Your commercial fleet, no matter how big or small, is imperative to your daily operations. However in the winter months, you might experience more maintenance issues due to the low temperatures, rain, ice and snow. In order to keep your commercial fleet running in peak performance, you will need to take some steps to winterize them. The following tips will provide you information for how to prepare your vehicles for the cold winter season.

Tips to Winterize Your Commercial Fleet

Follow these tips to winterize your commercial fleet and prepare them for the harsh weather conditions associated with winter.

Fill your tires – Your tire pressure can drop more easily in cold weather so you should prepare for this by filling the tires before the winter season. This will prevent potential safety hazards and improve fuel efficiency. You will also want to make sure the tires have sufficient tread, especially since your vehicles might be driving over rain, sleet and snow. Read the rest of this entry »

Between 1977 and 2011, 4,325 firefighter deaths occurred in the United States, reports the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA). But thanks to advanced GPS tracking technology, signal routers, and a vital signs monitor, it’s hoped that firefighter lives can be saved, including firefighters who have become lost or disoriented while fighting a fire.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Division has created three forms of technology to aid the tracking and safety of firefighters. Alongside the GLANSER, (Geospatial Location Accountability and Navigation System for Emergency Responders) tracking device used for tracking the firefighter’s location, they have also developed a signal router called the WISPER (Wireless Intelligent Sensor Platform for Emergency Responders) and a vital signs monitor called the PHASER (Physiological Health Assessment System for Emergency Responders). Read the rest of this entry »

Elephants in the Oakland Zoo are being tracked with GPS devices to better understand their movements and how to improve their environment.

Five elephants at the Oakland Zoo in California have been outfitted with GPS tracking devices. The trackers are located on their ankle, which look similar to a house arrest anklet, which a famous celebrity has been known to sport albeit in a much smaller size.

The five elephants, which includes “Donna”, a nearly 9,000-pound beauty, will be tracked in order to learn more about their behaviors, including how much exercise they get and how often they eat in a 6.5-acre habitat.

The GPS trackers are the newest addition to a study being conducted by the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums on the health and safety of elephants and other zoo animals who are living in captivity. Read the rest of this entry »

GPS technology, like LiveView GPS tracking devices have been used to bust bank robbers, catch manhole cover thieves, and now to apprehend aluminum bandits.

Again GPS tracking devices come to the rescue; this time to help police catch a Philadelphia man from committing the same theft twice.

The theft in question occurred in Langhorne, Bucks County when the construction company J.M. Pereira & Sons Inc. had a large amount of aluminum scrap stolen from their job site overnight. The owner of the company, Carl Pereira, insisted this would be a one-time thing. He had a GPS device installed in aluminum form on his site.

The aluminum form was later tracked to a scrap metal yard in Philadelphia. Pereira was asked by local police to identify the stolen aluminum, shortly after which Brian Pierson was apprehended. There was more than $13,000 worth of scrap metal stolen during the second theft. Read the rest of this entry »

In light of the classic and beloved movie The Wizard of Oz being aired three times on TNT this weekend, we thought we’d showcase a story of an imaginative inventor inspired by both the movie and GPS technology.

In an exciting creation, The Wizard of Oz meets modern GPS technology with the newest invention by designer Dominic Wilcox.

The invention is shoes that are embedded with a GPS technology that will help you find your way home, literally, with a click of the heels. The wearer of the shoe can click his or her heels — just like Dorothy did with her infamous ruby red slippers — and follow the flashing arrow located on the left shoe. The right shoe is also working by measuring how far the wearer still has to go on their journey. Read the rest of this entry »