When Nokia shutdown, or sunset (as described by one spokesperson), NAVTEQ’s developer division (NN4D) there were questions about the future of developing using NAVTEQ’s map data. NAVTEQ is one of the world’s largest digital map suppliers and spawned a significant amount of custom location-based development through its active NN4D developer network.

With the entire division being shutdown many developers are concerned their applications will be unsupported and future development using NAVTEQ map data will lack the technical assistance they enjoyed with NN4D.

Is there a future for developers using NAVTEQ map data?

NAVTEQ map data still a going concern

Despite the closure of the NN4D developer network, NAVTEQ (now owned by Nokia) will continue to be a leading provider of map data around the globe. A recent deal with Russian search giant Yandex underscores that NAVTEQ map data is a strong player as a supplier of location data. Yandex joins other search engines, Bing and Yahoo, that use NAVTEQ map data to power their location-based applications.

NAVTEQ is also used by a huge range of specialist industries, from transport and logistics to wireless consumer devices and vehicle manufacturers, with recent statistics showing it is used on around 45 million devices.

There is no doubt that NAVTEQ as a company and its field of supplying map data has a strong and progressive future. Unfortunately for NN4D, NAVTEQ’s own developer network, they were shutdown, and for some in the industry, this wasn’t a huge surprise with Nokia having its own developer network and the connection between Nokia, NAVTEQ, and Microsoft Bing creating uncertainty and confusion, both internally and externally. While this is not great news for the team at NN4D, we are confident their skills will be picked up by other companies in the LBS niche.

What options do developers who were part of the NN4D network have? Will they be able to continue developing on a platform supporting NAVTEQ map data?

Full NAVTEQ map functionality and support available for developers

NAVTEQ’s rich map data is fully utilized by Telogis GeoBase, the popular mapping SDK used by hundreds of developers and commercial applications around the word.

Telogis GeoBase developers are part of the GeoZone, an active community of developers and Telogis technical staff, based in the US and New Zealand, who provide a supportive environment for developers and users. Anyone can register for a free trial and join in one of the many discussions on the developer forum.

NAVTEQ provides GeoZone members with sample map data for many regions around the world, as well as truck restrictions data (delivered in the NAVTEQ Transport™ product) for the United States.

Telogis provides NAVTEQ map data in GeoBase File Format (GBFS) for over 60 countries, and the list is growing. Additionally, Telogis GeoBase takes full advantage of the rich list of attributes contained within the base road network data such as speed limit, road class, lane count, toll ways, ramps, and much more. Telogis GeoBase also provides fleet tracking and transportation companies with advanced routing, route optimization and navigation functionalities through the full support of NAVTEQ Transport™ data and NAVTEQ Traffic services.

Telogis is committed to supporting developers using NAVTEQ map data, assisting with any application development that previously turned to the NN4D network for help.

Register today and get started with Telogis GeoBase and NAVTEQ map data.

When everyone finishes their day at work, there’s one employee who keeps going. And doesn’t get paid extra for it. Or complain about it either.

Telematics solutions such as Telogis Fleet and Ford Crew Chief™ powered by Telogis® are often promoted as an operational solution. Fuel savings, better allocation of resources, and optimized routing are just a few of the benefits to your fleet’s operation. However one of the most valuable features this ‘employee’ can offer is something that comes into its own outside of regular business hours.

How secure are your assets?

For contractors, especially those who work remotely or have temporary yards set up away from headquarters, asset security is a serious issue. Work trucks offer a tempting target for thieves not only for the value of the truck itself, but whatever other tools and equipment may be in, or towed behind it.

Telematics, however, offers a solution: through geofencing and real-time location of the vehicle, truck owners are alerted much sooner to the theft of a vehicle. Geofencing is the equivalent of a virtual fence that is placed around any given location or yard. The fleet manager or truck owner can create an alert that sends an email or a text message if a truck has been moved outside that virtual fence during specific hours. This means a faster response to the theft itself, and the authorities will use the real-time location of the vehicle to help track it.

