Here is an official government definition of telematics.  It's just nice to give an official definition from time to time. I think telematics is the first step to Intelligent Vehicle and Highway Systems paradigm. Anyway, feel free to leave a comment.

Intelligent Vehicle and Highway Systems (IVHS) and Advanced Transport
Telematics are the names which have been used in America and Europe, respectively, to
describe the application of information, communications, data acquisition, and control system
technologies in surface transportation. These range from mundane traffic advisory message
signs on freeways and transit passenger information systems to visionary automated highways
where computer-controlled cars might tailgate a few feet apart at 100 mph or more.

IVHS technologies could reshape our communities and societies in far-reaching ways
over the next several decades, affecting our lifestyles, environment, economic structure, and
social equity nearly as much as the automobile has over past decades. The fundamental
architecture and vision of IVHS established in the mid-1990s may serve as a foundation for a
technology-driven transformation with considerable consequences. We must ensure that these
technologies are harnessed to serve our long-term social, economic, and environmental goals.
This will require much broader public participation in IVHS policy making, the establishment
of clearer performance objectives and measures for transportation management systems to
guide IVHS deployment, and broad-based assessment of the social and environmental impacts
of IVHS

This article is from a different angle.  It discusses the needs of businesses and telematics, yet it also discusses the service providers as well.  There are a lot of players in th telematics industry today and it is due for a "market correction".  One thing service providers can do to solidify their position is to really focus on a niche and specialize in it and become the best in that niche.  For instance, some businesses require telematics to prevent theft of their assets.  This is a niche that can be exploited to allow businesses to stand out.  Read on for more on what businesses need to make telematics work for them.

Digicore is a leading provider of telematics and vehicle tracking in the UK. Visit http://www.digicore.co.uk for more info.

Hughes telematics is a company that provides consumer and fleet telematic solutions.  They also have a service called Drive Connected, which is an individualized Web portal service that gives customers the ability to interact with and utilize their vehicle over the Internet. Directions and media can be pushed to the car from Driveconnected.com.  Customers can set emergency contact preferences and view a birds-eye diagnostics report of their vehicle’s health.

Hughes telematics consumer solutions include safety & security, convenience, predictive navigation, comprehensive diagnostics and infotainment.

Their corporate solutions which are fleet tracking services include real time gps tracking, remote diagnostics, preventative maintenance and reporting.

They have offices throughout the United States but do business globally with their headquarters in Atlanta Georgia.  Hughes Telematics has aligned themselves  with world-class partners such as Hughes Communications Inc.  and NetworkCar Inc.

You can see more info about them at hughestelematics.com

Tags: hughes telematics - telematics service provider

This article discusses the automotive telematics industry from the consumer point of view.  It is based on the telematics function of a single vehicle and a single owner as opposed to a company running and maintaining a fleet of vehicles.  As a result, there will be different needs for each market, and the consumer market focuses on features that would interest the driver, such as location based services like navigation and emergency assistance… You have seen those commercials on TV.  Just think 5 years ago, we weren't seeing any commercials about automobiles that come with these features as part of the standard package.  This industry is certainly making it's way into the consumer market.  Read on for the rest of the article.

Mike Trudel, Freelance Writer.

Delphi Corp. is poised to apply its expertise and know-how to provide vehicle manufacturers and consumers with in-vehicle entertainment and connectivity. To learn more about Delphi Corp., please visit http://www.delphi.com/4innovation or http://www.delphi.com/4connected

Tags: automotive telematics - telematics - location based services

Hapag Lloyd is a company that is known in the shipping industry for not only container shipping, but also tracking containers. In today's global economy, companies are more interested than ever to keep track of their containers.  They will be able to monitor and manage their inventory with more efficiency.  The container tracking is considered a value added service to their container shipping service. With offices all over the world, Hapag Lloyd has offices in every continent on the planet.  While they go their start in cargo shipping, they also have some cruise ship lines which is quite interesting.

You can find more information about Hapag Lloyd Container Tracking and Shipping here.

This article focuses mostly on the supratrak vehicle tracking system, and it's features.  Although the title says Internet Vehicle Tracking, it doesn't really focus on the Internet features of the system.  The article does cover the Supratrak features rather extensively, but not in how they work with the internet functionality.

