May 17 2013

New Icons for accessing Clusters, Traffic, and Centering options within Maps

Category: Mapping,New Features,New Featuresrdonat @ 1:49 pm

We cleaned up the area within our mapping that gives you the option to display clusters, traffic, or center the map. The updated section now has icons that can be clicked to either toggle the particular function on or off.

New Icons in GPS Insight Mapping

New Icon for turning Clusters on/off

When turning on either Clustering or Traffic, the icon is no longer “greyed out”:

New Icon for turning Traffic on/off

New Icon for Centering the Map

Before, text labels took up a lot more room within the map, especially within dashlet maps. We hope this update makes viewing your vehicles and assets on a map a lot easier.

Thanks,

Rob

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May 13 2013

Cluster preferences saved automatically now

Category: Dashboard Maps,Mapping,New Features,New Featuresrdonat @ 9:21 am

We recently released our new vehicle clustering to dashboard and 2D maps.

Now when you turn them on or off, we remember your preference within the browser:

Multiple cluster settings remembered automatically

Multiple cluster settings remembered automatically

Additionally, we have made it more intuitive to zoom in & out from a cluster “aggressiveness” and those settings are ALSO saved at the browser level:

Change the clustering "aggressiveness" with the plus/minus pop-up control

Change the clustering "aggressiveness" with the plus/minus pop-up control

You can use the – and + buttons which pop up when hovering over the cluster control to change at what level the individual pins are grouped into clusters:

Zoom cluster level shown numerically and saved

Zoom cluster level shown numerically and saved

This allows you to really configure the maps to your liking.

The last thing we added to help you visualize your fleet’s location is to add a dynamic hover-over to each cluster which lists the vehicles along with their color-coded status and shape-coded vehicle category:

Hover-over list of vehicles for each cluster

Hover-over list of vehicles for each cluster

If there are more than 10 vehicles, you’ll get a breakdown instead of individual vehicle names:

Vehicle Lists

Clustered Vehicle Lists

As always, we have listened to your suggestions and comments, and have made GPS Insight more insightful and easy for you to use.

Thanks,
Rob.

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May 01 2013

Map Clustering coming sooner rather than later

The other day I talked about bringing pin clustering to GPS Insight.

It’s going to happen much sooner than later — probably this week.

Here is a preview:

New status/size clusters for large groups of vehicles

New status/size clusters for large groups of vehicles

We will dynamically change the ring colors and sizes based on how many vehicles are moving, speeding, idling, etc., and based on how many vehicles are in each cluster (along with a number).

So this:

Too many dots on a map

Too many dots on a map

Becomes this:

After clustering, with hover-over details

After clustering, with hover-over details

Now, hovering over gives you a nice color-coded legend of how many vehicles are in each status:

Cluster detail hover-over

Cluster detail hover-over

And then zooming down by single-clicking a cluster gives an instant zoom of that area:

Zoomed in to see both pins and clusters

Zoomed in to see both pins and clusters

We’ll release this by the end of the week or over the weekend most likely.  It can be toggled so if you don’t like the new functionality, you can turn it off easily.

Toggle clustering with this icon

Toggle clustering with this icon

Thanks,

Rob.

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Apr 27 2013

Too many dots on a map?

We recognize that sometimes there’s too much information on the map for larger customers with lots of vehicles.

Every customer is different though, in terms of “vehicle density” so we are about to make it a configurable option to chose how your dots and labels behave when zooming in and out:

In a few days, we will release a new, configurable mechanism to allow customers to choose which zoom level the labels and “large pins” appear and/or turn into “small pins” without labels:

Too many labels

Too many labels

Choose which zoom level works best for you to take the large pins and labels and turn them into small pins with no labels:

Change the zoom level where small/big dots appear

Change the zoom level where small/big dots appear

And now the dots are less cluttered with labels (and clicking any dot brings up information about the vehicle):

More decipherable location information without labels

More decipherable location information without labels

And soon, we will be making map “cluster” markers such as this available (and the color/size will change based on the vehicle makeup and activity):

Vehicle cluster icons

Vehicle cluster icons

Zooming in will eventually show the individual pins and labels:

zooming into a clustered set of vehicles

zooming into a clustered set of vehicles

The cluster icons will dynamically show color/proportion based on vehicle activity, stop times, etc.