One Telogis customer reported that the recovery of one truck more than paid for the annual subscription service for the telematics solution. That ROI grew exponentially if the truck had a trailer with an excavator or skid steer on it. In some cases, the location of the stolen truck often alerted authorities to the presence of other stolen goods and equipment as well. The ability to identify and track thefts at such a fast pace helps lower three significant costs: the lost time associated with a stolen vehicle, the actual replacement costs (after insurance) associated with the vehicle itself, and the insurance premiums.

The equation is rather simple: stolen trucks lead to downtime and raised insurance rates, while recovered trucks lead to less downtime and hassle while maintaining and/or lowering insurance rates.

What are your hidden fleet costs?

A telematics system can also help protect your company’s assets and resources. Fleet managers and business owners can compare vehicle mileage and location to work schedules and pinpoint the exact amount of mileage/expense that is attributable to the job and how much of it was used on personal time by an employee.

For instance, it can be detected if an employee took the vehicle on a 300-mile personal trip over the course of the weekend. It’s important to note that this is not only an issue of unauthorized use, but of exposure: the more time a commercial vehicle spends on the road, the more time it is exposed to potential accidents and hazards. Increased exposure equals a greater chance of liability should something go wrong – a risk not worth taking on unauthorized use.

Systems are also able to leverage fuel card data and GPS location to better manage fuel purchases and identify possible instances of theft. Fleet managers can compare fuel card transactions to GPS-provided vehicle locations to verify authorized use. If a card is used when no authorized vehicle is present, that signifies an unauthorized use of the fuel card and can launch an investigation into the theft of valuable company resources.

Pay less for insurance too

With Telogis, fleets can qualify for an immediate discount up to 15 percent with a participating insurance carrier when buying a commercial vehicle policy. Further, safe driving discounts of up to 40 percent off participating carrier rates are available with subsequent policy renewals. Those are substantial numbers, even for one truck, but spread that out over a fleet of vehicles and you will experience substantial savings.

Keep it secure with Telogis

What we’ve discussed here are just a few ways in which a telematics system such as Telogis Fleet or Ford Crew Chief powered by Telogis can help contractors keep their vehicles and resources more secure.

Don’t risk another day with your valuable assets exposed to theft and misuse. Switch on to Telogis and keep your business safe, around the clock!

Mapping software is growing in popularity but some applications are limited by the extent of their coverage. Limited to offering map data in a few, well-populated countries means developers are restricted to marketing their location-based application to those places.

With far fewer restrictions around map data, Telogis GeoBase map software is the right choice for developers who want to expand into new markets around the world. Currently Telogis GeoBase offers support for over 60 countries, a list that is continuing to grow as additional support and map data is collected and integrated.

Tools to grow your international presence

Aside from the 60+ countries that Telogis GeoBase offers (represented on the map image above) there are another three key ways that you can use GeoBase to grow your international presence.

• Additional map detail – Map data is not just growing in the number of countries covered but extra map detail is being including for many countries offering features such as ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems), traffic data, and truck attributes (route restriction) data.
• Convert Shapefile map data – Existing Shapefile (SHP) files can be easily imported into Telogis GeoBase using the import feature. This feature (also known as Alchemy) converts SHP files
• Map data on request – We partner with the world’s biggest suppliers of map data including Navteq, DigitalGlobe, and Tele Atlas. If you want map data for a corner of the globe that we don’t have listed, get in touch with us. We can most likely build something to suit your requirements!

As a global product, Telogis is actively supporting map data development in many countries around the world, which is great news for developers looking to grow their market presence around the globe.

Bulding an app for Slovenians?

If you’re contemplating building a location-based mapping solution for the country of Slovenia, then Telogis GeoBase is the perfect choice. It is one of the more than 60 countries supported with native GBFS (Telogis GeoBase) map data.

Other countries include many locations around Europe such as Luxembourg, Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia and the Czech Republic. South American countries such as Colombia, Chile, and Venezuela are also available along with African nations such as Botswana, Lesotho, and Mozambique. The Middle East is well represented with countries such as Bahrain, Oman, and Jordan included.

The full list of countries where map data is available is listed on the Telogis developer website, however, as mentioned, if you are developing for a country not listed feel free to contact us and make a request.

