A GPS system can be a trucking dream or a nightmare.
By Timothy Brady
GPS Satellite Systems:

The Federal Highway Administration estimates delays from congestion on highways, streets, and transit systems throughout the United States result in productivity losses in the tens of billions of dollars annually. Other negative effects of congestion include property damage, personal injuries, increased air pollution and inefficient fuel consumption. FHWA says that the increased use of GPS systems by both private automobile operators and the commercial transportation industry has helped to reduce these losses, but there’s still a long way to go.

GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite tracking systems have been around since the mid-nineties. The advantage of this type of system over similar cellular technology is that trucking companies and shippers can track the location of a piece of equipment anywhere on the surface of the earth. It has allowed sending and receiving text messages of limited length as ‘macros.’ A macro is a predetermined text format like shipment information, delivery information, short text messages; et al, so a driver can convey specific information back to his dispatch office. But current GPS technology has moved so far beyond what was available in the nineties.

The GPS technology has recently exploded with navigational aids for the trucking industry. Just look at: Cobra Electronics (www.corbra.com), NCC, Inc. and Goodyear (www.thencc.com/goodyear), Rand McNally (www.trucking.randmcnally.com), Garmin (www.garmin.com), Teletype (www.teletype.com)  and then the Copilot Truck software with a GPS antenna from ALK Technologies (www.alk.com) for your laptop computer have all recently hit the market. These GPS devices help a trucker determine the best route to get from point A to point B and anywhere in between. The majority of these devices have updates available every 12 months. A caution: because of the length between updates and depending on the amount of details within a particular update by each vendor, the technology isn’t perfect. (Note: It is very important that you have a truck route GPS device and not one for a passenger car, because the passenger car GPS devices are not programmed for low bridges, weight restrictions or non-truck routes.) So be sure you have a truck route device.

But even with that said, it’s imperative that you don’t depend on the GPS as your only routing tool. The old ‘eyes on the ground’ method should still be used to make sure that seventy-five foot, 80,000 pound tractor-trailer isn’t being directed to a place it shouldn’t be, or to a location other than the intended destination. It’s still up to the trucker to be sure the directions being followed are the correct ones. There have been many cases where either by the input of a wrong address by the driver or a glitch in the routing software, a truck has ended up miles from its intended destination. Not a good situation with the cost of fuel and the tight delivery schedules of today. Verification of directions through the use of a standard  motor carrier atlas, plus the couple of minutes required to look up the information on a Thomas Guide Street maps (www.store.randmcnally.com/category/thomas+guide ) or Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/) to verify the information the GPS is giving is mandatory.

(Note: one of the best uses of Google Maps is its street-level pictures. This can provide a visual of the actual landscape of your route to your destination by providing photos of what each turn or change in direction looks like.)

Again, remember all this technology is worth acquiring and implementing only if it is something that improves your bottom line. It must save money or create better efficiency in your operation to be worth investing your hard-earned dollars. Also, keep in mind no technology is any better than the information either programmed into it or the skill of the one using it. So, again, choose your technology wisely.

Next week I will discuss GPS Technology as it relates to in-cab communications and trailer tracking and communications.

Good loads and good roads, everyone.

Timothy Brady  ©2010
www.timothybrady.com