We’ll let you know when this becomes available, and as always, there will be options to allow you to turn it on/off and thresholds where the pins begin to appear individually.

Enjoy, and let us know if you have any ideas or suggestions — we always appreciate knowing what works best for our customers and prospects.

Thanks,

Rob.

 

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Mar 29 2013

GPS Insight has Upgraded to Google Maps

Category: Dashboard Maps,Mapping,New Features,New Featuresrdonat @ 9:18 am

We have upgraded our browser-based and dashlet mapping technology to Google Maps. There are new options for Street View and improved view options (map, satellite, traffic, etc.).

New Google Maps

New Google Maps

Customers will now be able to take advantage of even faster load times. Switching between views is smoother as well.

Dashlet Map in Satellite View

Dashlet Map in Satellite View

One of the biggest upgrades is Street View, which is now included in both our browser-based and dashlet maps. Simply click on the “orange guy” and drag him to the location you want to see.

Drag "Orange Guy" for Street View

Drag "Orange Guy" for Street View

Instantly the map in transformed into a real-life visual of that particular area. This is a great resource for getting a better perspective of where your drivers are.

Street View Inside Dashlet Map

Street View Inside Dashlet Map

Here is what our browser-based (full screen) maps look like with Google Maps:

Browser-based Google Maps

Browser-based Google Maps

Browser-based Google Maps with Street View

Browser-based Google Maps with Street View

Additionally, street and traffic accuracy, as well as satellite imagery are all improved based on this upgrade.  We constantly strive to bring our customers an absolute best-in-class product, and are pleased to provide Google’s mapping at this time.

As always, we appreciate any feedback you might have. Please send your comments to feedback@gpsinsight.com

Thanks,

Rob

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Jan 29 2013

GPS Insight Mobile App for Android Released

The GPS Insight Mobile App for Android is here! Current customers can download the app from the Google Play Store.

A link to it is also available from the main menu under Mapping: Mobile Maps: Mobile App

New GPS Insight Android App

New GPS Insight Android App

Here is a screen shot which shows a list of vehicles with their status and a color-coded status icon:

GPS Insight Mobile App for Android

GPS Insight Mobile App for Android

 

 

With GPS Insight Mobile, you don’t need to be at your desk in order to stay up to date with your fleet. The Android app allows you to quickly view vehicle location, status, driver, odometer, and more.

GPS Insight Mobile is designed to be easier to use and more efficient than using your mobile device’s browser to load www.gpsinsight.com

GPS Insight Mobile for Android

GPS Insight Mobile (Map of all Vehicles)

GPS Insight Mobile for Android

GPS Insight Mobile (Slide out Menu)

You can expect more features to be released soon.

Please Note: You must be a GPS Insight customer to use this app. Not a GPS Insight customer? Contact us: 866-477-4321

Thanks,

Rob

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Oct 17 2012

Just a couple days to improve several capabilities

A prospective customer gave us some feedback on their pilot late in the day Friday.

By Monday and then by today, we had two of their requests finished:

When clicking on an address in a report, a map pops up.  It’s always been a “Street” map only, with no option for Hybrid or Satellite.

We changed this on Monday, since the customer needed to see an aerial photo more than a plain map.  Now you can choose which type of map is shown:

Inline report maps now show satellite view

Inline report maps now show satellite view

The other quick change was to be more proactive about warning them when drivers might be inadvertently changed via the web interface when there was already a driver assigned, or that driver was assigned to a different vehicle.  Here is the warning which they requested, and we put together in a couple days as a result:

Driver Assignment warning

Driver Assignment warning

These are just two of hundreds of customer requests which make their way into the product every quarter.

And the best thing about GPS Insight is that you don’t need to wait 6-12 months for each “new release.”  Our architecture allows us to make quick changes in near-real time, safely and after adequate testing and QA.  When customers need something to solve a business problem, they want to know they are more than a feature request which may take months or years to become reality.  While we aren’t always able to turn requests around within days, often times we are — and it helps to have a flexible architecture like this for everyone involved with GPS Insight.  Keep the requests coming!

Rob.

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Aug 19 2012

2 REALLY POWERFUL new features coming soon

GPS Insight is about to launch two new highly powerful capabilities:

  • Hierarchy-based vehicle permissions
  • Custom Filters for Attribute and Category data

They may not sound like much, but for very large deployments, they’re CRITICAL to help avoid nightmarish administration tasks.

