Fleet Tracker
Fleet Tracker monitors the individual positions of a fleet of
vehicles without the
purchase of any hardware except for the Android phones.
The vehicle locations can be viewed in real-time at the office on
a desktop computer. This web-based display shows the vehicles on a Google
Maps page. A demo can be viewed
here.
Access to the web map, and some other functions are provided
through
the portal page
here.
The app continues to operate normally even as the phone goes into
sleep
mode.
After a brief one-time set-up, operating the app requires only a
single
button tap to start and stop.
The app will monitor a fleet of up to 20 vehicles. You will need one copy
of the app per vehicle.
If you are interested in using this app for a larger fleet than 20
vehicles, please contact
me at
fundyandroid at gmail.com and I can arrange some time-saving
customization specific to your company.
USING THE APP
First check the mobile device has the Location Settings set to Use GPS
Satellites. This takes a couple of minutes for the GPS signal to stabiize
and prefers a clear view of the sky. It uses the battery faster so you
wish to turn it off after you finish using the app.
To use this app for the first time, you must first set the company
name.
When the app first opens, tap the black Auto icon to reach the
Set Vehicle page. Then tap the Go To Company Settings button to reach the
second level of settings.
This leads to the Set Fleet Name page. Enter a unique 5-character
name
into the upper Edit Box and then tap the middle button to Save. Tap the
next lower button to review the setting for the Fleet name.
Next set the company email, which later receives notifications
when a
driver logs on or logs off the sytem. This has a similar format to the
name settings above.
Then use the Back Button to return to the Vehicle Settings page.
Then choose the interval between readings from the lower dropdown
menu.
The default setting is 60 seconds apart. Longer intervals like 120
seconds use less bandwidth but are less accurate.
Next tap the Save button, and finally the bottom Review button to
check
your settings. Now use the back button to return to the main map page.
Your chosen vehicle number should now be written in yellow over the
upper left corner of the map.
To begin tracking, tap the green icon with the Radio Tower. This
turns
red while the tracking is active. Tapping it again stops the tracking
and returns the green Radio Tower icon.
The Placemark icon, second from the left records the location of
your
vehicle at a spot corresponding to the center of the map. This may not
be your true position as the map can be moved to any location. This
icon is therefore mostly just for testing purposes.
The Satellite Dish icon zooms the map so that it is centered at
your
Last Known location.
To view the Fleet vehicles superimposed over your satellite-view
map,
tap the Mountain icon, second from the right.
The Three Car icon on the right switches to a web page where the
vehicle positions are shown. Stale vehicle positions appear as blue,
recent are orange, and the newest are red.
This page is centered at the driver's vehicle.
COLOR MATCH AND OTHER APPS