GPS devices - never be lost again - Fetch GPS Fleet Data

http://skyptrol.com/

GPS devices - never be lost again

GPS devices (GPS comes from Global Positioning System) are devices that can determine your location anywhere on the planet. They do this by calculating the distance from where the GPS device is to satellites orbiting earth. The device must achieve signals from at least three satellites for returning a two-dimensional position. If it finds more than four, the GPS device can return a three-dimensional position, also measuring the height.

The location that the GPS device returns is quite accurate, the normal GPS devices can determine your position within a range of ten meters, but professional ones have mechanisms that mostly remove all the errors.

A thing that must be known is that GPS devices can't work too good in cities with tall buildings because they obstruct the sky and the GPS device's connection with the satellite, but in an area where most of the sky is visible the work perfectly.

There are a lot of GPS devices on the market nowadays, with prices and performances varying from around a hundred dollars to a few hundreds. Of course, the performance also varies. The most expensive ones have a lot of memory and include maps of many regions, including the important roads, buildings, cities and airports. Extra maps can be found on the CD that comes with the GPS device. If you want to calculate a specific route aditional software and information is required.

The battery life of a GPS device is quite important when comparing them, because it is useless if the batteries run out. The backlight of the device is the thing that drains most of its power.

There are lots of GPS devices on the market, all of them having their pros and cons, so if you wish to purchase one my advice is that you read some specialized GPS reviews on the Internet and select the GPS device that best suits your needs.

About the author: SEO Solutions and one way link publicity services provided by LinkAcquire. CEO LinkAcquire.com and Relativity, Inc. can provide global market exposure and solutions. So, if you want to find out more about GPS devices, please click this link.

Author: David C Skul

http://skyptrol.com/

Examples of GPS Fleet Tracking

A couple of years ago, when Jim Oswald was an IT consultant for the city of Clemson, S.C., he and his colleagues in the public works department started talking trash. Even before gas prices went to $4 a gallon, they were looking for ways for the city to save fuel on garbage collection. Trucks were burning gas driving around looking for big items too large to be collected on regular routes. Oswald and Taji Richardson came up with the idea for a GPS device that would give drivers who handled the regular routes a touch screen on which they could note where the big items were located. Trucks picking up the large items would know exactly where to go. "When we saw it, we said, Jim you've got a product here," Clemson City Administrator Rick Cotton said. Cotton says the devices, which went live in May 2007, are saving his small college town about 350 gallons of diesel a month. "There's lots of cities just like us that need this technology," he said.

In South Carolina, Mount Pleasant and Newberry have the devices, Oswald said. Spartanburg was expected to install it this month, said city spokeswoman Susan Schneider. The Charlotte, suburb of Fort Mill, S.C., has it in the budget, said Justin Krueger, assistant public works director.

The Georgia Municipal Association just signed a deal to market the technology to that state's 536 municipalities, said spokeswoman Amy Henderson. "There's definitely some excitement among our city officials," she said.

The Toccoa, Ga., city commission recently voted to spend $17,000 for three units, and City Manager Billy Morse said he expects to make that up in fuel savings in three years. "It seemed so simple we wondered why we didn't think of it before," he said.

Tom Spicer, sanitation director for the city of Danville, Va., said his city is looking to start with the devices after the company finishes an upgrade that will allow large debris and garbage pickup on the same day. "I think fuel usage-wise it's a really smart system," he said.

Keith Howard, of the American Public Works Association's solid waste management committee and deputy director of the Lee County (Fla.) Solid Waste Division in Fort Myers, said improving efficiency is the buzz among public and private sector garbage operators, especially in light of higher gas prices. "Given the fuel prices, I would not be surprised if some of the waste companies as well communities that handle waste are looking more seriously at this type of system," he said.

Milwaukee is looking at similar technology to map such things as parking lot code violations and snow and ice on sidewalks, said David Sivyer, of the city's department of public works. Oswald and Richardson originally based the economic feasibility of their system on diesel cost of $2.75 a gallon. "So this is paying for itself more than we ever anticipated it would when we were developing it," Oswald said, with diesel cost jumping by about $2 per gallon since then.

Click Here to Learn More About GPS Fleet Tracking

Barnett reports for The Greenville (S.C.) News

Archives