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The Commonly Overlooked Intricacies of GPS Tracking Systems

Oct
2017

Is it a bird? Is it a Plane? No it’s a multi-million dollar piece of hardware and software travelling at about 9,000mph miles per hour in orbit around our planet!

We’ve discussed n previous blog posts the ability to utilize the many features of LiGO software such as ‘real-time tracking’ and other GPS related functions. The science of GPS play’s a crucial role in the products and services we offer but like most of humanity’s greatest scientific achievements the mechanisms of how it actually works often goes unnoticed and unappreciated. the ability hop on our smart phones and figure out exactly where we are located on the earth might have seemed like magic to even a reasonable citizen of the early 20th century. As Arthur C Clarke the famous science fiction writer noted “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”. Its silly to imagine that I could boil the science of how satelites, GPS’s, and smart devices work into a single pageblog post but I’d like to shed light on one of the aspects of these systems.

Each satellite in the GPS constellation orbits the earth at an altitude of about 20,000km (12427mi) from the ground, and has an orbital speed of about 14,000kph (8699mph). When taken into consideration, we can say that satellites are moving relatively faster than objects on the surface of the earth like car’s, or a person. As a result of this, the theory of special relativity suggests that the on-board satellite clocks should lag by about 7 microseconds per day due to the time dilation as a result of their relatively faster motion through space.

General relativity however, predicts that a clock that is closer to massive objects (in this case individuals on the ground being closer to earth) will apparently tick slower than clocks farther away. This amounts to on-board satellite clocks being ahead by about 45 microseconds per day. I know… I know, what the heck does that even mean right?

The outcome of these separate relative effects means that clocks on-board each satellite should tick faster than identical clocks on the ground by about 38 microseconds per day (45-7=38). 38 microseconds might not sound like much, but if you consider the fact that GPS systems run at the level of accuracy of nanoseconds, and that 38 microseconds is the equivalent of 38,000 nanoseconds, then you start to realize. If these factors weren’t taken into account errors in global positioning would begin to accumulate only after 2 minutes and would continue at a rate of about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) a day as opposed to the 5-10-meter average accuracy we are capable of currently.

From satellite to device diagram

wrapping our minds around these observations can be mind-numbing, dizzying, and quite frankly detour anyone from wanting to know more about the subject. thankfully generations of dedicated physicists, mechanical engineers, and numerous other scientific fields of study have propelled these technologies to where they are today.

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LiGO® Return on Investment

Oct
2017

The benefits of implementing LiGO® GPS Vehicle Location System to track your mobile assets and employees are numerous. LiGO® provides ROI beginning the instant that it is implemented.

Installing LiGO® is like having a supervisor on board at all times in each and every one of your fleet vehicles. It allows you to see where your mobile assets are and what they are doing, allowing you to detect potential problems.

LiGO® produces ROI largely by increasing the efficiency of your fleet. With LiGO®, you will be able to monitor and control operations, track emissions, track fuel usage, manage routes and ensure compliance with the City’s regulations as well as local, state and federal laws. By tracking where your mobile assets are and what they are doing at all times, you can reduce personnel costs by reducing overtime. Since LiGO® is like having a supervisor on board that keeps track of everything automatically, you may also be able to save money by no longer needing someone to keep track of your fleet manually. We can also auto-populate information that once was hand written saving staff time and by integrating with your key business systems such as Lucity and Esri additional efficiencies and automation is possible to save you addition time, resources and money.

LiGO®can be used to track the amount of time your vehicles spend idling. In addition to burning excess fuel, time spent idling takes away from productive time. LiGO® will also provide you with information regarding how fast your drivers are driving, allowing you to determine if they are burning excessive fuel or putting your City at risk for speeding tickets or accidents.

Another big way that LiGO® provides ROI is by allowing you to manage routes. With LiGO® in place, you can see the exact routes your drivers are taking. Not only does this let you make sure that they are going where they are supposed to be going, it also allows you to ensure that they are getting from Point A to Point B via the most fuel efficient route. For cities where consumables are a concern, such as snow plowing that put down salt or de-icing agents, the system can also be used to keep track of the amount of material consumed. For example, you can see if your driver is taking a route that causes him to double back over the same area, using additional consumables and burning more fuel than necessary.