Global mapping tipped to grow exponentially

They say the world is a village and as the internet shrinks that village even more, global map data will continue to be a high priority for mobile workers, and ever increasing numbers of tourists.

Telogis GeoBase developers will be happy to know that Telogis is committed to working with leading map suppliers such as NAVTEQ to not only increase the depth of data supplied but also the reach, as areas of the world get mapped in more detail, offering richer, more engaging consumer experiences.

How many of your mobile assets are you managing using location-based software? None, a few, or the whole fleet? One thing is certain: it is becoming more common for new vehicles to offer options for remote management. For example, Ford offer factory installed telematics (OEM) on 2012 models of Ford F-150, Super Duty, E-Series and Transit Connect vehicles.

With telematics becoming more accessible for fleet owners, we are seeing a major shift towards using web-based applications that provide critical feedback on a fleet’s operation in real time. It’s allowing fleet managers, supervisors, safety managers, CEOs, logistics, and dispatch to make intelligent decisions based on actual data rather than ‘gut feel’.

But if you’re only using telematics on part of your fleet, you’re missing out on the full benefit of what location-based software can do for your bottom line.

Partial fleet management means partial benefits

The interesting thing about benefiting from location-based software is that it scales exponentially as you roll it out across all your mobile resources. The savings you make on one vehicle in fuel, maintenance, and efficiency don’t increase in a standard linear style – they quickly stack up as the cost of implementing the solution remains static but your savings quickly add up.

What are some other benefits of deploying telematics to all your assets, including vehicles, remote workers, high-value assets, and other key parts of your business that may be remote, movable, and valuable?

• Coordinate mobile teams more effectively – Telogis Fleet makes it easy to coordinate crews and dispatch to a jobsite, monitoring their progress along the way. If the team is made up of some vehicles without telematics, the team’s data will be inaccurate and decisions will take longer to make.
• Identify assets no longer needed – With all assets tracked you’ll quickly identify disused vehicles or machinery no longer being utilized and which could be sold for capital gain, as well as saving unnecessary maintenance costs too.
• Send the nearest vehicle to a new job – With all your vehicles on a single dashboard, you’ll be able to use the ‘Send nearest’ feature in Telogis telematics solutions with greater certainty, knowing that you are actually dispatching the closest vehicle.
• More accurate comparisons – Gathering data about your whole fleet not only entitles you to discounts on insurance but is also a valuable metric to measure the cost advantages of different vehicles in your fleet. New vs. old, diesel vs. gas or hybrid vs. naturally aspirated – track where additional cost savings can be made.
• Uniform staff policies – No employee likes to feel as if they’re being treated unfairly or differently from other staff. By deploying telematics fleetwide you are showing that you want all mobile workers to aim for the same measurable KPIs. If staff are having difficulty with embracing telematics, find out what you can do to help!

Knowing all your fleet data is kept in one central location, and accessible from anywhere with an internet connection will bring the full benefit of location-based intelligence to the decisions you make, and simplify your fleet management.

Is it time to retrofit your fleet with telematics?

There might be a range of reasons why a fleet hasn’t converted their entire asset collection to telematics. Perhaps they’re running a trial project to compare the value of implementing location-based software. Sometimes it’s just because they’re not aware of what’s involved or what’s possible.

For example, Ford Crew Chief™ powered by Telogis®, the factory-installed telematics solution, can be retrofitted to a lot of used Ford vehicles, not just new trucks. So if you’ve purchased new Fords fitted with Crew Chief as part of your fleet, you can easily get your existing Ford vehicles retrofitted and track all your assets on the same dashboard. Visit the Crew Chief website and compare editions to see what other features are available for your whole fleet.

If you think it’s time you expanded your fleet management to include all your mobile resources then get in touch with your local Telogis sales representative and discuss your options. With everything on one screen you’ll be enjoying the benefits of a complete fleet management solution.

There is a growing variety of different location-relevant data now available. As cartographers, surveyors, analysts and others map the world in different and fascinating ways there will be a growing list of additional GIS data that developers can tap into to provide users with a richer map experience.

Great for the user, but as a developer how can these independent data systems be imported into your Telogis GeoBase project?

