HVAC companies are constantly on the move. Fleet vehicles must continuously make service calls, perform installations, and even perform routine maintenance on HVAC systems throughout the cities where you conduct your business. This takes a toll on trucks and drivers — not to mention a huge chunk of change out of the profit category each year.

But, did you know something as simple as a GPS HVAC tracking system can actually save your business money each year? That’s only the tip of the iceberg though. These types of benefits are perfect reasons for HVAC companies to consider GPS fleet tracking services.

More Accurate ETA Reporting

People are either boiling in their homes or turning into ice cubes when their air conditioning units or heaters are out of commission. They only thing they want more than the problem solved is an accurate estimation for when the HVAC technician is going to arrive.

With GPS HVAC fleet tracking, you can accurately estimate the amount of time it will take service personnel to arrive based on their current location and current traffic situations. This makes you a real hero in the eyes of your customers. Read the rest of this entry »

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently rendered a somewhat shocking, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), verdict. It was an eight to five decision in the case U.S. v. Katzin.

The surprising decision is that evidence derived from the warrantless use of GPS tracking is, in fact admissible in court, in some situations. The ruling relies on a massively expanded interpretation of the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule spelled out in the Fourth Amendment.

The majority opinion held that officers acted in good faith based on years of precedence when using tracking technology for beepers in previous cases without a warrant.

In building the case against Katzin, police, who suspected Katzin of a string of Rite-Aid pharmacy robberies, attached a GPS tracker to Katzin’s car and used information discovered as a result of the GPS tracking device to arrest Harry Katzin. They did this in absence of probable cause or a warrant.

The evidence was initially excluded by a federal judge in Pennsylvania as a result of its lack of a warrant. It was then appealed to a three-judge panel who were divided on the issue. The matter then went before the full court who reached an eight to five decision holding that because they were acting in good faith at the time, the search was admissible. Read the rest of this entry »

Mark your calendars! Stanford University’s Per Enge and Frank van Diggelen have teamed up to teach a massively open online course (MOOC) about GPS basics during the fall of 2014.

When is the Course Offered?

The course itself, titled GPS: An Introduction to Satellite Navigation, with an interactive Worldwide Laboratory using Smartphones, takes place between October 13 and November 24 and focuses attention on the basics of GPS using smartphones.

Each week during the course a new lesson, or module, will be released along with a series of short quizzes to accompany the lessons. Some weeks will also require participation in a GPS lab, which is conducted outside with your smartphone or tablet. During these labs it is up to you to collect data and share it with the virtual classroom.

The fact that the class is offered online means that you have the flexibility to participate according to your own schedule. You have the option of doing all the week’s work in one sitting or breaking it up into small chunks during office lunch hours or whenever is convenient for you. Read the rest of this entry »

K9 dogs in Arizona test out new GPS tracking units to track their location and health status.

Three dogs that work for the Arizona Department of Public Safety department are testing out brand new GPS tracking devices. The devices utilize global positioning system (GPS) technology that is constantly being upgraded for more advanced data tracking abilities. What was previously used for mainly for mapping and navigational properties is now helping organizations all over the world get up-to-date data analysis, including police departments.

The GPS trackers will keep track of where the police dogs are and how they are doing, health-wise. It uses various data to gather and analyze this information, including the temperature and behavior of the dogs, and mapping technology to look at their movements and find their location.

In addition, the GPS tracking device are helping the Arizona police department with K9 training and for learning the searching patterns the dogs use to search for a missing item or person.

Especially in the summer, heat is a concern for police dogs that work long days out in the sun. The core temperature of the dogs is consistently tracked to protect their health and safety when Arizona heat gets up to 100 or more. Read the rest of this entry »

Cargo Thefts in the U.S.

Cargo thefts occur all over the United States, from the Pacific Northwest to the East Coast. However, while every state does experience some type of cargo theft, just four states are showing a considerably higher rate of thefts.

Experts believe the criminals are becoming smarter, knowing not only what states tend to have the cargo they are looking for, but those with environmental conditions and other elements that make it easier to steal from these trucks. They know the larger, more populated states tend to have the more and higher quality products, including food, clothing, pharmaceutical drugs, and electronics.

FreightWatch, a leader in leader in logistics security services, believes that recent trends of cargo thefts in four states in particular are a sign of what is to come. They compiled a list of the items that are stolen most often from trucks, as well as what states they are stolen from. Through their detailed statistics, four states in the U.S. pose a higher risk for cargo theft.

States with the Most Cargo Thefts

FreightWatch compiled statistics that looked at the number of cargo thefts in the U.S., and how many of those thefts occurred in what states. They found that there were a total of 946 cargo thefts during 2012, which on its own was already much higher than the previous year. Among the thefts, the vast majority of them were in California, Florida, Texas, and New Jersey. Read the rest of this entry »