FieldLogix Blog

75% of Drivers Open to Sharing GPS Data with Insurance Companies

Over 75% of auto insurance policyholders in the U.S. would welcome a telematics-based insurance program, if sharing their driving data had the potential to reduce their insurance premiums, according to the 2010 LexisNexis Risk Solutions Telematics Survey. The Telematics Survey measured auto policyholder receptivity to allowing insurance companies to use data collected from telematics devices in their vehicles to help determine rates.

The LexisNexis telematics survey measured consumer comfort levels around sharing personal driving information compared to other types of personal information from sources including Internet banking, mobile phones and social networking sites. The results showed policyholders more comfortable sharing GPS system driving data with insurance companies than personal information on social networking sites like Facebook.

Additionally the study found that:

* Over 57% of policyholders are comfortable sharing information about events that led to traffic accidents with insurance companies. 57% of policyholders also believe that auto insurance rates should be determined by actual driving data.
* Only 29% indicated they were comfortable with social networking sites storing personal information such as messages and photos posted on websites.

* Policyholders’ main concern is privacy; however they are more receptive to sharing driving data with insurance carriers than they are to sharing personal information with banks, or allowing mobile phone carriers to store text messages.
* 80% of policyholders believe that tailgating should affect rates.
* 59% of policyholders believe that miles driven per year should be used to determine rates.
* More than half of policyholders feel that minor speeding infractions (5 mph over the speed limit) should not impact rates.

Demand For Vehicle Tracking Solutions Increasing

According to a new research report from Berg Insight, by the end of this year (2010), 4.3 million passenger cars in Europe will contain an on-board telematics system. Stolen vehicle tracking is still the primary telematics application, followed by automatic emergency call, driver assistance and auto insurance telematics.

The Berg Insight report on the European car telematics market was quite positive. According to the Berg report, the global automotive industry crisis is behind us, as the market has been improving. Demand for aftermarket vehicle tracking solutions is now coming back to pre-financial crisis levels. The OEM market segment is showing signs of increasing activity. Many programs that were aborted in late 2008 have now been resurrected as car manufacturers are putting new focus on their telematics strategies.

Fleet Management System Optimizes Resources and Make Customers Happier

The Best GPS Fleet Management Systems Cut Costs and Increase Customer Satisfaction.

Do you want to save your company money by running a more efficient business? A good GPS fleet management system can optimize your business resources and make customers happier. GPS fleet tracking devices can capture location data every few seconds and transmit it to back-office software for real-time map display and in-depth performance analysis.

Cut Fuel Costs and Increase Customer Satisfaction with FieldLogix GPS Vehicle Fleet Tracking and Fleet Management System. With FieldLogix you can track your fleet vehicles with real-time fleet tracking, and always know where your vehicles are 24/7.

AT&T Adds to It’s CA Fleet with Unique Alternative Fuel Vehicle

The latest addition to AT&T’s green fleet is a one of a kind fleet vehicle. The custom fleet vehicle is a Ford F-450 truck that has been converted to compressed natural gas (CNG) and contains a hybrid electric system for power. The AT&T corporate fleet is made up of more than 75,900 vehicles.

The all-new vehicle fleet is part of AT&T’s nearly 1,600 alternative fuel vehicle fleet in California. This “green” fleet is expected to reduce over 3,500 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year and reduce annual consumption of regular gasoline by over one million gallons. AT&T utilizes approximately 2,700 hybrid and CNG fleet vehicles nationwide with roughly 60% in California. Development of this all new fleet vehicle is one of myriad ways the company is committed to reducing its carbon footprint.

Economic Guide to Greening Your Fleet With EV’s

he Fleet Electrification Roadmap is a guide that provides insight and analysis on the economics of electric vehicles for fleet management. The Fleet Roadmap recognizes the myriad financial and technological challenges for fleet management in converting a gas-fueled fleet of vehicles to electric.

The analysis within the Fleet Roadmap suggests that with targeted policies in place, fleet adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles could reach 200,000 vehicles by 2015. The report includes the results of a detailed total cost of ownership analysis for electric vehicles in fleets for several different industries.

Federal Tax Credits Helps Fleets Go Electric

A report was given to Congress last week stating that Congress should provide tax credits and renewable energy bonds to replace the 16 million fleet cars and trucks in the U.S. with electric vehicles and develop the infrastructure required to power them. An organization called Electrification Coalition (EC) announced the conclusions of their report at a news conference last week.
EC said that wants to see electric fleet vehicles utilized on a huge scale. In their report, EC makes the case that identifying and solving issues arising from modernizing fleets with electric vehicles will have spillover effects for the rest of the American population.

UCSD’s Green Fleet One of the Greenest Government Vehicle Fleets in US

The University of San Diego (UCSD) Fleet Services ranked 22nd in the Seventh Annual Government Green Fleet Awards, a competition of environmentally friendly vehicle-fleet operations that is open to all federal, state and local governments in North America. According to Rex Graham of UCSD, UCSD takes great pride in its green fleet, and looks forward to further reducing its fleet emissions and overall carbon footprint. UC San Diego’s Fleet Services ranked 22nd UC Davis’ vehicle fleet ranked fourth. The two UC campuses were the only college campuses ranked. The city of San Diego’s vehicle fleet ranked 19th.