GBFS – The standard Telogis GeoBase map format

GBFS stands for GeoBase File System and it is the native format used in Telogis GeoBase. Converting other data formats into GBFS is relatively straightforward thanks to the Alchemy tool provided with Telogis GeoBase.

The benefit of converting to the GBFS format is that these files are spatially optimized for geospatial or location-based applications, negating the need to run expensive spatial databases. The strength of the Alchemy tool lies in it’s SQL-like syntax, which provides powerful, selective, data extraction and transformation.

More assistance for using Alchemy can be found in the help documentation provided with Telogis GeoBase or on the community forum, actively monitored by Telogis technical support staff.

An alternative to importing – using data in real time

Importing map data is a valuable option to get important information overlaid on your mapping application but it does have one drawback. If the map data is changed or added to, the import process needs to be run again, to recreate the GBFS files.

With recent developments in Telogis GeoBase, some data can now be accessed using database queries. GBTX files offer a much faster way to get 3rd-party data overlaid on your application, bypassing the need to use Alchemy to import map tiles.

This means that, rather than using static GBFS files, you can draw points and polygons direct from a dynamic database, delivering the freshest information for your users.

If you’d like to know more about this new option of querying a database to refresh 3rd-party map data, read one of our recent articles on the subject of transactional map queries.

A flexible solution that plays nicely with other data

One of the major attractions of Telogis GeoBase for a lot of developers and corporations looking for a mapping software development kit is how it is built on modern standards with flexible connections to outside data. This ability to easily integrate is one of the powerful features in Telogis’ SaaS Platform for managing mobile workforces. Its adherence to XML-based open architecture means Telogis products are designed to synchronize and engage with other enterprise software and data types.

This flexibility gives developers the confidence it can grow and adapt to the changing needs of their application, and also relieves C-level managers the worry of buying a solution that will soon be rendered obsolete or be incompatible with their future software requirements.

Anyone considering a mapping SDK that will do what they need, both now and in the future, should learn more about Telogis GeoBase.

If you’re a developer and have questions about using the Alchemy tool for importing third-party data, can post a discussion on our community forum.

How much do you know about the growing role of telematics in auto insurance? It isn’t new, but it is now going mainstream and is even the subject of national TV commercials. Still, a lot of consumers and commercial fleet owners are unaware of exactly what insurance telematics is, and what it can mean for insurance costs and driver safety.

As a provider of location-based intelligence applications, Telogis has delivered the benefits of telematics to our customers. This has allowed them to cut costs, improve productivity, and create a safer environment for their mobile workers. We’re also playing a growing role in helping bring insurance savings to fleet owners around the country.

How does insurance telematics make these benefits accessible to more fleet owners, as well as single-vehicle consumers? The key is providing organizations in the industry a common platform that is accessible, robust, and built on a modern architecture. An extensible set of tools within a common open platform allows developers to grow the potential benefits insurance telematics offers and to create customized applications for specific niches within the LBS industry.

For some fleets it has meant savings of up to 40% on their insurance costs!

Customer acceptance, improved technology fueling growth of insurance telematics

Industry experts are noting that telematics is becoming more commonplace among insurance companies as what were once barriers to entry (technology costs and consumer acceptance) are now rapidly disappearing in favor of the significant benefits offered by accurate driver monitoring and ‘good behavior’ history records.

Insurance companies are beginning to offer telematics systems on a much larger scale, and, in the future, could introduce associated location-based services that are only possible with large customer bases and GPS location-based data.

For example, benchmarking of driver information can allow the introduction of new safety ratings for drivers. It can also provide useful data for fleets and consumers to reduce risky driving behaviors that could lead to accidents and for road safety organizations in understanding training issues that need attention.

Insurance savings available to mobile workforces

There can also be financial perks for fleet owners and individual drivers in such things as reduced insurance premiums, loyalty programs, traffic-sourced driver guidance (best routes, cheaper gas prices etc.), and nearby services, such as when your GPS notes your fuel level is low and a gas station is close by that offers member discounts. In addition, savings can be obtained through fuel efficiencies and reduced vehicle maintenance costs from safer driving behaviors.

