GPS Tracking Educational Webinar

by | Dec 29, 2018 | Fleet Management, Industry Info

Education is Key

GPS Tracking Educational Webinar

GPS Tracking Educational Webinar

Many fleet owners understand there is value in GPS vehicle and asset tracking technology but they don’t know where to begin or understand the overall technology. By not knowing what to ask or look for a fleet manager is subject to a sales person’s perspective, option, guidance or twist on a solution to stated fleet problems. Our GPS Tracking Educational Webinar prepares you to make a better decision.

We’ve all heard education is power but it is also money. If you are not educated and make a bad in investment, it will cost you or your company money. As in most industries and situations, there may be 3-4 ways to resolve an issue with a technology solution. In every industry there is low end, low-cost solutions all the way to expensive and complete solutions. Knowing what you need, understanding the technology and being clear on a process will ensure you get the right solution for the lowest investment.

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Weather Impacts Logistics

by | Dec 27, 2018 | Fleet Management

Navigate Hazards

Weather Impacts Logistics
Mother nature sets the rules. Our job is to use data available to avoid issues.
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How Weather Impacts Logistics

 

Weather impacts logistics and our lives like few other variables. We plan vacations around weather. We stay inside when it snows and we hit the beach when it is nice. In business, logistics dictate a significant percentage of our decisions and profitability. Driving into a storm around Chicago means excessive delays, higher costs, and missed delivery windows. Good weather data helps dispatchers, drivers and planners avoid these issues in real-time and in the near future.

  • Road conditions for trucking industry
  • Lightning strikes for field service workers
  • Rain volume for building, roofing and road construction, utility work

 

Safety & Productivity Benefits

 

  • Improve customer satisfaction with reliable scheduling
  • Reduced wages of people sitting around
  • Improve safety and reduce accidents
  • Deliver on-time and make more deliveries
  • Reduce call-backs and appointment cancellations
  • Reduce lighting strike or flood risk for outdoor activities

Weather Data Available

Current Weather

  • Radar, US
  • Radar, Canada
  • Lightning
  • Weather Observations
  • IR Satellite
  • Watches and Warnings
  • Air Temperature
  • Wind Speed
  • Road Conditions
  • Roadway Threats
  • Driver Weather

This is a paid service.

Forecast Weather

  • Predictive Radar
  • Severe Storm Probability 1, 2, 3 days
  • Tropical Storm Forecast
  • Snow Fall Accumulation Forecast
  • Wind Speed & Direction
  • Rainfall Accumulation
  • Storm Spaghetti Model
  • Road Condition (black ice, snow, etc)
  • Current Road Conditions
  • Current Roadway Threats
  • Current Driver Weather

This is a paid service.

Driver-Weather-App

Driver Feedback & Safety

 

Enabling drivers to see and communicate how weather impacts logistics on the road will enhance driver buy-in and improve effective communication with dispatch and logistics planners

Barron-Weather-Radar-for-Fleets

Logistics Planning

 

Moving good around town or across North America takes planning. Daily decisions are made based on traffic patterns and accidents but weather plays less of a role in the planning process. With the right weather data, customer expectations can be properly set, less time is wasted and wages saved stuck in a snow storm, or resources can be repositioned to address weather events.

Barron-Weather-Radar-for-Fleets

Current Weather

 

Real-time weather information is vital in industries that provide a rapid response or delivery services. Roadside assistance organizations serving the trucking industry must know the current weather and how that impacts their ability to safely and quickly service transportation companies. The individual dispatcher is able to make rapid decisions which impact customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and driver safety.

Barron-Weather-Radar-for-Fleets

Future Weather

 

Long-haul trucking and transportation can use future weather data to plan routes which are likely not to be delayed due to weather. Knowing a snow storm will cross a route in 24 hours, a tornado path is set to hit a delivery location or severe rains will cover a region all have the potential to have a significant impact on logistics planning and operations.

Future Weather Aids Planning

Weather-Warnings
Weather-Future-Track
Current Weather Layer Definitions

 

 

Fleet Privacy Mode

by | Dec 27, 2018 | Announcements-News, Geotab

Privacy Mode Mobile View

Privacy Mode Mobile App
The Privacy Feature will be implemented in phases and will improve over time.

