The Future of Fleet Management Software
Jan
The ACM-ICPC proved that future fleet management software development is in good hands
I’ve always been led to believe that our sharpest minds were being snapped up by wealthy arms manufacturers. Some time ago London’s Guardian Newspaper claimed that ‘more than half the world’s best scientists and engineers [were] employed in the arms race’. So it’s refreshing to know that some of the brightest brains in the world of computer programming are working hard to develop solutions that benefit the environment instead of coming up with new ways of killing people.
Joey Scarr and Edwin Flores are employed by Telogis, a developer of fleet management software programs that assist fleet owners to operate with a much smaller carbon footprint, reducing their fuel usage and encouraging operators to drive more economically. Joey and Edwin, who are also both working towards honors in Bachelors of Computer Science, make up two-thirds of Team J.E.T. (they are the J and E of J.E.T.), with Thomas Steinke as the third team member.
Team J.E.T recently proved how sharp they were by winning a mentally demanding contest against some of the best and brightest in the business, beating out more than 80 other university teams to win the pacific ACM- ICPC (Association for Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest). Sponsored by IBM, the competition, which has been running since 1970, requires a team of three to share one computer and solve as many problems as possible from a challenging set of about ten, within just five hours.
However, more than just a win is to be celebrated here. The old adage that ‘it’s not what you’ve got, it’s how you use it’ is the real story here. With the likes of Team J.E.T using their obvious talents for good and not evil, we can look forward to better conditions for all. GPS tracking solutions can offer so much to both commercial and non-profit organizations.
Consider for a moment what GPS tracking and fleet management applications are currently benefiting society:
- Reduced fuel usage and worker overtime, keeping businesses profitable, the economy positive and redundancies down
- Minimized carbon footprint helping reduce the impact of climate change
- Faster response times for disaster relief, such as getting utility trucks to restore power to affected areas
- More efficient handling of civilian evacuations with smart route planning software
- Increased safety of isolated workers or people in dangerous and remote locations
- Effective recovery of stolen assets, alerting authorities to crime rings operating in the area
- Faster, safer routing for time-critical deliveries by emergency workers
And while the technology has boomed in the last few years, in many ways it is still in its infancy. But with network speeds improving, improved satellite imagery, better infrastructure and more vehicles being fitted with GPS devices, not to mention smart programmers like Joey and Edwin building intelligent GPS fleet tracking applications, the future is full of possibilities.
Barak Obama’s campaign slogan “Yes we can” holds just as true for improving the way we manage vehicle fleets as it does for political change. To know that young, sharp minds are focused on building solutions rather than creating problems is reassuring and good news for the fleet owners and drivers everywhere.
We’ll be keeping a close on exciting developments in GPS fleet tracking and related GPS systems as they come to light. Congratulations and thank you Team J.E.T for being a part of that.
What future developments do you see in the world of GPS systems and tracking?