Some insurance companies are offering up to 40% off premiums for fleets using telematics that meet specific criteria. Find out now if your fleet is eligible.

Insurers are also excited about the possibilities offered by telematics, with some claiming it will revolutionize the underwriting risk for insurance companies, allowing them to extend coverage to situations previously not possible, or offer fairer premiums to safer drivers.

But the key to making these types of solutions available is building on a data management platform that is secure, robust, and built for accessibility and agile development.

The Telogis Platform provides insurance companies, such as Liberty Mutual, with the proven scalability, efficiency, and reliability not only to make insurers’ business models work and to facilitate insurers expanding their programs beyond niches to broader market segments but also to enable more fleets and consumers to participate and find additional savings.

If you work with maps and map data, you’ll be familiar with spatial data. It’s the location-relevant data that connects standard data queries with real-world locations.

Spatial simply means of, or relating to, space, such as “the spatial distribution of population”.

Spatial databases are different from ordinary databases in that they use a specially-designed spatial index to look-up spatial data such as finding the distance between points or a polygon area, intersecting features, and other spatial information.

While spatial databases can extract specialized location data quicker than ordinary databases, they do have certain drawbacks.

The downside to spatial databases

Due to the specialized nature of spatial databases, and the select industries that use them, the cost involved with acquiring the licences needed to use a spatial database can make it difficult for businesses to justify their use, particularly when many other databases are open source and virtually free to use.

Used for unique niches and specific applications, means that professional help and technical support can also be both difficult to come by as well as costly.

When is a spatial database not a spatial database?

Businesses needing a database to store spatial data are not stuck without options. In fact, Telogis GeoBase offers the perfect alternative. It is a commercial-grade mapping engine that doesn’t require a spatial database. This is because the Telogis GeoBase File System (GBFS) includes all of the spatial indexes and functions required to build a geospatial system.

In fact, in most cases Telogis GeoBase eliminates the need for expensive 3rd-party spatial databases allowing you to build an spatially-enabled enterprise-grade application with a lower-cost relational database such as SQL Server or MySQL.

Telogis GeoBase supports common query types (as specified by the Open Geospatial Consortium) but not via standard SQL queries but instead using the Telogis DataQuery API and some simple C#.

Query types supported include:

• Spatial Measurements – Finds the distance between points, polygon area, etc.
• Spatial Predicates – Allows true/false queries such as ‘is there a residence located within a mile of the area we are planning to build the landfill?’
• Constructor Functions – Create new shapes using the Telogis API calls (in C#) to create the various points and lines that make up the shape.
• Observer Functions – Queries which return specific information about a shape such as the location of the center of a circle.
• Spatial Functions – This is generally difficult,or even impossible, with spatial databases, however with the Telogis GeoBase open database developers can write algorithms to apply whatever changes are needed.

Store spatial data without expensive spatial databases

Telogis GeoBase lowers the cost of developing location-based applications by not requiring the use of specialized spatial databases.

Get started today with Telogis GeoBase by downloading the free trial SDK available from http://dev.telogis.com.

It supports map data for over 60 countries around the world and is used to develop hundreds of web-based mobile resource management applications. It also powers the Telogis Platform, trusted by some of the world’s biggest brands including Ford to monitor and manage thousands of moving assets.

ALISO VIEJO, Calif., December 21, 2011 — Telogis Inc., the platform for location intelligence, has been named to the prestigious Red Herring Global 100: a list of the top private technology firms around the globe. Red Herring — a global media company uniting the world’s best technology innovators, venture investors and business decision makers — built the list from more than 1,000 companies entered from North America, Europe and Asia.

Telogis is the premium global provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) location-based applications and services. The company’s strength is built on a unique platform approach that provides advanced solutions and incorporates location information into meaningful applications for users in industries ranging from utilities and construction to pest control and food/beverage distribution. Telogis is the only company that offers a true end-to-end enterprise platform that provides strategic and dynamic routing, real-time work order management, telematics and mobile integration on a single platform.

