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Fleet management systems have been around a while and have become so complex that it has evolved into Field Resource Management. This article explores 5 reasons why all fleets need at least a basic Field Resource Management system.
Whether you manage a fleet of 5 vans or hundreds of vehicles, a Garmin GPS fleet tracking system can help you to manage and improve mobile worker performance, reduce expenses and increase customer satisfaction.
A Garmin fleet tracking system can make your mobile employees and contractors more accountable, productive and efficient. Improving employee performance will not only make your customers more happy but it will make your drivers safe and at less risk of an accident.
Garmin LogoWith a Garmin fleet tracking system, dispatchers can locate and assign the best vehicle and driver nearest to the customer. This improved efficiency often leads to 1-2 additional service calls per day, per technician.
NY Appeals Court Approves GPS Tracking of Employees
Based on the court’s ruling in November, the New York State Department of Labor was within its rights when it placed a GPS tracking device on an employee’s private car without his knowledge and monitored him for several weeks (even after work hours and while he was on vacation) to determine whether he was submitting fraudulent time cards. [More…]
The case – Michael A. Cunningham v New York State Department of Labor – is just the latest to raise the question of GPS tracking by the government. In a 3-2 decision on Wednesday, the court dismissed claims by Michael Cunningham, a former Labor Department employee who was fired for misconduct, that the use of the global positioning system device had constituted illegal search and seizure.
The NY Labor Dept. fired Cunningham in 2010, who was first hired in 1980, but had a history of misconduct, relying on data from a GPS tracking device placed in his personal car to show he had submitted false expense sheets and other travel records. Cunningham sued and demanded a new hearing, saying the data should have been suppressed at his termination hearing.
Law enforcement agents do not need to obtain a warrant before placing a secret GPS tracking device on your vehicle, says a Missouri federal judge, who just ruled the FBI did not need a warrant to secretly attach a GPS tracking device to a government employee’s car to track his public movements for two months.
The FBI suspected that Fred Robinson was a “no-show employee” at the St. Louis City Treasurer’s Office — alleging that he collected $175,000 in paychecks without ever actually going to work, reports the Post-Dispatch and Forbes Magazine. While the FBI was investigating Robinson for this and for stealing money from a charter school, agents snuck a GPS tracking device onto the bottom of his Chevrolet Cavalier in January 2010 and used it to track his whereabouts for the next two months.
A court opinion notes that it would have taken “five or six agents” to do it without the GPS tracking device. The tracking device data allegedly proved that the employment time sheets Robinson submitted to the Treasury Office January through March were false.
GPS Tracking Takes Privacy Invasion to a Whole New Level
In November 2011, the Supreme Court began hearing arguments in US v Jones, a case The New York Times recently dubbed “the most important Fourth Amendment case in a decade.”
The Jones case will set the precedent for the legality and limitations of GPS tracking without a warrant. The Supreme Courts will address a question that has divided the lower courts for years: Do the police need a warrant to attach a GPS device to a suspect’s car and track its movements for weeks at a time?
The NY Times said, “the answer will bring Fourth Amendment law into the digital age, addressing how its 18th-century prohibition of “unreasonable searches and seizures” applies to a world in which people’s movements are continuously recorded by devices in their cars, pockets and purses, by toll plazas and by transit systems.
gps satellite tracking systemLast week China launched Beidou, its own version of America’s GPS System. China’s new global positioning system, called the Beidou Navigation Satellite System started providing initial positioning, navigation and timing services ina and around China last week, said spokesman Ran Chengqi in a news conference.
To date China has launched 10 satellites for the Beidou GPS system. By the end of 2012 China plans to have six more satellites in orbit, to enhance the system’s accuracy and expand its service to cover most of the Asian-Pacific region.
China’s Beidou still can’t compete with the U.S.’s GPS system in terms of how long, and how accurately it can monitor any part of the globe from space, but this will be changing in the near future.
GPS, which was launched for civilian use in 1995, now consists of 30 satellites and can be accurate to within less than 10 meters, or 33 feet, although the U.S. military has access to more precise readings. Mr. Ran said Beidou was accurate to within 25 meters and would reduce that to 10 meters by the end of next year.
Sante Fe Hopes GPS Tracking Can Help Reduce Repetitive Incarceration
With overcrowded jails, soaring incarceration costs and high recidivism rates, city officials in Santa Fe launched a new system that tracks convicted burglars through GPS devices rather than putting them in jail. The city is hoping the GPS tracking devices will be able to deter burglars from striking again, something that can be quite challenging to do.
Santa Fe Police Capt. Aric Wheeler told ABC News the idea for the program originated as an alternative to repetitive incarceration, which is expensive. Wheeler said that it also did little to deter burglaries and police would see an immediate spike in burglaries as soon as criminals got out of jail.
Linx Electric provides complete electrical system wiring for commercial and industrial facilities of all types and sizes in southern Louisiana. In June, with a growing customer base and over a dozen technicians serving an area more than 1,000 square miles, the company needed a solution that would provide real-time GPS data and allow them to efficiently route and communicate with technicians for faster service.
**Linx Electric**
Linx Electric chose FieldLogix GPS Tracking System and ever since the company has had “more efficient communication, faster customer service, and improved navigation,” said Danyelle Braud, Dispatch Manager of Linx Electric.
Gartner (NYSE: IT) analysts identified the top 10 cutting-edge technologies and trends for 2012, focusing on high-end devices with an average selling price of more than $300 dollars. Location-based services was listed first on the company’s top-10 list.
GPS service comes pre-installed in essentially any smartphone on the market these days, so location-based services and apps are becoming increasingly popular. LBSs can locate specific addresses with street-corner accuracy, and help friends and family find each other. Plus you can set up virtual fences around key locations, such as malls, parks, beaches, movie theaters, sports facilities, work locations … and be notified when children or employees enter or leave these important places.
Lowest Gas Prices in 10 Months
As crude oil prices dropped last week, the price of gasoline at the pump continued to decline and is now at the lowest point since February 23.
