Read from our blogs
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.
Yesterday firefighters found a woman and her three young children who became lost while hiking Meriden Mountain at Camp Sloper in Southington, Connecticut. The mother of three ultimately helped rescue herself and her family using the GPS tracking system on her cell phone. Good thing there’s a cell phone signal up there!
The woman and her three children, aged 6 to 9, began their hike around 6:30 p.m on Monday evening. They hiked up the mountain and became lost after stepping off the trail, according to Fire Lt. John Folcik. The woman called 911 around 8 p.m. and remained on the phone while Southington and Meriden firefighters searched for the stranded family.
Gas prices have continued to decline in recent weeks. The average retail price for a gallon of unleaded regular gas in the US is currently $3.56, down 3 cents from one week ago, and down 13 cents from one month ago. This is the third week in a row that gas prices have declined, following five weeks of increases.
A gallon of diesel gas is currently averaging $3.87 per gallon, down 2 cents from one week ago and down 8 cents from one month ago.
Oil prices, which account for about 65 percent of the cost of making gasoline, closed Monday at about $84 a barrel.
In Mexico many families are constantly living under the threat of being kidnapped. It is a scary but true reality. Kidnappings are up 317 percent in the past five years, according to a recent Mexican congressional report.
Wealthy and upper class Mexicans living in fear of being kidnapped are turning to GPS tracking devices as a precautionary measure. People are spending thousands of dollars to have GPS tracking-enabled RFID chips implanted under their skin and the skin of family members.
However, scientists are claiming the tracking devices don’t work, according to The Washington Post.
The chip, implanted in the tissue between the shoulder and elbow, sends a signal to a GPS tracking device that the wearer carries. The chip relays a signal to an external Global Positioning System unit the size of a cellphone, but if the owner is stripped of the GPS device in the event of an abduction, Xega can still track down its clients by sending radio signals to the implant. The company says it has helped rescue 178 clients in the past decade
According to the Post, this claim seems very unlikely to be true.
The FBI says a robbery suspect managed to get away with cash from a suburban Chicago bank, but he also got something he hadn’t bargained for — a GPS tracking system. The robbery suspect was arrested after police monitored his movements through a GPS tracking system hidden with cash he stole from a bank, according to officials.
After a man walked into a local Chicago Bank of America branch, he spoke with a bank teller and then handed the bank employee a note that said he wanted her to hand over a bag of cash. Not wanting to escalate the situation, the bank teller placed a bunch of cash into a bag and handed the money to the bank robber. However, the quick-thinking bank teller also placed a GPS tracking system in the bag, allowing police to follow the cash in real-time.
The fight between LightSquared and the GPS industry is heating up again. LightSquared is accusing the GPS industry of failing to follow US Department of Defense (DoD) GPS filtering standards, and the GPS industry saying in return that LightSquared clearly doesn’t understand the technology it is trying to sell.
LightSquared is proposing to create a nationwide satellite-based voice and Internet data service. It received conditional approval to do so from the FCC in January as long as the company could show that its operations wouldn’t interfere with existing GPS systems, a fear expressed by GPS device manufacturers and users alike. Tests completed this spring demonstrated that GPS systems would indeed be interfered with by LightSquared proposed operations. LightSquared said in June not to worry, though, since it had developed a technical solution to the interference problem.
LightSquared asked the FCC why it needs to change its operations when the GPS interference problem clearly resides with an irresponsible GPS industry that is only interested in “squatting for free on someone else’s licensed spectrum.”
Stop Wasting Money on Excess Idling With FieldLogix Fleet GPS
Did you know that each year fleet vehicles burn 8.9 billion gallons of fuel annually due to unnecessary idling and speeding? Chances are each of your vehicles burns up to 800 gallons of fuel per year due to unnecessary idling alone, which costs an estimated $2,864 per vehicle annually based on current gas prices of $3.58 a gallon.
Excessive idling is a tried and true fuel waster and is extraordinarily common in truck fleets, where frequent stops and starts are common.
The FieldLogix Customized Green Report identifies which vehicles are wasting time and money on excessive idling and speeding. The Excessive Fuel Report calculates how much money this is costing and shows how much CO2 is being emitted due to these avoidable driving habits. The green reporting features give each vehicle a Green Score and ranks each driver by who is most efficient.
FieldLogix Fleet GPS can you exactly how long a vehicle or group of vehicles has been idling – in real time or via minute-by-minute reports. You can see online where a vehicle was parked at each idling session, overlaid on familiar Google Maps. When enabled, idle alerts can be requested over the next 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60 minutes, or set to alert you every 10 minutes via cell phone text message or email.
Gas prices have dropped for two consecutive weeks in the US, and further decreases are expected in September. A gallon of regular unleaded gas is currently averaging $3.58, compared to $3.68 one month ago. At this rate, could prices drop below $3.50 by the end of September, after the end of the peak summer driving season.
Several analysts and experts expect that gas prices will move down very sharply after nearing close to $4 earlier in the year. The Wall Street Journal reports that lower oil prices may trigger this. “Somewhere along the line, there will be a 10- to 15-cent drop in gasoline prices,” said Kyle Cooper, managing partner of IAF Energy Advisors in Houston. “You have to expect that those prices start to trickle down.”
Ever been stuck waiting for a bus, train or ferry and wondered, “Where the heck is my ride? Well, thanks to modern GPS technology, this issue may become a thing of the past. New GPS tracking systems are being installed across the country so people can monitor the whereabouts of their public transportation in real-time.
This type of tracking system is especially helpful to people when the weather conditions are severe. No one likes standing in the rain, snow or extreme heat waiting for a ride. Now when a bus or train is late, you can take shelter from the heat or cold because you will know exactly when your ride will be arriving.
In Michigan, people on-the-go who use a smart phone or another hand-held device that can access the Internet will be able to track the location of their city bus fleet in real-time using GPS tracking technology. Passengers will be able to tell when the bus will get to their stop.
Gas prices fell last week as consumer confidence reached a 30-year low, pushing oil prices down. On Monday, at the end of trading on the NYMEX, crude oil settled at $87.88 per barrel, up $2.50.
While crude oil prices have exhibited dramatic shifts in momentum in recent trading, gasoline prices have continued to steadily decline. The current national retail average price for a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline is $3.59. Today’s average price is seven cents cheaper than one week ago and eight cents cheaper than one month ago, but remains 83 cents higher than one year ago according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report.
After rising for 25 of 31 days in July, the national average price at the pump has fallen for 14 of 15 days to begin August. As of today, Hawaii ($4.11) is the only state that remains above the $4 per gallon threshold.