Privacy Mode in Geotab

Fleet Privacy Mode is a feature that allows drivers and dispatchers to freely stop driving activity for selected vehicles from appearing in user interface and API. Privacy Mode is intended for market-specific instances that require the driver to have optional intervals of privacy, such as when using a work vehicle for personal time or taking a work vehicle home at night. Many municipal agencies offer take home vehicles yet need to keep the employees general home private.

With PM enabled, information related to the vehicles position, speed, and engine data will not be processed as usual. Driving data created by a vehicle in PM will be marked as private when being stored into a Geotab database. Any such data cannot be viewed in online or extracted from the API using normal means. In circumstances like accident events, the manufacturer can extract private data for a vehicle to assist with event reconstruction, provided Geotab is given permission to access this data. Prior to granting such permission to Geotab, the customer must ensure they have received all necessary consents from the driver of the vehicle in question.

Privacy Mode is currently a beta feature. As a beta feature, Privacy Mode is still undergoing development and may have a number of bugs related to reports, the map, the rules engine, and other parts of the fleet management system. Customers can request to participate in beta service but there is no support provided to resolve issues. Learn more about the GO System.

Fleet Privacy Mode Trip

The Trips History page will indicate any trips made in Privacy Mode with an icon and the title Private trip. Trip data can be set to remain private for a period of time of totally excluded from the customer account.

Learn More

Geotab Fuel Tracking Application

by | Dec 26, 2018 | Fleet Management

Lower Fuel Expenses with Oversight

Fuel consumption is a significant variable when considering your rolling cost per mile which ties directly to profitability. Your two most expensive resources are unsupervised 90% of the time and they are your employees and vehicles. The GO GPS tracker does a great job at managing the vehicle and how it is used but a missing variable is fuel consumption. With the Geotab fuel app, drivers can log all fuel purchases for review in one central location. Because the GPS data is captured all the time the fuel data can now be tied to the GPS data. This gives you more oversight than doing expense reports but less oversight than using a Fleetistics fuel card.

Available in Android and iOS.

 

Click to View Geotab Fuel Tracking Application

Geotab Fuel Tracking Application is Mobile Friendly

Geotab Fuel Tracking Application
Fuel Usage Graph
Learn More

GPS Installation & Troubleshooting

by | Dec 25, 2018 | GPS Installation, Training

Save Time and Money by Learning GPS Installation

 

Learning the basics of GPS installation and troubleshooting is often faster than working through the help desk. The devices can be installed in about 20 minutes and troubleshooting can be done in about 10 minutes. This enables customers to resolve issues faster than getting on the phone and then being asked by support to perform the same steps anyway. It means you can get your fleet back on the road faster and making money. Click the links below to read more.

Installation Tips
GO Device Checker
General Help
The quickest thing you can do for an initial test is to swap the GPS unit not working one from a known working vehicle. If the GPS units continue to exhibit the same performance in the new vehicle there is a high chance there is an issue with the GPS device.

It is important to perform this and other troubleshooting steps. Returning a device found to be working will result in a $35 bench testing and postage fee.

 

GO Device Light Definitions

 

On initial power-up, all three LEDs on the GO device will flash once in unison indicating that the device is receiving power. If none of the LEDs flash, this is an indicator that the device is not powered on.

After the initial flash, the Green LED will briefly turn solid indicating that the modem is connected to our servers. The Blue LED will also briefly turn solid indicating that the GPS is working. Both LEDs will eventually shut down if ignition is turned off.

Once ignition is turned on, the following are common light sequences indicating an issue:

 

  • No lights
  • Red only
  • Red and Blue only (most common)
  • Red and Green only

Proper GO Device GPS Installation

 

The images below display proper installation of the GO device. For proper installation, ensure there is no gap between the device and the port, then secure the connection with a zip tie.

Incorrect Installation
Correct Installation

Device Status Table

Login into your MyFleetistics account and click the widget in the top right corner or use the menu as shown.

Click the image to enlarge.

See what hasn’t reported, view on a map and open a support case from one location.

Fleet Status View