Here’s how they’ll work:

Hierarchy-based vehicle permissions:

First, you need a hierarchy (or 3, as shown in this example — one for geographic location, one for type of vehicle, and one for type of fuel):

Geographic "nodes" assigned to a user

Geographic "nodes" assigned to a user

Let’s say we want a new user (in this case, called “ar-atl”) to have access to Georgia (GA), Nevada (NV), as shown in green above, plus ALL THEIR CHILDREN.

We can assign ONLY these 2 nodes to that user, and specify how “far down” the tree we want to grant permission (e.g. maybe down to the city such as Reno, NV (REN), but NOT beyond that to the West Reno, East Reno, etc. levels, if they existed).

We can do that like this, as well as add all “Function: Delivery” and “Type of Fuel: Green” to this user.  This way they’ll get ALL the members of Delivery and Green (e.g. CNG, Electric, Hybrid, Volt, etc.), as shown below.  We can add multiple nodes to a user per hierarchy, such as BOTH GA and NV for the US (Geographic) hierarchy:

Assigning permissions on Hierarchy Nodes to users

Assigning permissions on Hierarchy Nodes to users

Hovering over the user now shows you the permissions assigned to that user:

Permissions assigned and inherited by users

Permissions assigned and inherited by users

This allows us to provide Hierarchy capabilities to ALL users — not just administrators, as it has previously been available.  PLEASE BEAR IN MIND that the hierarchy is available ONLY to large accounts (e.g. > 100 vehicles) as it is generally unnecessary for small fleets, since they can use vehicle groups to do the same thing.  If you are a large fleet customer of ours, and are not currently using the hierarchy, you can contact Sales or Support to ask for it to be turned on for  your account.  It is a HUGE time-saver in many ways, and you can click here for more information on the Hierarchy capabilities of GPS Insight.

Now onto Custom Filters for Attribute and Category data:

Initially they will be available on 2D mapping, shown here, by pressing the “Attributes and Categories” button (and I’ve already restricted the vehicles by choosing a Group when launching the map (All Vehicles) and choosing ONLY vehicles with the letter “e” in them, using the “Filter List:” box:

Accessing Filters in GPS Insight

Accessing Filters in GPS Insight

This opens up a screen which allows you to create a highly specific filter, based on any category and attribute data you may have specified for your vehicles.

Here, I’ll create a very loose filter which requires ANY (vs. ALL) of the 3 conditions to be met:

Filtering vehicles with custom categories and attributes

Filtering vehicles with custom categories and attributes

Since “Alena” has one of the “Compressor, Generator, Jackhammer & Winch” which are specified in the 2nd criteria, the vehicle shows up on the map:

Vehicle matches the filter

Vehicle matches the filter

If I change the filter to ALL (and some other changes), we get only the single vehicle which meets those criteria:

New, more restrictive filter

New, more restrictive filter

Fewer vehicles match this filter

Fewer vehicles match this filter

Fewer vehicles match this filter

Fewer vehicles match this filter

And note that you can SAVE your filters for future use:

Saving a custom filter in GPS Insight

Saving a custom filter in GPS Insight

And use them like this:

Using a previously saved filter

Using a previously saved filter

This will really help ALL our customers to better utilize and benefit from this functionality by filtering maps, and soon reports, dashlets, and alerts with HIGHLY custom data which they can assign to vehicles.  Filters will also eventually apply to OTHER areas of GPS Insight where categories and attributes are assigned — for instance running a report on only landmarks in the “Customers” group of landmarks which have a “to be serviced by” date in the next 7 days.  Or sending idle alerts for vehicles which don’t have the “ignore idle” attribute set to “yes.”

There’s no practical limit to how complicated you can make these filters — there is the ability to “nest” them within each other so you can say things like:

“Only show vehicles which are corporate unless they are both personal and have a winch, but exclude all of those whose registration expired before today.

Both custom filters and hierarchy based permissions will be available to all customers by the end of August, and as always, we will continue to add functionality as it is required by our customers.

Enjoy & Thanks!

Rob.

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Jun 24 2012

Powerful new capabilities for Custom Categories and Attributes

We recently added new custom categories and attributes to GPS Insight for any customer to add highly business specific data to their vehicles, drivers, users, landmarks, and hierarchy nodes.

