GPS Insight Blog » dashboard dashlets

Jun 26 2010

New Mapping and Dashlet Features for Touch-pad Devices (e.g. iPad, iPhone)

Category: Dashboard Maps, Mapping, New Features, dashboard dashlets, mobile mapping — bbarker @ 1:29 pm

We have new Mapping and Dashlet functionality for users of touch-pad devices such as the iPad and iPhone.

Touchpad clients such as the iPad and iPhone do not allow the same “drag and drop” or “pan” capabilities as a mouse and a browser, so we had to make a few additions.

The new scroll arrows allow you to easily move through a Mapping Dashlet. Clicking the middle square button will zoom to fit the vehicles on the map, or vehicle/group that is shown within that map (such as the “WEST” group here):

New Scroll Arrows

We added a new arrow “popup” which allows you to move Dashlets around within your dashboard. Click up, down, left, or right and the Dashlet will move accordingly. To access this feature just click on the icon. Then to close it, click that icon again.

New Arrow Popup

Here is an example of the new navigational features on an iPhone:

New Features on an iPhone

Bear in mind that on an iPhone, the main product is functional, but you will need to zoom/pan around since the resolution is pretty small. On an iPad you will still need to zoom a bit in order to ensure your finger “clicks” the appropriate icons/vehicles, etc.

We also added a new feature to the Dashlet Dock, called “Add-Dashlet”. You will now notice a plus sign (+) to the right of each Dashlet name. Clicking the plus sign will load the Dashlet. Originally, to add a new Dashlet you would have to drag and drop. Now both options are available.

Dashlet Dock with new "Add-Dashlet" functionality

These new features are available to everyone, but were added specifically for touch-pad users. If you have a suggestion for a new feature or for a specific device, please let us know.

Thanks,

Rob.

Tags: dashlet, gps fleet tracking, GPS Tracking, gps vehicle tracking, ipad, iphone, Mapping

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Jun 24 2010

New “Hide Vehicle Label” on Dashlet Maps

Category: Dashboard Maps, Fleet Tracking, GPS Tracking, Vehicle Tracking, dashboard dashlets — bbarker @ 9:50 am

We now offer a new option to “hide” Vehicle Labels on all Dashlet Maps. Simply open the Dashlet edit settings by clicking on the pencil icon, find “Vehicle Labels” and then choose “None” from the drop-down menu. By utilizing this new option, you can avoid extra clutter on the map, especially when viewing a large number of vehicles.

Select "None" from the Vehicle Labels drop-down menu

Below are examples of the same mapping Dashlets with and without labels:

Following Vehicle Dashlet

Mapping Dashlet displaying large number of Vehicles

Mapping Dashlet displaying specific Vehicle Group

We also allow the vehicle icons to be clicked, which will then open up an information box. To remove the box, just click on it.

Click on Vehicle icon for information box

Vehicle information box

This new feature went from “customer request” to “in production” in just seven days! Always feel free to give us a call if you have a suggestion for a new feature by calling 866-477-4321.

Thanks,

Rob.

Tags: dashlet, gps fleet tracking, GPS Tracking, gps vehicle tracking, Mapping, vehicle label

Comments (1)

May 24 2010

New “Recent Alerts” dashlet in GPS Insight

Category: Alerts, New Features, dashboard dashlets — rdonat @ 11:04 pm

A couple weeks ago, a customer with ambulances asked if we could give them a dashlet which showed a list of recent landmark visits.

Presumably they wanted to know when their medical personnel arrived/left certain hospitals.

That was too “specific” to just their one particular request, so we opened the requirement up to fit more than just that one need.

I had our developers work on an “alert ticker” (we call it “Recent Alerts” on the Dashboard).

It looks like this:

GPS Insight Alerts ticker

Like all dashlets, you drag and drop it onto the dashboard where you want it to go.

