What is GPS Fleet Tracking? | GPS Fleet Tracking refers to the management of a vehicle fleet using GPS. Generally, transportation companies, use GPS fleet tracking to keep a tab on all their vehicles. When the vehicles are on the road, a central surveillance department can monitor the exact positions of all them on a map. Special applications are used for this purpose.

How GPS Fleet Tracking Works?

Each vehicle that needs to be monitored is equipped with a GPS receiver. There are GPS Satellites in space, which continually transmit signals to the earth. Each receiver can receive signals from more than one satellite at one time. A receiver requires the signals from at least 3 satellites to find its location on earth. The signals received from the satellite are used to find other entities as well, such as, speed of the vehicle and direction of its movement.

The information that is received by the receiver is relayed to a central monitoring or surveillance system (a computer), which is usually installed in the transportation office. This relaying is usually done via a terrestrial cellular communication (GSM/GPRS/3G) network. Sometimes satellites can as well be used for this purpose. However, using satellites can be very expensive and is employed only when some critical tracking needs to be done without any interruptions. The central monitoring system will consist of a special application which is designed to receive the relayed information, interpret the vehicle’s location and plot the same on a map.

Uses of GPS Fleet Tracking

With GPS tracking, companies can manage their vehicles very efficiently. Companies can monitor where their vehicles are, in real time, at all times. The vehicle-tracks can be stored for analysis later on too. They can ensure that the drivers are taking the quickest or most economic route to a particular destination. The drivers will also refrain from using the vehicles for their personal errands. They will as well be cautious on the roads and will follow traffic rules properly. Thus, public safety is also ensured. In the case of a cab renting company, the fleet manager can even find which cab is nearest to a prospective client’s location, and instruct the driver accordingly. Thus, fuel, money and time are saved. And vehicle investments can be kept to a minimum.