There are some new ways to utilize this feature, as well as custom filtering coming soon to the 2D map screen.  These filters will eventually support report, alerts, API’s, etc.

For instance, you will be able to click the new “attributes and categories” button on 2D mapping (shown below) and add HIGHLY CUSTOM filters for which vehicles are shown:

New Attributes and Categories in GPS Insight 2D Mapping

New Attributes and Categories in GPS Insight 2D Mapping

In this example, I am filtering on only vehicles which EITHER are Route Number less than or equal to #15 (e.g. 1-15) OR BOTH a Corporate Vehicle with BOTH a Compressor AND Winch:

Highly Custom Filter in GPS Insight

Highly Custom Filter in GPS Insight

Once I save that filter, only some of the vehicles remain, and when I choose one (Andrew PNP) I can tab to the “Custom” tab in 2D mapping and see how that vehicle matches our filter:

Since it was EITHER [any] (not both), the fact that the route #8 is less than/equal to 15 which causes this vehicle to be chosen, not the Specialized Equipment, since it doesn’t have a Winch in addition to the Compressor and Corporate ownership.

Filter Vehicles in GPS Insight Mapping

Filter Vehicles in GPS Insight Mapping

Note that there is a convenient “Edit: Attributes” link which takes me to the proper screen where I can add that winch, or something appropriate:

Edit Categories and Attributes in GPS Insight

Edit Categories and Attributes in GPS Insight

You just need to click the “green check” between “Specialized Equipment” and the vehicle icon at top to bring up the options available.  Then edit the vehicle to include a Winch and next time you check, that data has changed:

New Category assigned to Andrew PNP

New Category assigned to Andrew PNP

I also went and changed the “Any” to “All” so now ALL 3 restrictions must be met.  Now very few (5) vehicles are shown, as the filter is much more restrictive:

GPS Insight map filter

GPS Insight map filter

Some of these capabilities exist already, and some will be released shortly.  Filters will eventually be something you can save, and use with reports and alerts.  We’ll keep you posted on when these capabilities make it to GPS Insight.

Thanks,

Rob.

 

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May 17 2012

Direction Arrows you can “trust” in Google Earth (if you know how they behave)

A highly-dispatch-oriented emergency services customer recently asked us to add arrows to the icons in Google Earth (3D Mapping) so they could better see the ambulance’s direction of travel.

We made some additions to allow for this, shown below (this is me at the mall after work this afternoon):

Arrows and Direction Text for 3D History and Current Status Icons

Arrows and Direction Text for 3D History and Current Status Icons

Here is a map of multiple vehicles, and provided you’re looking at them with the map faced “North -> Up” they are going to be helpful.

Arrows and Direction Text for Current Status 3D Icons

Arrows and Direction Text for Current Status 3D Icons

The problem is once you “rotate” the Earth within Google Earth’s 3D mapping, the icons still point the same direction, even though that direction has moved.  These two pictures illustrate that point:

North is "up" in the map for this icon

North is "up" in the map for this icon

When North faces “Up” then the arrow is headed in the correct direction (in this case West by SouthWest, or down toward the bottom left of the screen).

But when the Earth is “turned” to where West is now “Up” (or North is “Left”), the icon still looks the same.

North is "Left" but icon shows up the same

North is "Left" but icon shows up the same

This is a problem unless you know to ignore the arrow.  The “WSW” is still accurate, which is why we included it.

Also notice that the direction “circle” is available for all icons, as shown on this “truck” style icon above.

When you leave North “Up” the direction isn’t ever a concern.  It’s just worth mentioning.

My preference is to put a “trail” on the vehicles so that that 5-15 minute trail (configurable) gives an intuitive feel for direction of travel within GPS Insight’s 3D Google Earth Mapping:

Choosing a "Trail" to follow your vehicle in GPS Insight 3D Mapping

Choosing a "Trail" to follow your vehicle in GPS Insight 3D Mapping

Which looks like this:

Choosing a "Trail" to follow your vehicle in GPS Insight 3D Mapping

Choosing a "Trail" to follow your vehicle in GPS Insight 3D Mapping

Have it your way at GPS Insight! We provide multiple options so that regardless of what you and your users of our product prefer, you have those options (speaking of, we are adding an option to hide the arrow/direction text which will be there shortly as well, if you like the old style better).

Thanks,

Rob.

 

 

 

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