Then you configure the settings (which vehicle group, which alert (or all alerts), how far back you want to see, and how many lines you want to see at once):

New GPS Insight Recent Alerts Dashlet

You will notice that for our account, we have multiple redundant alerts, and many of our devices are temporary so they go “out of range” since they aren’t installed into our vehicles permanently since we’re constantly testing on our own vehicles (e.g. they lose power when we shut the vehicle off). This is why there are some duplicate alerts and we have a few “Out of Range” alerts, battery voltage alerts, etc.

The point though is to show you that when alerts are triggered, you can see them on the dashboard as well as receive them on your cell phone/email.

In fact, we made it so that you no longer need to send alerts to an email/SMS phone # — you can leave that blank, & they’ll only be viewable on this dashlet.

Since our “fleet” of employees tends not to idle or drive off-hours (at least not right now for me to show you), I pulled up another customer & they had a few recent problems with their drivers. Notice that I “hid” the Alert Type column, since it’s only there until you figure out what the various colors represent, and can be “unchecked” along with “Alert Name” in the edit properties area (click on the pencil to get there):

Odd Hours & idling alerts on the GPS Insight Recent Alerts Dashboard Dashlet

If you want, you can create a dashboard full of these for all of your various alerts, and segment them into different areas:

This one I created quickly for our account:

GPS Insight Multiple Alert History Dashboard

And always remember to save your dashboard!

Save your Dashboard after creating it!

So now next time you log in you can recall it!

This is a pretty useful capability. And it took us only 5 days to create based on this requirement — make sure to ask us in case you ever have a need you would like help with. Usually it’s in the product, where you might not know we do what you require, and if it isn’t, we’ll typically put it on the list of new capabilities and sometimes get to it as quickly as within the week. We’re really that quick!

To learn more about GPS Fleet Tracking Alerts visit our website.

Thanks,

Rob.

Tags: Alerts, dashboard interface, dashlet, gps fleet tracking, GPS Tracking, gps vehicle tracking, gps vehicle tracking system

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Feb 18 2010

REALLY convenient new mapping feature — drag a vehicle onto the dashboard to create an instant “follow me” map

Category: Mapping, New Features, dashboard dashlets — rdonat @ 8:22 pm

Recently a prospective customer asked us to add a “half-height” map. We did that within a few days (as well as a 2x, 3x height map).

When using it though, I thought it took too long to use the menus to choose the right vehicle, etc.

I decided it would be really convenient to allow the user to “tear off” a vehicle from a location, alert, etc. dashlet.

Now you can just drag & drop ANY VEHICLE from any dashlet onto the dashboard to create an instant half-height “follow this vehicle” map:

Drag a vehicle to instantly create a half-height "follow this vehicle" map

As soon as you drop the “map” icon which is displayed, that vehicle is now displaying in a map which follows it, and shows all of the vehicles from the group associated with the dashlet you dragged it from (this was a complaint from the prospective customer about their current vendor — this type of map only showed the single vehicle):

Instantly create 5 maps just by dragging 5 vehicles to the dashboard

We let you show up to 8 maps per dashboard window. This took me 2 seconds per moving vehicle to create these maps using this new capability. We will start allowing other drag & drop capabilities on the dashboard now that we’ve started to use this type of functionality.

Really convenient! Remember, if you want to keep this particular layout, you need to save it or save as in the hierarchy save tools:

Save your Hierarchy Changes!

As usual, if you have any tips or requests for new capabilities or ideas, please let us know!

Thanks,

Rob.

Tags: dashboard, drag and drop, follow-me maps, gps fleet tracking, GPS Tracking, gps vehicle tracking, half-height maps

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Feb 03 2010

New Map Dashlet size & “Follow Me” capabilities

Category: Mapping, New Features, dashboard dashlets — rdonat @ 11:28 pm

We recently made some new enhancements to our Dashboard Maps.

Now you can size them in any of 4 heights (and the width is determined by the dashboard style you choose).

Additionally, we allow you to display 8 maps per window now, vs. 4. You can still open as many windows as your PC is OK with.

In addition, we now allow you to “follow” a single vehicle, and display ALL the vehicles around it (determined by which vehicle group you choose).

