Historical Vehicle Tracking Supplies A Wealth Of DataKeeping track of the vehicles in a fleet is one of the most important jobs for any company that owns and runs a fleet of vehicles. One of the ways that this can be done is through the use of an historical vehicle tracking system, which is the opposite of a real time vehicle though does have certain advantages. A historical vehicle tracking system collects the data in the vehicle and then is downloaded on return, provides both vehicle and driver tracking, gives very accurate data, and has no need for a monthly fee to a tracking service provider. This article will look at these points and some considerations needed when buying a historical tracking system. A historical tracking system is "historical" in that the information is not available to the fleet manager until the car or truck returns to the depot at the end of the day. The information is collected by a tracking device fitted into the vehicle, and saved on a hard disk. When the car or truck returns to the depot, the data is downloaded to be analyzed. The download can be done by inserting a data key into the tracking device or in some cases via wireless download. Similar to its counterpart, the real time tracking system, a historical vehicle tracking system can supply data about both the vehicle and the driver in order for the fleet manager to get an accurate picture of the driver profile and the usage of the vehicles in the fleet. Things such as the route taken by the vehicle and the speed can be downloaded and analyzed to ensure the vehicle and driver is keeping to driving schedules and predefined routes. An historical tracking system has one advantage over the real time tracking systems in that the data it supplies is much more accurate. The exact route taken, as well as the various speeds and stopping points undergone over the whole of the route, can be analyzed in great detail. This is important when greater accuracy of vehicle tracking is needed, as well as accuracy of driver profiling. With an historical tracking system this can be achieved because there is no delay in collecting data as there is with a real time tracking system which usually downloads the data from the provider's server every fifteen minutes or so. Another advantage of the historical tracking method is that the absence of downloading data from a server means that costs are reduced to some extent. With a real time tracking system it is usual for a monthly fee to be paid to the service provider, which then enables the fleet manager and the fleet management team to access the data by logging into the server over the internet. With the historical vehicle tracking method this cost can be discounted. The system is generally a one-off payment with no further maintenance costs needed. As can be seen there are both advantages and disadvantages to a historical vehicle tracking system. It can supply the same data as a real time tracking system, but to more accuracy. The disadvantage is that the data is not available until the vehicle returns to base, and has to be manually downloaded from the on-vehicle tracking device. By keeping these points in mind it should be possible to decide whether a historical vehicle tracking system is the right one for your vehicle fleet. |