David mostly writes on topics related to GPS Tracking Systems, Vehicle Tracking System like for the site www.supatrak.com

Tags: vehicle tracking system, supratrak, internet vehicle tracking

Global Positioning Systems (GPS) use a network of satellites beaming time-stamped signals to receivers on the surface of the Earth.  By measuring the delay between when the signal was sent and when it arrived from three different satellites, you can isolate the coordinates of any receiver on the surface of the earth, with a precision that goes down to inches for military receivers, and about two years for commonly available civilian gear.

GPS equipment has become more and more common as cell phone technology has made it more portable and easier to use.  There are a number of reasons to have GPS equipment in the vehicles in your fleet.

Firstly, GPS equipment, and the monitoring software for it, allows you to have precise locations of delivery vehicles.  This makes it possible to route technicians and repairmen and delivery personnel more efficiently, and to let customers know, nearly in real time, about any potential delays in routing or delivery.

Second, because of more accurate data gathered on the movements of vehicles in your fleet, you have better control over mileage, proactive maintenance, and fuel economy.  It's a lot easier to keep track of fuel economy when you can factor in idle times.

In similar vein, you now have an accurate record of where every vehicle in your fleet has traveled over the course of a given day.  This can save you money in payroll; when you have an accurate log of where every vehicle is at every hour of the day, you can cross reference it against employee time sheets for hours spent driving for reimbursement.

Likewise, most vehicle-tracking GPS software allows you to set a "virtual fence" which lets you tell when a vehicle has gone "out of zone" – this is good for tracking if a vehicle has made an unscheduled detour, or to track it down if it's stolen.

Finally, more and more GPS tracking software can work with a public web interface.  It can be a great marketing coup for a taxicab company to have a web site that shows, as an overlay on Google maps, the location of all cabs reporting in, whether they have a fare and so on – this makes it much easier to schedule a cab pickup, or run a bus route with accurate time stamps for how far ahead or behind a bus is on its scheduled rounds.

All of these make GPS tracking gear for your fleet's vehicles a worthwhile investment; it's estimated that the more accurate timekeeping versus payroll expenses can cause a typical small business with a fleet of company vehicles to save enough money to pay for the installation and software in under 90 days.

Tags: tracking, fleet, vehicle, gps, gps vehicle fleet tracking

Glady Reign is a 32 year old is a consultant for an automotive firm based in Detroit, Mi. she is a native of the motor city and grew up around cars hence her expertise in the automotive field. Please visit Volvo clutch disc for more information.

Tags: automotive, telematics, vehicle, auto, bluetooth

This is a good article about satellite navigation and how it works with personal vehicles.  It goes over all of the components that are used in a GPS satellite navigation system.  This is a good article to understand the basic components of the satellite navigation system.  It also goes over some of the data and information that is delivered with these types of systems.

Once they were only for the rich and were only fitted in the very high end cars but today SatNav systems are available to all. You can either opt for the in-car fitted systems that are still quite expensive or you can go for the handheld or protable units. This article is about the latter.

What is SatNav?

SatNav is a system that comprises of 2 elements, a GPS data receiver and a CPU/display unit. The receiver gets information from orbiting GPS navigational satellites and communicates it to the CPU/display unit. This unit is then able to find its exact location on the planet by comparing signals from various satellites.

The unit incorporates road maps of the area and places an indicator on the map showing where the car is on the maps.

Features

The units allow you to plan a journey ahead of time and then the unit will guide you to you destination by displaying a map showing you where you are and the direction you should be heading. Most now have voice instructions so the unit will tell you, when you are approaching a junction, which turning you should take. The units are also capable of making real time adjustments to the route, this means that if you go the wrong way the until will recalculate the route to your destination taking into account the wrong turning you have just made.

Maps

The maps for the unit can be loaded for the different regions you visit, so they may have a map of the UK and another for France and so on. Most modern unit have the maps stored on a removable memory cards like SD cards or similar memory card but some units read directly from a CD or DVD. The display can be set to show the conventional flat map view or the new 3D view that shows a view as if it was above you and looking forward. This view is very good and clear.

Traffic

Some units offer systems that will warn you of road works/traffic jams etc as they happen, and offer suggestion as to how to avoid them.