LiGO® also provides an opportunity for you to save on your insurance costs by providing safety protocols. In the event of a lost or stolen asset, having tracking installed will also make it much easier for you or law enforcement officials to recover your missing property.

LiGO® also provides safety and other types of intangible ROI. By tracking your mobile assets in real time, you will be able to provide improved customer service and better response times, making customers and clients more likely to trust your City government. LiGO® also enhances the safety of drivers and employees who are working alone in the field. It will alert you of accidents and incidents immediately, and you will be able to dispatch help exactly where it is needed in the event of a problem.

Below is an example of how much the City could save with LiGO® based on some conservative numbers entered and assuming 100 vehicles equipped with LiGO®. With an investment of between $36,000 – $43,000 in LiGO®, the City would have a return on investment within 4 months of implementation and save potentially $114,000 + a year.

Below is some additional information on ROI with LiGO®.

Idle time reduction- By reducing idle time, fleets also reduce fuel use and the wear and tear on a vehicle. On average, LiGO® can reduce idle time by 30%.
Increased MPG- LiGO® helps encourage a reduction in speeds. Reducing speed by just 5 mph improves fuel efficiency by 7 to 8 percent.
Insurance – Safe driving practices helps lower insurance costs.
Proactive Maintenance – This helps keep vehicles on the road and typically cost less than reactive maintenance.
Decreased mileage – LiGO® allows for routes to be optimized, dropping mileage by potentially 10 to 30 percent.
Planning – Optimizing routes without LiGO® is time consuming and requires several people. Automating this process could save staff time (e.g., 30 minutes a day).
Asset management and productivity – Using assets more efficiently increases productivity and efficiencies of an organization.
Transparency – With LiGO® your organization can be more transparent
Time savings – Optimized routes means less time on the road. This will allow the city to complete more jobs in the same amount of time, leading to 10 to 30 percent savings.

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LiGO® Reports Best Practices

Sep
2017

Create reports taking into account performance and saving time.

This guide explains how data is processed for reports and provides some tips on how to create them for best performance.

Saving a report template.

Every time we enable a new report and then save it on the application, we can select some default parameters like Period, Users or Event Rules in order to speed up the generating process.

This is not just to make it easier for the user when generating the report, but mainly to avoid data processing when they generate the report. It is quite important that we pay attention on this step.

Here are some tips on how selecting parameters:

Try not to leave blank fields. If you don´t select any parameters the system will not prepare the data for that report, so the user will have to wait for it to be processed.
Select the proper Tags and Event Rules. If you select more users or event rules than needed, then when the system processes the data it will be including some information that you don´t need, and it will take longer.
Time periods that include the current day will take longer since new data will have to be processed
Hide parameters that the user doesn´t need to change. It will avoid unnecessary “testing” that might end up queuing reports
Email scheduling larger reports helps improving performance

Data processing

Whenever we want to generate a report, the data related to that report will need to be processed. When we save a new report template on an application, the data related to that report for the specific parameters we have selected will be processed automatically every night, so the report will be generated immediately.

So, for example, if we save an Event Rule report like the one on the picture above, then the data for the users that belong to Fleet A will be processed for the Speeding event rule, and when we generate the report it will take less time to be delivered. The data will be ready for other reports using the same information like for example Event Rule Total report.

One thing to take into account is that when a report is saved, the data will be processed from the next day onwards. Therefore, if we generate a report requesting information previous to the day we have saved the report, then that data will need to be processed.

Summary: It is very important to select the right parameters in order to save time and avoid performance issues.

Midnight Schedule

Sometimes scheduling reports at midnight might look like a good idea, but not for GPS tracking. When you schedule reports for 00:00 realize that some data is still coming from the previous day. That is why the Batch processing of already saved reports usually starts at 2:00 am. So if you can try to give some time for all the data from the previous day to get to the server.

