Keep track

Out of sight shouldn’t mean out of mind

The English Fire and Rescue service recently unveiled a £350 million logistics system called FiReControl. It enables an operator in any part of the country to respond to calls and track and dispatch emergency vehicles. GPS data from the vehicles is fed into a map allowing more efficient use of resources compared with simple radio communication.

Such technology offers the potential to save both time and fuel for any growing business with a delivery or mobile service operation. And while the budget for a system like FiReControl may be beyond your means, the good news is that you can do the same thing with Google Earth for under £10 (plus the cost of a GPS-enabled device, such as a smart phone, for each unit you’re tracking).

Instant intelligence
Google Earth’s ‘plus’ option lets you plug data from a GPS device into online maps, showing you exactly where your vehicles are. This can be displayed from your base of operations and/or on a smart phone while on the move.

In August such a system was used to track 59 teams in the La Petite Trotte à Léon, a 220 kilometre, three-day race around Mont Blanc. Each team carried a GPS device which sent data to the race hub every 15 minutes. The data was fed into Google Earth Plus and projected onto the wall of a makeshift control room in the International Ski Academy.

When the leading team, a group of Belgians, became lost in a river valley on the second day of the course, the race controllers picked up on it and were able to get them back on track – albeit with a French team now hot on their heels.