Saturday, May 24, 2008

GPS Tracking Your Bottom Line

By Fabian Toulouse

In June of 1963, the fourth of twenty-four NAVSTAR satellites was launched into space, completing the Department of Defense's Global Positioning System. Though there had been other types of navigational systems before, this was something completely different. The accuracy of GPS is astounding. Although designed for military use and operated by the U.S. Air Force, civilians could and did tap into this technology, and now GPS devices are widely employed tools to help people find their way and track objects.

Atomic clocks, exact to the billionth of a second, made GPS tracking possible. GPS works through receivers which determine location through geometry and trigonometry, figuring the difference in the arrival time of signals from four or more of the satellites. Location may be pinpointed within a very small area, and with some devices, even less. Currently, GPS devices can be cellular based, wireless, or satellite.

Businesses picked up on the advantages of using GPS devices. With the ability to see location, time, direction, and speed of any car, trailer, or piece of equipment, GPS is valuable for monitoring. GPS tracking is a great tool for lowering a company's bottom line. Rental car companies can easily locate missing vehicles. The unauthorized use of company cars can be discovered. Trucking companies can use reports generated by GPS to see their drivers' productivity.

Drivers who are monitored are not likely to speed, drive a vehicle out of a predefined area, make long stops, or log unnecessary overtime hours. The efficiency of individual drivers can be rated using GPS reports, and incentives can be used to raise productivity. The increased efficiency means more stops can be made in a day and that translates into satisfied customers!

More and more businesses are seeing the value of GPS tracking. Saving money, time, and fuel, tracking devices lower operating costs to a great degree. In addition, the ability to locate lost, stolen, or missing equipment can save high replacement costs. The benefits are so important that many insurance companies lower premiums for customers who employ GPS devices.

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