What do real life users expect from satellite tracking? What are the most important features? We have selected 5 features that people use most often.
Suppliers of satellite vehicle monitoring platforms are competing in the number of features, graphs and tables. But for the customers, it can often be too much of a good thing. Users end up being overloaded with screens, overviews, and graphs.
The mistake of some tracking systems is the fact that at the beginning of their development nobody asked the question: what does a customer expect from such a system? We asked such a question. That’s why we’re bringing you the answers now.
What features make a user-oriented vehicle tracking platform?
1. A real-time vehicle overview
This is a basic feature that every user wants to have. Of course, if you purchased a GPS tracking system for your business, then you expect it to show you the latest vehicle information with one click. This is a basic feature that every user wants to have.
Specifically, you’ll want to know:
– where the vehicle is (on an online map)
– in what state the vehicle is (moving, standing)
– who drives the vehicle
– which route has it gone so far and where it went
– when it reaches the destination (or a point that can be marked on the map)
Today’s GPS tracking technology records all this information and should give it to you in a well-arranged form and with the shortest delay. If your tracking platform can’t handle this simple task, replace it.
2. History of vehicle movement
Corporate vehicles must have a log book. Filling it manually is no fun. The fact that a vehicle tracking platform can create a log book automatically is one of the main reasons for its acquisition.
Unlike drivers, the platform does not forget to fill every trip and does not make mistakes. Moreover, if it can store and export vehicle history data in a format accepted by the authorities, it really saves you a lot of work.
But traffic records can be used much more widely: you posess data on where exactly the car was moving and when. The platform stores data on fuel consumption, service and private driving can be distinguished.
People who are in charge of fleet management often use reports and statistical summaries that can be exported, for example, to Excel for further analysis.
3. Vehicle onboard computer data (CAN)
Access to data from on-board computers seems to be a relatively specific requirement. But customers often require this option from their vehicle monitoring system.
The reason is understandable. If the company is already investing in vehicle monitoring, the connection with the on-board computer (i.e. CAN bus) does not mean a significant increase in the purchase price. And the information provided by this feature brings real added value.
The system will get virtually all traffic data from the vehicle: exact fuel consumption figures, fuel tank level, current speed, speedometer, RPM. It records every step on the accelerator pedal or engine coolant temperature change.
From such data, a clever fleet manager can get a lot of important knowledge – and find out who is abusing cars and who is behaving responsibly. More advanced systems, such as Satelon, even convert these numbers into well-arranged and understandable graphs.
4. Detailed information on drivers
Managing driver information can be a very useful feature, especially for companies where more people are in charge of one car.
With the right tracking platform, you can have not only information about the operation of your vehicles, but also about the employees who drive them. The system will identify drivers that drive carelessly, those who are mysteriously “losing” fuel or the ones that take too long to finish their task.
Driver identification technology can use existing employee cards (equipped with an RFID chip). This is even easier for trucks, where the driver identifies himself via a tachograph with an international professional driver card.
5. Refueling and consumption monitoring
The latter feature is one that customers use the most often. When looking for cost savings and increasing efficiency, reducing vehicle consumption can be viewed as a low hanging fruit.
A vehicle tracking application can reveal two ways in which a company loses fuel: theft and inefficient driving. Theft is identified due to differences between fuel receipt data and real car consumption (recorded from vehicle’s CAN bus). Inefficient and rough driving style is revealed due to acceleration and braking data.
But even if your all employees are honest you can still benefit from fuel consumption records. The tracking platform fully integrates fuel card information and simplifies your administration.