“With our enterprise dashboard and seamless integration, we eliminate the intimidation factor associated with location intelligence,” says Dave Cozzens, CEO, Telogis. “We’ve made our solutions infinitely scalable and compatible with all major brands of vehicles, assets and equipment. Most importantly, we provide our customers with easy-to-understand and actionable information that helps them improve the productivity and safety of their mobile assets and reduce operating and maintenance costs. We show companies how to drive out inefficiencies and improve their operations, and that’s a main reason we’re being recognized today by Red Herring.”

The recognition is the latest accolade and business success for the company, which was recently named one of America’s Most Promising Companies by Forbes, named to its fourth-consecutive Technology Fast 500™ by Deloitte, ranked as one of the fastest growing private companies in North America by Inc. magazine, and has partnered with Ford Motor Co. to power its next generation Crew Chief™ telematics system.

ABOUT TELOGIS

Telogis Inc., the platform for location intelligence, is dedicated to enhancing the value of its customers’ businesses through intelligent integration of location technology, information and services. Telogis was established in 2001 and is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, Calif., with offices in Europe and Latin America as well as development centers in Austin, Texas, and Christchurch, New Zealand. Telogis’ products and services are used and distributed in more than 60 countries worldwide. To learn more about Telogis visit www.telogis.com or call toll free at 866-TELOGIS (866-835-6447).

Should you be monitoring hard braking and acceleration as part of your fleet’s safety program? What actions does your safety manager take when incidents of hard braking or acceleration are reported? Why monitor it at all?

Fleet safety is a key objective for commercial fleets. Avoiding infringements, protecting staff, and working to keep the public safe are all important aspects of a successful safety program. If hard, or harsh, braking and acceleration monitoring isn’t already part of your safety program, it should be, and if it is learn why it’s such a valuable component of keeping your drivers safe and minimizing the chance of an accident causing injury, unnecessary costs or even death.

What is hard braking/acceleration?

Hard acceleration or braking is a driver event when more force than normal is applied to the vehicle’s brake or accelerator. Some people may refer to this as ‘lead foot’ syndrome, and it can be an indicator of aggressive or unsafe driving. At the very least this style of driving is wasteful and uneconomic.

It should also be noted that hard braking and acceleration events can also indicate crash avoidance, or that a driver has been involved in an accident. Some vehicle GPS systems use ACN (Automatic Crash Notification) to automatically contact emergency services if very hard braking (or deceleration) occurs. It should not be presumed then that HBA (Hard Braking/Acceleration) is always an indicator of unsafe driving.

How is hard braking/acceleration detected?

The accelerometer technology that has made detecting hard braking and acceleration possible has only recently become a viable option for mass production, and inclusion in GPS devices. Previously, accelerometers were simply too expensive to be commercially available. Now the cost has come down to where accelerometers are commonly found in consumer devices such as iPhones or video game controllers.

Simply speaking, accelerometers detect movement, and how much movement, in a particular direction. A commonly used accelerometer is a piezoelectric accelerometer, which uses a suspended mass inside a fixed container. As the container is moved, the mass moves in the opposite direction, putting pressure on the quartz crystal, which in turn converts that pressure into an electric signal. The greater the force, the greater the electrical current.

Depending on how they are being used, accelerometers have different levels of sensitivity, suited to their application, whether it’s in a smartphone or inside a motor vehicle.

The electrical current the accelerometer generates will then be used by the device to trigger a report that can be interpreted by telematics software, compiling events for a report or generating an instant alert.

Why monitor hard braking or acceleration?

There are several good reasons to monitor HBA events. Minimizing these events can improve both your fleet safety and profitability.

Wastes fuel – Experts advise that frequent hard acceleration and braking is costing your fleet an extra three miles per gallon. They recommend driving at a steady speed, even pretending that you don’t have a brake at all (for the purpose of driving smoothly obviously!). Rather than relying on last-minute braking to prevent a collision, your drivers should be focusing on the road ahead and anticipating changes in terrain or actions by other drivers.

Bad for the planet – Harsh driving has been proven to emit more harmful gases into the atmosphere. By encouraging your drivers to ease off the pedal you can help the planet breathe easier.

