Fleet Tracking Documentation - CoPilot Extended Features

introduction

The extended features embedded within the CoPilot are probably the reason you chose the over other Navigation products on the market.

So why did we break these functions and features apart from the main User's Guide and put them into a separate manual? Because sometimes the best place to hide something is in plain open sight.

By moving the documentation for these features into a different manual altogether, it becomes possible for you to give the CoPilot to an employee, spouse or teen driver - along with the main user guide without disclosure of the extended functions and features of the CoPilot (including the ability to track the precise whereabouts, speed, and travel history of the device LIVE from the web).

As tracking devices themselves are concerned, most products on the market are comparatively primitive, providing 2-minute, 5-minute, or even 15-minute updates (at prices far higher than that of the CoPilot with far fewer functions).

Conversely, the CoPilot is the most advanced piece of tracking equipment available on the market today, using proprietary technology to provide far faster and more accurate feedback, delivering 10-second updates and enabling you to see turn-for-turn everyplace the device goes.

In addition to tracking the device, we've embedded extensive fleet management functionality for small and large companies alike. Only the CoPilot allows you to track the precise location of your fleet, send and receive messages to/from your drivers, and remotely define the destination and waypoints of your CoPilot from any web-enabled computer anywhere in the world.

In a word, the CoPilot is a business management tool like none other.

We go to extremes to deliver nothing short of a world-class product, and strive to deliver a comparably world-class customer service experience. For this reason, LIVE support is embedded directly into our website. If you encounter difficulties, have questions not addressed in these manuals, or simply want to say job well done, we're always delighted to hear from you!

Thank you for choosing the CoPilot. We appreciate your business!

LIVE Tracking With the CoPilot

Perhaps the most widely-used feature of the CoPilot is its ability to provide LIVE tracking turn-for-turn with 10-second updates allowing a dispatcher to see every place the device goes (and how fast it's moving).

This functionality is especially useful in the business world, enabling owners to keep track of their personnel, to dispatch the closest available vehicle to a call, and to establish with a high level of certainty the quality of response times to customer demand.

In order to access the live tracking features of the CoPilot, simply load your web browser on your PC (or Apple) and go to the online mapping portal. If you do not already have login credentials, contact us to arrange for service.

With the login ID and password assigned to you at registration, go to the online mapping portal. A screen similar to the one shown in Figure 7.0 (right) should appear on your screen.

In the Authorization Tab on the left side of the screen, (see larger view in figure 7.1), enter your login ID (provided to you by the registration staff) and below it the password you selected, then click the LOGIN button.

Once clicked, the LOGIN button will change to LOGOUT.

Figure 7.0 The Tracking Website.

Once login is complete, the map will immediately jump to your area and the location of your vehicle(s). You may move your mouse over the vehicle to show specific information about the vehicle such as latitude, longitude, and the speed at which the vehicle is traveling. The location(s) of your vehicle(s) on the map are updated every 10 seconds.

Figure 7.1 Logging In.

You may move the map within the browser by clicking on the map, holding the mouse button down, and dragging the map. Double-click on an area to zoom in on it, or roll the wheel on the back of your mouse to zoom in and out on the center of the map.

Clicking on a vehicle marker (not the flag, but the vehicle marker itself) will open a window (see figure 8.0) which gives you the ability to change the vehicle marker, change the name on the flag, change the color of the flag or flag text, retrieve the address of the vehicle's current location, or auto-center (follow) the vehicle.

To change the vehicle marker, click on the vehicle marker image below the save button. A window will appear giving a selection of different vehicle icons you may use.

To change the text which appears on the flag, simply change the text in the field labeled FLAG TEXT. You may change the color of the flag or text by clicking the COLOR button to the right of each field, respectively.

When you've finished making your changes to the flag color, text color, flag text or vehicle marker, simply click the SAVE button.

The phone driver feature is available with the SKYPE network. Options listed to perform functions such as lock or unlock doors, enable or disable starter, honk the horn, and remote start are available only with first-generation non-display devices which must be physically installed

Figure 8.0 The Vehicle Control Window.

within the dash of the vehicle using relays, thus do not apply to the CoPilot.

Sending Messages to your CoPilot

One option available ONLY to CoPilot customers is the ability to send messages directly to your CoPilot devices (and thus to your drivers) in the field. In order to send a message to a driver, click the button labeled MESSAGE TO NAV DEVICE. A window will appear which allows you to type a short message to the driver.

This message will appear on the screen of the CoPilot within seconds after you click SEND.

A message to the CoPilot is not an SMS text message - the message is sent over a live data connection, so delivery is almost immediate.

Remotely Setting CoPilot's Destination

To re-route your drivers and remotely set their destinations or waypoints through the web interface, click the button labeled DISPATCH NAV DEVICE (see figure 9.0). This will allow you select the address to which you'd like to dispatch the driver.

When you select an address and send it to the CoPilot, you may add it as a waypoint, or you may set it as the new destination (overriding any previously dispatched destination).