Here is a screen shot of 3 “half-height” maps which are all “following” a different vehicle (noted in the title area of each map):

3 "Follow me" half-height graphs in GPS Insight's Dashboard

3 "Follow me" half-height maps in GPS Insight's Dashboard

These are only the right-most column of the full dashboard, which has a “twice-height map in the middle:

New multi-height maps within GPS Insight

You can choose which vehicle or vehicle group to SHOW, which landmark group to DISPLAY, which vehicle or vehicle group to FOLLOW, and which zoom level to use. Additionally, the same Map Group choices apply so you can “tie” these maps to the other various dashlets (e.g. location, alerts, landmarks, etc.).

As always, click on the “pencil” icon at the top right of the map dashlet to open the edit settings screen which looks like this:

GPS Insight Map Dashlet Settings

Make sure to save your dashboard here:

Save your changes to the GPS Insight dashboard!

An upcoming enhancement will allow you to simply “tear off” a vehicle from a dashlet to automatically show that vehicle in a “follow me” map, which will make it quicker to create these ad-hoc maps for vehicles you may have a short term interest in following closely.

View our GPS Vehicle Tracking Features for more information on what we can do.

Rob.

Tags: dashboard interface, dashlets, Fleet Tracking, GPS Insight, GPS Tracking, Vehicle Tracking

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Jan 23 2010

Lots of new dashboard features just released!

Category: Garmin Integration, New Features, Routing, dashboard dashlets — rdonat @ 11:25 am

We have been busy this month and released several new features to the dashboard (as well as posted speed limit reports/graphs which I will talk about separately).

First, there are new dashboard layouts, and they are more intuitively labeled:

Intuitive dashboard styles

Choosing “2 wide L” will give you a wider column on the left and a thinner column on the right. Choosing “4 wide” will give you 4 columns. These various layouts are useful depending on what type of style you like for your dashboard setup.

As always, after making changes, make sure to save your dashboard settings!

Next, we have added the ability to send routes to Garmins from the Route Dashlet.

After optimizing a route with the route dashlet (and optional feature), just choose a Garmin-integrated vehicle and click on send — the optimized route is sent instantly to that Garmin:

Send a full optimized route to a Garmin

Last, we made our “closest to” dashlet more useful by adding both drive distance and drive time, in addition to the “crow flies” distance which is all we previously supported. You can sort by any of the columns, choose your vehicle, and click on the “dispatch” button if you are using Garmin integration:

Closest To Dashlet includes drive distance/time now

And for users of the dashboard map book tool which turns an address into a map book page/grid coordinate, you can now “sanity check” the location by clicking on “Map Address” — it will pull up a convenient map for you to make sure you typed it correctly & have a reasonable address:

Sanity check your mapbook addresses now in the dashlet

And another recent dashlet worth mentioning again — the legend. Now you can have a convenient reference to what the various colors and vehicle icon shapes mean:

GPS Insight map legend

Thanks for using these new capabilities and we appreciate your feedback which has led to their creation.

Click for more information on our GPS Vehicle Tracking Functionality.

Rob.

Tags: closest to dashlet, dashboard, dashboard dashlets, gps fleet tracking, GPS Tracking, gps vehicle tracking, legend, map book dashlet, new capabilities, New Features

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Jan 09 2010

Dashboard Maps now include Landmarks!

Category: Landmarks, Mapping, New Features, dashboard dashlets — rdonat @ 11:45 am

We have recently added the ability to view a single group (or all) of your landmarks within GPS Insight’s dashboard maps.

Here is how you do it:

Click on Edit (the pencil icon) then choose your group of landmarks, and click “Apply”:

Including landmarks within GPS Insight Dashboard Maps

They show up in both Map as well as Satellite/Hybrid views:

Including landmarks within GPS Insight Dashboard Maps

Large landmark groups are not allowed due to typical browser limitations. If you need to include more than 500 landmarks, GPS Insight’s GPS Fleet Tracking 3D Mapping is the way to go and can handle thousands, probably even tens of thousands depending on your PC.

