AngelTrack integrates with GPSInsight to automatically pull vehicle geolocation and odometer data from your fleet via their AVL devices.
GPSInsight is a brand of vehicle-tracking devices and associated software platform. It has an API by which AngelTrack can poll for live vehicle GPS positions and their odometer readings.
Configuration
To configure the AngelTrack-GPSInsight integration, follow these steps:
- You must have a active GPSInsight account.
- You must have an active AngelTrack add-on license for the "AVL Integrations" feature bundle.
- In your GPSInsight account, issue an App Token for AngelTrack to use.
- In AngelTrack, go to Settings, and click on the AVL Integration item.
- Select the GPSInsight option, and input your GPSInsight username and the app token into AngelTrack, and click "Save".
- Review all your vehicle records in AngelTrack to verify their VINs are present and correct. You can check them all quickly by exporting the grid from the Vehicles List page and finding the "VIN" column.
- Review all your vehicle records in GPSInsight and likewise verify their VINS are present and correct.
That's all there is to it!
AngelTrack will begin polling GPSInsight for your vehicle data within 40 minutes of completing the authentication steps above.
How It Works
When the integration is active, AngelTrack polls GPSInsight about once per minute for the recent positions of your entire fleet. This data comes from the GPSInsight devices installed in the vehicles.
For every vehicle that returns a valid position which is less than 20 minutes old, AngelTrack stores the new position in its own record for that vehicle. This matchup of GPSInsight's fleet records with AngelTrack's vehicle records is done using VINs.
The position data then informs many other features in AngelTrack, including but not limited to:
- The "distance away" column on the Dispatch Assignment page;
- The mini-maps on the Dispatch Create, Dispatch Assign, and Dispatch Divert pages;
- The estimator arrows on the dispatch board;
- Crew member pins on the Live Map;
- Vertex's mid-day solves and suggester;
- Vertex's self-drive mode; and
- The vehicle locator mini-map in the Vehicle Edit page.
To learn more about crew and vehicle GPS tracking in AngelTrack, please visit the GPS Tracking Guide.
AngelTrack also retrieves odometer information from GPSInsight, where available, and uses it to augment its various displays of vehicle mileage.
Crew and Dispatch Helpers
The GPSInsight integration also provides helpers for crew members who are running a call. When the integration is active, AngelTrack offers crew members a lightning-bolt icon that will dynamically retrieve their vehicle's current odometer reading, so they don't have to type it by hand.
AngelTrack offers similar lightning-bolt helpers to anyone recording a fuel purchase for the vehicle, or a maintenance event, and to any dispatcher who is ending a shift and wants to know the vehicle's odometer and fuel level.
The continuous odometer readings improve the accuracy of AngelTrack's estimates of fuel levels.
Monitoring
You can review each vehicle's position and latest-ping time by visiting its Vehicle Edit page, from your Vehicles List. The time of its latest ping is shown, and it will appear as a pin on the mini-map.
You can review all of your vehicles at once by visiting the GPS Beacon Status page, available from Supervisor Home.
If any problem occurs with the GPSInsight integration, its error message will appear on the AVL Configuration page, available under Settings. AngelTrack's GPSInsight downloader will automatically back-off for 4, 8, or 12 hours if an error occurs or if no data is returned, then automatically resume afterward.