The CoPilot will then display a message to the driver advising him that his destination has been changed, and the device will recalculate his route. It will then advise him where to turn and guide him to the new destination.

The Control Panel

On the left side of the map screen you will find a Control Panel, providing tabs for Authorization, Map Control, Vehicles, Reports, Alert System, Search, Directions and Routing, Address Markers, Live Support, and Historical Playback. Clicking on any of these tabs will provide access to each group of functions.

This control panel is the key to all functions and features of the web-based tracking system.

Through it the system provides access to reports, alerts, live support, 90-day historical playback and

Figure 9.0 Receiving a Message on the CoPilot.

an unending array of other features with more new features constantly being added!

The Map Control Tab

You may select the Map Control tab from the control panel to the left, and the map control panel will open, providing controls to zoom, pan, and set map rendering options.

The system relies on Microsoft Virtual Earth Maps to provide mapping of the coverage area. In larger metro areas, high-resolution aerial images are available; in more rural areas, aerial imagery may not provide the

Figure 9.1 The CoPilot gets re-routed.

same level of detail as larger metro areas. If you live in a rural area, you may find it more useful to select Map View in lieu of Hybrid or BirdsEye view.

When fully zoomed, the maps provide detailed street-level information, enabling you to see the precise location from which your CoPilot is transmitting. When zoomed out completely, you have a complete view of the world.

If you have only one device, the Center Map checkbox will automatically center the map on that unit. If you have multiple devices, Center Map will position the center of the group of vehicles at the center of the browser. If you select a single vehicle (under the vehicles tab), the Center Map checkbox will tell the system to center on the selected vehicle.

Optimize Zoom will zoom as closely as possible while still keeping the vehicle or group of vehicles on the viewable map at once.

Show Traffic will show traffic flow and congestion levels over major interstates and highways. Measured areas will be highlighted in green for normal traffic flow. Areas experiencing moderate slow-downs in traffic flow will be highlighted in yellow, and areas with major traffic snarls will be highlighted in red. Areas highlighted in black indicate complete blockages and traffic at an absolute standstill.

By default, your login will show ALL the vehicles associated with your account up to a maximum

Figure 10.0 The Map Control Tab.

of 512 vehicles on screen at once. In viewing all vehicles, you manually control the area of the map you wish to view by using the zoom and pan features to move the map within the view port.

Clicking the Map View button will show a simple view of the map. Satellite will show satellite imagery. Hybrid combines the most useful features of both Map and Satellite views, superimposing street lines and names over the top of the Satellite imagery.

The oblique setting (N, S, E or W) allows you to select between four different angles to view Birds Eye imagery for a better indication of surrounding terrain.

In order to select an individual vehicle, you may select the Vehicles tab from the control panel,

and select a specific vehicle from the dropdown list.

Tracking Options

Selecting a single vehicle from the dropdown list on the VEHICLES tab enables you to turn all other markers off, enabling quick isolation of the target from among a large fleet of vehicles.

This feature is often used in conjunction with the œcenter map checkbox on the map control to follow a vehicle wherever it goes. Individual vehicle selection is also used to specify which specific vehicle to replay under the historical playback control.

Specifying a single vehicle to track has implications under a number of different controls. Check each section of the manual for the impact of individual vehicle selection on each function.

Reports

As this manual is being written, 20 different report options currently exist for your 90-day history. More reports are being added regularly.

There are two types of reports online reports which appear onscreen, and offline (Excel) reports which are emailed to the address you specify. Some reports - such as the vehicle mileage by state report or vehicle operating report are available only via email largely due to the time required to generate the report.

Another major difference between online reports and offline reports is the fact that an online report is typically run for a single vehicle for a single day. Offline reports can be run for ALL your vehicles for a period of several months.

Note: When you request an offline report for multiple vehicles, bear in mind the ramifications of your request. An Excel spreadsheet only supports a maximum of 65,535 rows. If you have more data over a period of several months than can fit in 65,535 rows, the report will be truncated at row 65535.

When a report is selected from the Reports control, a semi-transparent overlay appears on the map. Note that the vehicle markers continue to move, always reflecting their locations on the map beneath. On the reports overlay, you may select the specific parameters used for the selected report.

When reading a report, you will typically see a series of dates/timestamps, along with the physical address (or lat/lon, if the vehicle is

Figure 11.0 An Online Report. Offline reports are emailed.

continuing on a more-or-less straight course), as well as vehicle speed and heading. Headings are expressed in the range of 0 - 359, indicating the direction in which the vehicle is pointing. Zero is north; the value increments clockwise. Reports may be highlighted and copied/pasted into Excel spreadsheets.

The Alert System

Imagine, for a moment, that you're a homebuilder, HVAC installation contractor, electrical or plumbing contractor. You want to know what time your guys are arriving on the job site each morning. and what time they leave in the afternoon. With the Zone Alert feature of the system, you can easily define an unlimited number of Alert Zones (also known as geo-fences) and the system will automatically notify you by e-mail or SMS text message (or both) âany time one of your vehicles enters or exits the zones you define.