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Small and Large Fleets Facing Tough Decisions in Regards to ELD Solutions

Sep
2017

Small fleet operations across the country find themselves in a delicate situation where their decisions could have tremendous effects on their business. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) ELD mandate, forces fleet operations large, and small to make changes. For small fleets deciding how to implement technology and which system to operate on is a difficult decision and can cause some tension.

http://upfrontanalytics.com/SITE/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/decision-making-emotion-vs-logic.jpg

There are a few options when deciding the course of action for implementing necessary changes required by the FMCSA’s new regulations. There are stand-alone solutions that come in the form of on-board recording devices (AOBRDs). This technology has been utilized by larger fleets for a number of years. The other option is a full-fledged telematics solution system like that offered by us, MarshallGIS. Telematics solutions are in a period of rapid growth and expansion, and have the advantage of covering many more aspects of fleet management than just time logging.

When it comes to pricing, stand-alone solutions vary greatly from provider to provider. Prices ranging from $150 to $2,000 per vehicle can be expected which means a large variance in quality. Being sure that you’re acquiring the right stand-alone solution can be tricky. Telematics solutions utilize web-based administrations and other telecommunication services and generally set costs based on monthly payments for service ranging anywhere from $8/month to $40/month and higher depending on the size of the fleet and functionality provided. With telematics solutions data acquired is much more elaborate and encompassing of different aspects specific to each manager’s operations. Something LiGO® solutions boast is its customization functionalities where managers can customize the software to record, capture, predict, and analyze data specific to their needs.

We at MarshallGIS invite managers of fleets of all sizes currently going through the process of making these decisions to explore the possibility of seizing this opportunity to improve operations by employing a full telematics solution as opposed to the stand-alone solutions for a number of reasons.

Change is a given, so why not have that change be the best form of change to begin with. Stand-alone solutions work, but not to the extent that a full telematics solution would work in improving efficiency. Our LiGO® solutions software boasts features like real-time tracking, smart-tracking, Reports, Geo-fences & points of interest, and much, much more.
Future mandates by the FMCSA are probably going to arrive sooner or later, and not having made that extra push in the first place might incur more costs in the future. With safety being the main priority of the FMCSA; it is reasonable to assume that more regulations are going to arise in the future. Maybe stand-alone solutions will lack the capabilities required of these mandates.
The third reason is that our telematics solutions do cut costs in the long run. Decreased fuel consumption, optimized work routes, and overall streamlining of operations increase quality of work whilst simultaneously cutting costs where possible.
Our telematic solution is in line with the many regulatory laws, and provisions necessary.
There is no need to fear the technology – with LiGO® we offer, the very best (and free!) training and implementation planning so that you and your fleet remain prepared and your system is optimized.

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Using LiGO® reports to run smooth operations

Sep
2017

After this you may want to go to our Best Practices guide to get a better feel of reports and how they work.

With LiGO reports, you don’t have to be a computer technician to retrieve and display reporting data that’s going to improve the quality of work. accessibility and compatibility is something we can guarantee with LiGO reports. Reports are an indispensable tool for running businesses. It can be said that a successful business is one that critically utilizes its reports to mediate its future actions. Expedient use of reports can achieve three things very well. The first, is tracking progress towards specific business goals. Secondly, reports aid in increasing revenues, whilst controlling expenditures. Thirdly, when it comes to gaining an advantage over your competitors, reports help managers predict both operations and industry trends.

That is where we come into frame! LiGO® software has extensive reporting capabilities with over 20 standard built in report formats. These built in reports can easily be customized and then saved as custom reports for later use. LiGO® runs intuitive user friendly ad-hoc reporting capabilities in a variety of types, formats, and methods. Compatibility features mean you can easily upload reports onto office programs like excel, and make reports available to other levels of operations across the board. Reports can be created, printed, or exported in real-time based on specific vehicles, time-frames, and events such as idling, or reckless driving.

Reports can easily be programmed to be emailed automatically based on user specified schedules which makes the task of keeping up with reports more streamlined in operations. The reports features are also compatible with LiGO® mobile for when you’re ‘on the go’. With reports you may also create score cards for your drivers to reward those that are efficient.

Bellow are some sample images of different types of reports.

