend yourself against frivolous lawsuits

Insurance Discounts

Facilitating the transition to Telematics

Route Optimization Best Practices

Some Important Notes about Automatic Route Optimization

Route Optimization, Save Time, Make Money

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