All users have access to this convenient capability. Please be sure to use it!

Thanks,
Rob.

Tags: gps fleet tracking, gps insight map dashlet, GPS Tracking, gps vehicle tracking, landmarks in dashlets, map dashlet, new capabilities

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Jan 09 2010

New Routing Dashlet capabilities — save fuel by streamlining your drivers’ daily route!

Category: Fuel Savings, Garmin Integration, New Features, Routing, dashboard dashlets — rdonat @ 11:32 am

This feature really helps to make sure you are saving miles/hours/dollars by streamlining your drivers’ daily route!

Before I talk about this, please realize that the routing dashlet is not a standard feature, and is included with our routing package, which is an enhancement to the base GPS Insight product. You may not have access to it currently. Call your salesperson for information.

Here is a new ability we added to the Route dashlet:

You can enter multiple addresses as always, as well as a start/stop landmark.

GPS Insight routing dashlet

Click on Optimize to get the proper order (which you can cut and paste into an email to the driver, etc.):

Click on GPS Insight's "Map This" button for optimized directions

Here is the result:

Map and directions for optimized set of destinations

You can click on print, send (email), or link (to cut/paste a direct link) at the top right for your convenience.

We will add more functionality to this dashlet over time (e.g. more landmark/landmark group inclusion, optimization options, Garmin integration, etc.).

If you would like to try it out and you are not an existing routing customer, please call us for a 14 day trial.

To learn more visit our Fleet Tracking Routing.

Thanks,

Rob.

Tags: gps fleet tracking, GPS Tracking, gps vehicle tracking

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Sep 14 2009

Dashlet Mapping is more configurable now!

Category: Fleet Tracking, Mapping, New Features, dashboard dashlets — rdonat @ 9:43 am

GPS Insight has made it easier to get your Dashlet maps exactly how you need them by introducing “Map Groups” to the map-aware dashlets.

You can assign each map and each dashlet a letter A, B, C, or D.

Then whenever you click on a vehicle name, the appropriate map will display that vehicle’s location.

When you set it up, it looks like this:

GPS Insight Dashboard Maps

The way to “assign” a map to a dashlet is to choose the Map Group Letter for both the map and the dashlet, like shown below:

GPS Insight Map Groups

Now you can “tie” your dashlets to certain maps, and choose your groups accordingly.

In the graphic above, we have 4 different groups chosen, and they are each tied to a map nearby, so you are able to view your various vehicle groups separately but at the same time.

Every map-enabled dashlet has this capability now — here is a screenshot of the “Closest To” dashlet & where to make that configuration change.

REMEMBER TO SAVE YOUR DASHBOARD AFTER MAKING THESE CHANGES OR YOU WILL LOSE THEM!!! (I just did that — oops)

Save your GPS Insight Dashboard changes

Rob.

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Sep 03 2009

New landmark dashboard dashlet available

Category: Landmarks, New Features, dashboard dashlets — rdonat @ 3:34 pm

We added a new dashlet to our list of those available on the GPS Insight dashboard yesterday.

Just “drag” it off the list of available dashlets onto your dashboard in the column you want it:

It is a list of landmarks, and you can choose from any available landmark and vehicle groups, and the dashlet will tell you how many vehicles are present in a particular landmark.

Additionally, it will allow you to click on any listed landmark, and will instantly zoom you to that location on the map.

This is useful if you want a feel for how many of your vehicles are at particular landmarks. You can use particular groups & have several copies on your dashboard (e.g. work locations on the left & home locations on the right, showing how many are at each throughout the day).

You can change certain properties of what it displays & how it is shown here by clicking the “edit” button (pencil):

We also added an option to our location dashlet to ONLY show vehicle stopped at landmarks:

This is subtly different, and shows each vehicle, not just a count of how many vehicles are at each landmark.

We hope these new capabilities help you and your organization. Please let us know if there are changes which would help your utilization of GPS Insight and we are happy to work toward making those changes.

Rob.

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