Rate the level of productivity of each driver

Recieve detailed reports of driver total activity during work orders

For work order specific jobs, software can be set to recognize utility vehicle activities

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The Growing importance of Telematics in the Insurance Industry

Sep
2017

Often in motor vehicle accidents, the details about what occurred that resulted in damages are obscure. Disputes become a ‘word against word’ situation with both parties reflecting separate versions of the truth. Accidents that happen with no witnesses or police officers around, in places like parking lots or the countryside can be hard to deal with if the information is coming from only those directly involved. There are many other circumstances in which insurance claims can get complicated very quickly and force two or more parties into a legal battle. Collision accidents, are one of the ways; there are also delivery services usually held accountable for the location of things, construction companies responsible for equipment, as well as other real world problems like fraud.

Telematics services like the ones offered by MarshallGIS do an incredible job of gathering and storing vehicle data that consequently ends up being valuable in legal insurance disputes. With the ongoing rapid industry growth, this data is only going to get better and more accurate. In many ways we are only beginning to see the full potential of the way telematics could revolutionize insurance. Numerous car manufacture’s like Nissan and Ford, as well as Many parts of the developed, and developing world alike, have seen an increase in the use of telematics as a tool for insurance claims. Furthermore, regulatory bodies like the FMCSA moving forward with ELD regulations, paint a fairly clear picture of the direction in which we are headed.

The data collected can be used as puzzle pieces that help uncover the ‘full picture’ about what happened to the vehicles in consideration. At a basic level the data collected that can be used include:

Direction
Speed
Time
Location
Force of impact
Driver behavior
Vehicle Damage
Sensor information

The combination of this data helps insurers and parties involved recreate accidents in a court setting and assign responsibility in a fair manner. This data also aides in acquiring estimates for damage costs, reducing the likelihood of fraud, and create a more systematic claims process which in the long run reduce costs for everyone. Already, there are insurance systems designed to reward and lower premiums for better drivers judged by the telematics data they’ve accumulated.

MarshallGIS can help managers retain consistency and organization while providing them with the most information possible to safely and efficiently run operations that have potential for accidents and high costs in damages. Through our numerous software features such as LiGO® reports which make data easy to understand, as well as the compatibility of smart devices with LiGO®, YOU, as a manager will never be caught off guard. We equip you with the tools to make sure that you are not only operating cost efficiently but also that you are not losing money to fraud claims.

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LiGO® Features: Smart Tracking System

Aug
2017

LiGO® devices have been specially programmed to track data when a significant event occurs. A significant event could be an on board system being engaged, vehicle direction change, Miles traveled, and/or time elapsed. The Smart Tracking System™ relies on event-based, rather than just time-based.

This keeps the data stream to LiGO® reduced to only meaningful data, reducing post processing requirements (data reduction) and significantly reducing M2M data costs. To the right is an example of how smart tracking also provides better adherence to the base map – no crossing buildings and parcels which might happen with delivery of data based only on time. This is significantly better than just gathering a track point every 2 minutes or even at 10 second intervals.
Additionally, event based tracking can provide fleets such as garbage collection trucks, street sweeping fleets, or public transportation fleets, and the managers in charge of them, with the ability to merge track data with other GIS data.

The use of a dump truck’s hydraulic arm, or the moment a street sweeper deploys its brooms can be set as events and displayed as data points view-able in LiGO®.

You can also see when perhaps someone is overworking a task, as show in the beyond superior sweeping in the cul-de-sac shown below

beyond superior sweeping in the cul-de-sac

Below is a side by side comparison of smart tracking (on the left) and time-based tracking (on the right).

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Coming to a county near you!

Aug
2017

Here at MarshallGIS we work towards expanding our business relationships through the application of our software in both public and private sectors; going above and beyond to provide an avenue for optimizing operations. Our goal is to equip businesses of varying sizes with the latest in telematics technologies which make fleet management more efficient, safer, and economically organized. We’ve seen a clear shift in the way fleets are managed with the advent of technology and digitization of information, and believe in our ability to maximize our software to most professional needs. Below is a map highlighting states in which we’re currently providing our services through GeoKNX® Software, LiGO® Vehicle Tracking, and Professional Services alike.

