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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.
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.
School boards are under pressure to not only provide a safe, reliable transportation service to school children and their parents, but also to run as efficiently as possible in light of today’s budget restraints. A GPS tracking system can make a school bus fleet more profitable, plus it helps to keep children safe.
Which is why last week in Prince County, Maryland, a local school board voted and approved to upgrade the school system’s fleet of buses with new GPS tracking systems.
The new GPS tracking system will provide several benefits to the school bus fleet. In addition to being able to guide drivers who have gotten lost, the system will be able to track if a bus is speeding and send e-mail updates. Previously, the only way to know would be to do radar checks or rely on complaints. The system can also monitor bus driving patterns to make sure drivers operate their vehicles efficiently, eliminating unnecessary idling, observing speed limits and not taking detours.
Hundreds of thousands of pets go missing every year, and according to the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy, only 15 to 20 percent of lost dogs and only two percent of lost cats are ever returned to their owners. Pet owners can now put their minds at ease as they no longer have to worry about their dog or cats getting lost, thanks to Tagg—The Pet Tracker.
Tagg is a GPS-enabled, wireless pet tracking system that enables pet parents to monitor their animals’ location. Tagg provides peace of mind for any pet parent by providing them access to their pet’s whereabouts via a mobile phone, mobile device or computer.
The Tagg pet tracking system uses advanced GPS technology to enable pet owners to know where their pets are and be notified if they wander off. Tagg uses a sophisticated combination of GPS and wireless technology to monitor a pet’s location and quickly notify the owner via email and/or text if the pet leaves its Tagg zone, the area where it spends most of its time—typically the home, yard and adjacent areas.
Did you know that a lot of smart phones encode the location of where pictures are taken? Anyone who has a copy can access this information. If you or someone yu know snaps a photo of you and then uploads it to the internet on social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter, it is very easy to figure out exactly where the picture was taken.
Browser plug-ins and certain software programs can reveal the geotag location information of your photos and movies to anyone who wants to see it. Location information (GPS coordinates) stored inside photos can reveal your home address, work address, places you visit often, etc. Geotags can make it very easy for people – friends, family, bosses, spouses, parents – to know exactly where you are.
While this may be disconcerting (especially for parents of teenagers!) the good news is disabling geo-tagging on your phone is easy.
