GPS tracking is growing ever more important in the fleet industry as safety issues become more prevalent and efficiency rises in importance with the competition. You may be left in the dust as other businesses pull ahead if you’re not currently using GPS tracking to monitor your fleet, or you’re using outdated GPS technology. Don’t worry; implementing and installing GPS trackers for your fleet isn’t as hard as it may seem. In this guide, we’ll go over how these GPS trackers work, how to install them, and how they will benefit your fleet.
Types of GPS Trackers
We will go over four types of GPS tracking in this article, as they are the four types that a fleet might use in its everyday operations. Some of these types are more common than others, and each has advantages and disadvantages.
Cell-Based GPS Tracking
You may be familiar with installing GPS devices in a vehicle to track your drivers, but that’s not always the route that fleets go. To save money, fleets will often track their driver’s cell phones instead. After all, the cell phone is usually right next to the driver, and location data is already readily available for these smart devices. While this option is often cheaper and easier, you can’t always be sure of its accuracy. What if a driver leaves their phone at home? What if the driver’s phone dies? These are issues that could come up very easily, but that could significantly impact your fleet’s operations for the day.
Satellite-based GPS Vehicle Tracking
This is the type of GPS tracking you often hear of the most. Using this method, you will install a device in your vehicle which will link to your fleet management software. Then, you will be able to check where your vehicles are throughout the day. Although this method is more involved initially than cell-based tracking, it works anywhere, even in areas without cell service, and is far more reliable if drivers don’t have their phones.
Asset Trackers
Asset trackers work very similarly to vehicle GPS trackers; they just work for assets that may not necessarily be vehicles. You can use asset trackers on equipment like:
- Trailers
- Shipping Containers
- Signs
- Mobile Storage Units
- Vehicles
- Generators
- Mobile Lights
- Heavy Equipment
How to Install a GPS Device
Since cell-based GPS devices don’t require installation, we will be discussing how to install a standard satellite GPS device. Azuga offers a plug-and-play GPS device that takes only seconds to install. It uses your vehicle’s OBD port– most vehicles built after 1996 will have one. All you need to do is plug the device into this port and wait for it to light up. Once it lights up, it will automatically connect to your fleet management software.
Check out this YouTube clip to see a video of how this is done.
Benefits of GPS
The benefits of GPS tracking are immense. You can accomplish anything once you have GPS tracking on your side, as it supports all aspects of fleet management. Here are three significant advantages you will enjoy once you employ fleet tracking:
Maximum Productivity: You’ll know where your fleet vehicles are at any time, so if your vehicles aren’t where you expect them to be, you can check in with your drivers. Drivers who know they are being monitored are more likely to stay on track. Your team will be more productive when everything runs smoothly.
Effective Operations: Asset trackers tell you when and how your assets are used. If you can determine which assets aren’t used very often, it’s easy to move them to another location where they will be of more use to your team.
Theft Prevention: You can use tracking tools like geofences to set up a virtual perimeter around a specific area, so you never have to worry about vehicles being stolen again. If a thief targets one of your assets, you can alert the police right away and tell them exactly where the vehicle is.