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Electronic Logging Devices to be Required Across Commercial Truck and Bus Industries

Aug
2017

“Since 1938, complex on-duty/off-duty logs for truck and bus drivers were made with pencil and paper, virtually impossible to verify,”. This quote by the US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx sheds light on the relatively antiquated methods of logging that the fleet-vehicle related industries have used for nearly a century. Hundreds of hours of handling paperwork, billions of dollars in paper production and consumption, and the environmental damage is precisely why the U.S department of transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced on December 10, 2015 the adoption of Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs) like the ones offered by our services.

On top of the organizational and environmental motives to make this switch, there are also the safety benefits. Fatigue is a major cause of accidents for commercial drivers, with one report by the FMCSA claiming that at least 13% of commercial truck crashes are directly due to driver fatigue. ELDs improve the quality of monitoring driving times, engine hours, vehicle movements, and vehicle location reducing the chances of drivers being over worked. The FMCSA estimated that this switch will prevent up to 26 on road fatalities, and up to 526 injuries that would result from crashes involving commercial motor vehicles, not to mention the cutbacks in costs.

The National Safety Council found that of those polled, 43% of american workers claimed that they do not get enough sleep to mitigate critical tasks. Of these polled, 81% of them held jobs that were at high risk for fatigue, jobs that required high attention, or were physically or cognitively demanding such as drivers or construction workers. All aspects that that with the use of ELDs, can be monitored and prevented.

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Fleet Management is Changing

Aug
2017

This is what Steve Anderson, fleet manager for Sentry Insurance had to say when asked about the ways in which fleet management is changing; “In the future, making decisions based on data will be critical. As younger drivers enter fleet, finding ways to appeal to this group through the use of mobile apps and other technology is also important. When you look at the changes made in technology over the past 10 years, it’s pretty incredible.” (Via AutomotiveFleet) Similar sentiments were expressed by Sheri Bonsall, John Dmochowsky, Anthony Foster, and Erin Gilchrist all notable figures in the fleet management industry. Between selecting vehicles, record keeping, maintenance, driver management education and training, and managing profits and losses, the demand for competent fleet managers is increasing, and so is the extent of the operational tasks.

The truth of the matter is that technology never stops and neither will the subsequent transformations of today’s industries. The modern conceptualization of fleet managers began to gain traction in the second half of the 20th century specifically in the 70’s and 80’s when businesses began expanding beyond their immediate surroundings. This was largely due to the rapidly growing global economy with the exception of the economic crash of 87. Increases in cross border trade deals, and advances in technologies made mass production possible, this amplified by an overall increase in consumerism also played a role. Survey data gathered from fleet managers in the US suggested that the amount of time spent between finances, operations, recruitment and other related activities usually exceeds an eight hour work day.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced regulations requiring (with very few exceptions), that carriers and drivers who are using on paper logging and other hard copy logging methods must transition to Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs). These are set to take precedence beginning on December 17th, 2017. This also applies to carriers and drivers who use AOBRDS. These regulations will no doubt affect a large portion of fleet businesses and public works operations. The push is being made to promote better driver safety regulations and essentially move away from the archaic method of logging, into a greener more streamlined electronic method.

So why MarshallGIS? Because we can grow with you as your business grows. We are expert at integrating LiGO® with business systems and mapping systems that you use every day. We understand that these types of transitions seem like daunting tasks, especially for managers who have been in the business for a number of years and have become accustomed to a certain way of running operations. We accommodate a variety of work management business systems integrations. Our developers, trainers and support team are all in one company with a 23 year track record of success! Our software is designed to create user-friendly access to the large sums of data and logging information. The integration of smart devices with our software means that as an overseer of operations, you will always be up to date with the status of each individual, asset, and job under your watch!

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Blog

The Commonly Overlooked Intricacies of GPS Tracking Systems

LiGO® Return on Investment

LiGO® Reports Best Practices

Small and Large Fleets Facing Tough Decisions in Regards to ELD Solutions

Using LiGO® reports to run smooth operations

The Growing importance of Telematics in the Insurance Industry

LiGO® Features: Smart Tracking System

Coming to a county near you!

Electronic Logging Devices to be Required Across Commercial Truck and Bus Industries

Fleet Management is Changing

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