How Gps Has Affected The Fire Service

When every second counts to salvage lives, dispatchers must immediately locate the medical, fire/rescue, or constabulary vehicle closest to the emergency, and the commuter must reply as speedily as possible without getting lost or taking detours.

Today, this requires using a fleetwide vehicle GPS tracking system, which can expedite emergency dispatching and response by providing the existent-fourth dimension location of every vehicle in the fleet on a 24/vii basis. Such technology tin can also improve vehicle dispatch routing and management when historical records tin be consulted to determine which routes are the most efficient.

In improver, implementing real-time GPS tracking can increase a driver'due south accountability, making him less inclined to take unauthorized excursions, such as for personal errands, when not on a call. This can assist to minimize unnecessary vehicle mileage, fuel use, and wear and tear. On the plus side, GPS tracking tin can also exist used to recognize and advantage consistently rapid employee response.

To examine the benefits of using a fleetwide vehicle GPS tracking system, I discussed the advantages of this approach with Ben VanAvery, managing director of sales and marketing at Advanced Tracking Technologies (ATTI), a Houston, Texas, based designer and manufacturer of GPS tracking products.

How can GPS fleet tracking expedite emergency response?

Withreal-time GPS system accuracy and coverage, armada trackers tin can assistance ensure that emergency responders end upwards at the correct location, whether local, regional, or out of state, without wasteful detours.

Today, such systems tin rail armada vehicles in substantially real time, which allows dispatchers to send the closest vehicle to the emergency at all times.

Compared with typical GPS tracking devices that may only update every few minutes, avant-garde systems provide existent-fourth dimension location updates every 10 seconds as well as location, speed, and idle time alerts if something is amiss. This information is transmitted via satellite and cellular networks to a smartphone or PC on a 24/7 basis. The arrangement has admission to nationwide speed limits in its database.

A PC Web site link or smartphone app can brandish the real-time location of the entire vehicle fleet on a map, allowing a dispatcher or manager to zoom in on any specific truck. At a glance, this allows dispatchers to see if a truck is moving (displays green) or stopped (displays red). If the dispatcher touches a truck icon, the app will display where the truck has been, where it stopped, and how long it has idled. All this helps with on-the-fly coordination.

With such existent-time GPS tracking, dispatchers can immediately see where any ambulance coiffure is on a map and provide turn-by-turn guidance to get them to the scene of the emergency without delay. This is especially helpful in areas with poor radio coverage, since the GPS provides constantly updated location information, so accurate driving assist tin exist provided with a minimal need for dorsum and along conversation.

How else tin can GPS armada tracking improve emergency response?

If an ambulance ever breaks downwardly, the organization enables the dispatcher to quickly ship a mechanic or another ambulance coiffure to speedily transfer the patient and transport him to the nearest medical facility.

In instances of emergency disaster relief or evacuation, information technology is besides a big plus to have the whereabouts of the entire fleet visually available via a GPS tracking system and then the closest vehicle can e'er rapidly answer.

Considering getting to the emergency scene faster is disquisitional to saving lives, emergency medical services (European monetary system) managers can compare the historical records of how units respond to the same location/facility to notation which is more efficient. And so, EMS managers can audit response times to meliorate them with ameliorate routing. With a GPS vehicle tracking system, information technology is like shooting fish in a barrel to pull reports based on location and time to meet which crews are traveling fixed trips faster than others. By comparing these, European monetary system managers can figure out which routes are ameliorate and attempt to implement these with their fleets when possible.

This sort of all-time-exercise benchmarking is particularly useful if an EMS fleet is besides responsible for more routine nonemergency patient transportation to certain locations, which may occur over weeks or months.

How tin can GPS fleet tracking help to ensure commuter accountability?

Such GPS vehicle tracking systems and reporting also help to increase driver accountability if whatsoever crews tend to wander off to unauthorized locations, which could otherwise slow both emergency and nonemergency pick up/drop off.

When doing audits, EMS managers can focus on ensuring that crew members accurately tell what time they get in or leave the scene. A GPS vehicle tracking organisation allows comparison with the GPS arrival/departure times to ensure that everyone is beingness honest.

On the plus side, when an emergency crew puts in a lot of piece of work or completes a actually difficult out-of-town work shift, the GPS tracking organization can flag that as well. And then, the extra effort can be recognized as well.

Using a fleetwide vehicle GPS tracking system can expedite emergency dispatching and response by providing the real-time location of every vehicle in the fleet on a 24/7 basis.

1 Using a fleetwide vehicle GPS tracking system tin expedite emergency dispatching and response by providing the existent-fourth dimension location of every vehicle in the fleet on a 24/7 basis. (Photo courtesy of Advanced Tracking Technologies.)

Any other benefits to GPS fleet tracking?

Such a arrangement often leads to more efficient routing and more than accountable drivers, which results in significant savings in gas and time. It helps drivers to take more efficient routes, which enables drivers to have more emergency calls or exercise more nonemergency transports.

Finally, from a legal and an insurance standpoint, the GPS vehicle tracking can be helpful as well. When necessary, EMS managers tin can pull information to bear witness the actual time the ambulance crew got to a facility. This can bear witness the crew made a best effort when drivers were properly en route simply stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. If there is ever an accident, car insurance companies often like to have the GPS vehicle tracking information considering it helps to justify that the EMS crew did the correct thing.

JEFF ELLIOTT is a Torrance, California, based technical writer. He has researched and written well-nigh industrial technologies and problems for the past 20 years.