GPS Navigation and Your Business
If you own a shipping company, for example, you need to know, at all times, exactly where your delivery trucks are and if they are on schedule. With GPS navigation you can pull up a map on your computer that will show you exactly where all your trucks are located, how fast they are going and the distances they have traveled.With a networked GPS system, you can add destination changes to the trucks" GPS navigation unit on the fly, in case delivery times change or a better overall route is chosen to get them to all their destinations faster. Not only does GPS navigation prevent them from getting lost and wasting both time and gas, it helps them find the shortest route available and automatically saves gas and labor hours when schedules change.
Cars and trucks can be equipped with a type of GPS navigation that shows their location as well as tracks and transmits information such as speed, distance traveled, hard braking and fast starts giving you a better idea of how your drivers are driving. This type of data is used by some insurance companies in customer cars to offer them discounts for safe driving practices.
This information can also, if you so choose be accessed by those companies to whom you are delivering your products. This way they can know when to expect your trucks so they can better plan sales and stocking. Being able to provide this type of detailed information to a company can give your company a competitive edge over others in your industry.
GPS navigation does have its limitations and they should be mentioned. If the driver is driving in an area that has not been properly mapped by the GPS navigation system you are using, they will not show up on a road or a location. They will only appear based on their longitude and latitude. You will need to be able to see where that is on a map to pinpoint their location. Car units, which include a map, such as TomTom, are plugged into a charger in the car to preserve battery life but these units can generally work for 24-48 hours from a full charge in case the car"s battery fails.