Accident risk increases – Drivers that ignore safe following distances increase the risk of nose-to-tail crashes, a common type of accident among city drivers. Hard braking could also result in a truck jackknifing resulting in even more damage. When drivers plan ahead, monitor the weather, and anticipate changing conditions, sudden braking and serious accidents can be avoided.

Brake damage – Excessive harsh braking can cause vehicle brakes to overheat, reducing their useful lifespan, damaging the metal components or glazing brake pads making them less effective. It can also trigger a vehicle’s ABS unnecessarily, putting extra stress on the car’s systems.

Aggressive driving – There’s a well-known saying that implies we drive the way we live. HBA events could be a symptom of a stressed or angry worker, taking out their frustration through driving. Situations like that should be handled as soon as possible to avoid bigger problems later.

Why safety should be important to your fleet

Safety is an investment that should never be undervalued. For some fleets that are prepared to take the risk, it can seem like an unnecessary, and unwanted, expense. That creates a dangerous culture that can filter through the ranks, resulting in drivers ignoring safety precautions and guidelines, endangering lives, both inside and outside of the company.

Safety is not just part of a company’s responsibility to its staff but also part of its corporate responsibility to the public in general. With the advancements in technology making it now both economical and simple for fleet managers to detect unsafe driving, such as hard braking and acceleration, there’s no excuse for not effectively managing dangerous drivers and implementing safety programs and coaching sessions to make sure all staff comply with safe driving standards.

How can I report on hard braking/acceleration?

If you’re not already using your Telogis solution (such as Telogis Fleet or Ford Crew Chief™ powered by Telogis®) to monitor hard braking and acceleration, consult the help documentation on setting up an InSight Alert to report this type of activity. It’s just another way to make sure your fleet is promoting safety at every turn.

We live in a fast-paced world where critical information can change by the minute. Much of that vital data is being supplied via online maps. These location-based updates are used for a wide range of mission-critical business applications, nearby services or post-disaster coordination.

Previously, adding custom map data in Telogis GeoBase required building new GBFS files (using Alchemy). These files, once created, couldn’t be updated. To change or add new custom map data, the GBFS files would need to be rebuilt.

Now, with the use of Telogis GeoBase transactional data (GBTX files), custom map data can be updated on the fly, in near real time, without the need to build and updated GBFS file.

This feature allows for dynamic updating of custom data (points or polygons) on the map using a direct connection to the database.

Keep your map data fresh

If your map is serving information that can quickly become out-of-date then this update is great news. By updating custom data dynamically your maps can stay fresh, and everyone knows the freshest maps are always preferred by users. You could even offer a ‘crowd sourcing’ option, setting up a web page that allows the public to update, add or edit landmarks as unverified listings.

Changes made via a web interface (e.g. an ASPX page) would update the database. Using the built-in option to specify how frequently the tiles are refreshed (from one minute, to a day, and beyond), would mean viewers are seeing maps with almost real time updates, making them highly relevant and useful.

So rather than using static GBFS files, you can draw points and polygons direct from a dynamic database, delivering the freshest information for your users.

Tap into the power of database queries

With the ability to run database queries for serving points or polygons on your map, it opens the door for a range of query types that your users will find useful.

Now with the latest version of Telogis GeoBase the power of a custom database is delivered to your map users in near real time, in a variety of different ways.

Present your custom data your way

Drawing data directly from your database on to your map in seconds is one thing, but Telogis Geobase also allows you to style your data in meaningful ways. Using the built-in Chameleon styling tool you can create a custom theme file to draw your data in a way that’s relevant to your users.

Colors, styles, icons – your data can be presented in so many different ways, allowing you to theme your map in a truly customized way, branded for your business or organization, to really make it your own.

You can also deliver different data as separate map layers that users can toggle as required.

Deliver your map data fast with Telogis GeoBase

Using Telogis GeoBase SDK to build your mapping application means you can not only work with your own unique data, whether it’s a chain of stores, collection points, ATMs, ticket outlets, business zones, precincts or areas of operation, it can all be layered on your map.

And now you can make changes and show those updates instantly – all with a simple database query. Do more faster with Telogis GeoBase SDK.