POI

Most units have POI's (Points of Interest) incorporated into them that will show things like garages, restaurants, historic sites, airport and ferries etc. You can also add your own POI's of your favourite places. One POI that is very popular is the location of all the speed camera and accident black spot locations.

Weather

Another feature that is becoming increasingly available is the weather for a location. The system will tell you the weather at a certain location on the map i.e. at that beach location you are planning to visit.

When you want to plan a journey you will need to enter the start and end destination, this can be done in a number of ways, the city, street and house number. The street intersections, the post codes and a location chosen on the on screen map. The start can be done in the same way with the addition of the present location as the starting point (remember the unit knows where you are). There are then itinerary or way points, these allow you to program destinations along the way. Finally you are usually presented with choices of routes with choices like, Fastest Route, Shortest Route, Scenic Route, Avoid Motorways etc some have the choice to avoid toll charges.

Fitting

The units can be fitted into the car in a number of ways but the 2 most popular ways are with a mounting bracket that has a strong suction cup that sticks to the windscreen. The second way is a bracket that fixed to the cars air vents, this method can be very good but required a fixing for each type of car. The unit is then fitted to the brackets and adjusted to the best viewing angle.

There are dozens of systems available now with a variety of choices of the options available. You need to choose which of the above options are important to you and then choose the until that best suits you or suits you price range.

You can see a large variety of different units at different costs at my favourite comparason site www.wangled.co.uk just type in "Mobile GPS"

The preceding article may be freely reprinted provided:

1. The article is not edited or modified in any way

2. The source is credited: reprinted by permission of Wangled.co.uk

Although the title of this article describes the pros and cons of GPS Fleet Tracking, it really talks only about the Pros.  It doesn't mention the Cons.  The Cons would probably mostly come from the employees in terms of privacy issues and having the company know where they are at all times.  The Pros, in this article are listed in terms of the point of view of the business owner.

Do you own your own freight broker business?  If you do, you likely employ a number of different truck drivers or transporters. Those drivers or transporters are responsible for getting your client’s goods from one location to the next. The only thing about transporting goods from one location to the next, particularly expensive goods, is that problems can arise.  To combat those problems, you may want to think about getting GPS fleet tracking equipment and installing it.

GPS fleet tracking equipment is like all other GPS tracking equipment.  It enables the GPS tracking company, as well as yourself, to know where all of your drivers are, at least where their vehicles are.  As with many things, GPS fleet tracking has a number of pros and cons.  Just a few of the most important GPS fleet tracking pros and cons are outlined below.

Perhaps, the biggest pro to having GPS fleet tracking installed in all of your delivery trucks is that you will know where all of your client’s merchandise is at all times. This can come in handy in the event that one of your driver’s trucks is stolen or if one of the trucks becomes disabled, for one reason or another.  Having the approximate location of all of your trucks and your client’s merchandise makes it easier to fix a problem, should one arise.

Another pro to GPS fleet tracking is that you can track everything yourself.  When you have GPS fleet tracking equipment installed and activated in your fleet of trucks, a GPS tracking company will keep record of everything for you.  They even often create software programs or online websites which can enable you to view all of your truck drivers and their movements.  This may actually give you a good idea as to whether or not all of your employees are wisely using their time.

Although there are a number of pros or plus sides to having GPS fleet tracking installed on all of your delivery trucks, there are also a number of cons to doing so as well. One of those cons is agreement.  Even if you actually own the trucks that are being used for delivery, you may find that some drivers don’t like having their whereabouts monitored.  This is most commonly seen in cases where you are using are independent contractors; truck drivers who actually own all of their own trucks and drivers who aren’t legally considered an employee of yours.  Although some drivers don’t like being monitored with GPS fleet tracking, there are some who actually prefer it for their own safety.

When it comes to GPS fleet tracking, as you can see, there are a number of advantages and disadvantages to using it.  Even if you think that you may have a difficult time getting some of your drivers to comply, GPS fleet tracking is still worth looking into, as there are a number of ways it can assist you with the smooth running of your business.

Quentin Chamberlain is a writer for RM Tracking . com where you can find accurate information about [http://www.rmtracking.com/gps-fleet-tracking.html]GPS Fleet Tracking and other related information.

Tags: gps tracking equipment, gps tracking, telematics, gps fleet tracking, tracking