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GPS-based fleet optimization products and services specialist Navman Wireless announced the addition of route compliance reporting to its OnlineAVL2 fleet tracking software, providing an AVL-integrated SMB solution for monitoring driver adherence to daily routing schedules.
Version 10.1 also includes an expansion of OnlineAVL2’s messaging platform for in-vehicle communication between drivers and dispatchers, new vehicle clustering for at-a-glance map views of larger fleets, and other technical and usability upgrades designed to optimize fleet performance and costs.
Highlights of the 10.1 release include route compliance reporting, which allows users to compare planned stops generated by a third-party routing or scheduling application with actual vehicle activity as recorded in the OnlineAVL2 application. Separate vehicle and driver compliance reports show completed, missed and unplanned stops plus planned and actual arrival time, stop duration and departure time at each location. The company said integration with OnlineAVL2 eliminates the need to purchase and deploy a separate compliance application, minimizes costs, and provides fleet tracking and compliance from a single interface.
The solution also offers enhanced message tracking for interactions between the dispatch center and the in-vehicle Navman Wireless mobile communication device. Upgrades include an e-mail-style messaging center for improved message visibility, message status icons, optional message read receipts, map display of driver-sent message location, expanded message reporting, and the ability to view entire e-versations between a given driver and dispatcher by thread for event reconstruction. All OnlineAVL2 upgrades are included with new product purchases at no extra charge and provided free to current customers, either on request or during the next scheduled automatic software update.
The vehicle clustering feature allows vehicles within a certain geographic proximity to be merged together in a single vehicle icon on the OnlineAVL2 map for faster map loading and easier real-time tracking of larger fleets. The number of clusters as well as the number of vehicles within each cluster changes as users zoom in or out, providing multiple views of fleet location and distribution. Users can define the color of the cluster icons based on the number of vehicles per cluster, the company noted. Version 10.1 also adds support for Citrix environments.
“This release of OnlineAVL2 equips fleet managers and operators with new real-time insights into fleet usage, from planned versus actual route stops to easier message visibility, message analysis and rollup/drilldown of map views-all at no additional cost to our customers in keeping with our standard upgrade policy,” said Renaat Ver Eecke, vice president and general manager of Navman Wireless North America. “These features provide new opportunities for optimizing fleet activities and achieving incremental reductions in fuel, labor and vehicle operating costs and inefficiencies.”