A panel of judges based the ranking on performance in seven categories:

* The degree to which fleets are made up of hybrid, electric, and alternative-fuel vehicles.
* Use of renewable fuels.
* Planning that includes budgeting for future additions of green technologies.
* Use of vehicles that are appropriately sized for the required tasks.
* A high degree of utilization of all vehicles in the fleet.
* Executive and employee involvement in implementation of improved green technologies.
* Support programs such as recycling, applying for grants and maintenance-facility improvements.

Golf GPS System Reviews 2010 – Garmin, SkyCaddie and Golf Buddy

Handheld Golf GPS System Reviews 2010

Garmin Approach G3 Golf GPS

The Approach G3 is a more affordable version of the Garmin GPS for Golf G5.

* Detailed golf course maps give precise distance information about fairways, hazards and greens from any point on the golf course
* The GPS device will continuously update your position and show you the distance to each target
* The Approach G3 steps away from our traditional recreational product line to bring something brand new to the golf market at lower price point

G3 has a smaller screen than the G5 (2.6 inches diagonally, vs. the G5’s 3 inches and has about an inch less in height and width. However, it still has many of the great G5 features, including:

* Free pre-loaded golf course maps in the U.S. and Canada plus free updates.
* Touchscreen operation and touch-targeting.
* Waterproof.
* Hole preview.
* Digital scorecard (but no stats pack).
* High-sensitivity receiver.

Golf GPS System Reviews 2010 – Garmin, Callaway and OnPar

Golf GPS System Reviews 2010

Garmin Approach G5 golf GPS

* Rugged, waterproof golf GPS unit with 3-inch sunlight-readable touchscreen display
* U.S. golf course maps preloaded, including fairways, hazards, and greens
* No annual fee; new maps available for download from Garmin.com
* Measure shot distance with highly sensitive readings to eliminate guesswork from your game
* Digital scorecard for up to 4 players; save and review scores on your computer at home

The G5’s features have easy-to-follow menus on the touchscreen. The best part is Garmin preloads a database of 14,000+ courses for free, and adds courses and updates for free via its website. The database is fairly extensive and should have most of your local courses. A nice feature is that it can show distances to and from anywhere on the course just by touching and dragging. Touch your target for a distance, or touch and move the flag for precision distance. The G5 also has a good score-keeping utility.

The Garmin GPS Approach G5 for golf retails for $399-440 but I found it for sale online for $300 at Amazon.com.

Make Fleet Management Projections with Free 30 Day Trial

Ever wondered if a GPS fleet management system would save you money? Well now you can easily find out for free and with no obligation. FieldLogix was designed to help you identify where and how you can make fleets operations leaner and greener. FieldLogix offers a free 30 day demo of its fleet tracking system.

The free demo helps fleet managers to see potential cost savings based on actual fleet tracking data. The Trends Feature helps fleet managers to visualize their fleets idle, speeding, and mileage trends, and assists them to make actionable business decisions.

It allows users to drill down and views historical trending graphs of three key metrics.

1.) Idle Time – The total amount of idling hours for the asset, group, or all, during the specified time range.

2.) Speeding Occurrences – The total number of times the asset, group, or all, traveled in excessive of 65MPH during the specified time range.

3.) Total Mileage – The total miles traveled for the asset, group, or all, during the specified time period.

Green Fleet Vehicle Market Boosted by GE EV Purchase

This week GE announced plans to purchase 25,000 electric cars by 2015. This the largest purchase in the history of electric vehicles. The purchases will be for its own fleet and for its Capital Fleet Services business, where customers can lease electric cars through GE. GE plans to convert over 50 percent of its massive global fleet (over 10,000 fleet vehicles) and purchase 12,000 electric cars from GM.

GM does big business in fleet sales. Fleet sales look like they’re going to be a key part of electric vehicle adoption. Corporate fleets make a lot of sense because of their sheer volume. Plus GE fleet sales are quite profitable. One of the most popular green fleet vehicles is the GE Volt, an electric vehicle that shifts to gas power after going 25 to 50 miles on its battery, so drivers aren’t entirely dependent on the battery.

According to BusinessWeek, gigantic orders like this could do a lot to push electric vehicle prices down and speed up adoption. “By electrifying our own fleet, we will accelerate the adoption curve, drive scale, and move electric vehicles from anticipation to action,” CEO Jeffrey Immelt said in a company statement.

Stop GPS Data Recorded in Photos From Revealing Where You Live

Did you know that GPS location data can be recorded when someone takes a picture of you?

According to the New York Times, when Adam Savage, host of the popular science program “MythBusters,” posted a picture on Twitter of his car parked in front of his house, he let his fans know much more than that he drove a Toyota Land Cruiser. Embedded in the image was a geotag, a bit of GPS data providing the longitude and latitude of where the photo was taken. Hence, he revealed exactly where he lived. And since the accompanying text was “Now it’s off to work,” potential thieves knew he would not be at home.

Geotagging is when a device such as an iPhone, Android smartphone or digital camera stores your location or geographical information, such as your GPS coordinates, within a photo or movie file (such as .jpg or .mov files). According to Wikipedia, a geotagged photograph is a photograph which is associated with a geographical location by geotagging. Geotags are useful in helping people find a wide variety of location-specific information. For example, one can find images taken near a given location by entering latitude and longitude coordinates into a suitable image search engine.

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