Defining Alert Zones couldn't be easier! First, zoom in on the area in which you want to create a zone notification. From here, it's as simple as clicking the Alert System tab on the Control Panel and selecting the option to Show Alert Editor. A window similar to that shown in Figure 10.0 (right) will appear at the bottom of your screen. Click the Add Zone Alert button. In the first field, select a name for your zone, and then click and drag the pushpins at each corner of the highlighted zone on the screen.

Figure 12.0 Creating an Alert Zone.

You may roll the wheel on the back of the mouse to zoom in or out on the map, or click and drag to move the map while the Alert Notification Editor is open. An Alert Zone can be as small as a driveway, or as large as an entire continent.

Note: While an Alert Zone can be as small as a driveway, the functionality of an Alert Zone depends on the device making one transmission on one side of the box, and a second transmission on the opposite side (inside vs. outside).

Select the notification method you prefer. You can have a SMS text message sent to your cell phone, or e-mail to any address you specify. When you've finished specifying the e-mail address or SMS address, simply click the option to Add Geo Fence Alert Zone, and the zone you've created will be added to the list at the left. It's that easy!

Note: SMS addresses are like email addresses. Some wireless carriers define their SMS addresses as 1 + areacode + cellnumber@[yourcarrier.com] (e.g. 14051234567@mycingular.net). Others do not recognize the address if there exists a 1 before the area code. If your SMS alerts are not arriving at your cell phone, try changing the SMS address without the 1 and saving the change to see if it makes a difference.

It's possible to draw a zone so small that the device is unlikely to make a transmission from within the defined area. When in doubt, to increase reliability of Alert Zone notifications, it is recommended that you make the box larger than the simple edges of a driveway. In fact, an area of 100 feet square is the recommended minimum size.

With a correctly defined zone, you receive notification anytime a vehicle enters or exits the area you've specified.

The Speed Alert is a close relative of the Zone Alert. Speed Alert enables you to define speeds at which you are notified. Speeds (like Alert Zones) can be defined for specific vehicles, or for every vehicle in your fleet. Any time one of the specified vehicles exceeds the defined speed; the Tracking system will notify you with an SMS text message to your cell phone, an e-mail, or both. From the same Alert Editor window, select the option to Add Speed Alert. Specify a name for your alert (so that you can find it later in the list at the left), and select whether you want

the alert to apply to all vehicles or a specific vehicle by selecting a vehicle from the dropdown list. Fill in the speed in the next field, and you're almost finished.

Check the appropriate box and populate the fields for SMS text message or e-mail notifications (depending on the method you prefer), and select the option to Save Speed Alert. You'll see your alert added to the list box at the left.

Alerts are easily removed by selecting the items in the Alerts list on the left side of the Alert Editor Window and clicking the Remove button. When you are finished creating or editing Alert Zones and Speed Alerts, click the [X] at the upper right corner of the Alert Editor Window to close it and resume normal operation.

Search

The Search feature enables the user to find locations of selected subjects within a certain area. For instance, if you were to type in pizza or gas stations in the Find window, pushpins

Figure 13.0 Searching for FUEL on the tracking system.

would populate on the map of the closest locations that matched your search criteria.

A Search Results box will open on the right side of your screen (See Figure 13.0) with addresses and phone numbers for the locations appearing on the screen.

In the simplest of terms, if it is in the phone book, the Tracking system will show it to you on the map.

Directions and Routing

The Directions and Routing feature enables the user to enter a start and stop address, along with up to 20 additional stops on a route. The system will plot the route with driving directions.

By default, no optimization is checked. This will show the route in the order in which the stops were entered.

Note: Popups must be enabled on your browser in order to receive driving directions. Most browsers (IE, FireFox, Safari, Chrome, etc.) allow you to enable popups from our site specifically while continuing to block popups from unwanted sites.

If the checkbox is turned on for Fastest Time, the route will be optimized and the stops reordered in such a manner to allow the driver to complete all stops in the shortest amount of time.

If the checkbox is turned on for Shortest

Distance, the route will be optimized and the stops reordered in such a manner to allow the driver to complete all stops with the lowest possible mileage. Please note that the shortest mileage is not always the fastest time for example, interstate travel might predicate slightly higher mileage, but also higher speed and thus shortest time.

In order to receive driving directions, the popup blocker on your browser may need to be disabled temporarily to enable the pop-up window with driving directions to appear.

Address Markers

The Address Markers tab exists to enable the placement of user-defined markers on the map. These markers can provide quick and easy location of warehouses, offices, and other landmarks relevant to your daily use of the Tracking vehicle tracking system.

To access this feature, select the Address Markers tab and click Show Address Editor. After typing the name you wish to appear on the marker label, type the address into the address field and click the Find Lat:Lon button. The system will find the closest match in the database and populate the latitude and longitude with that location.

Alternatively, if you know the latitude and longitude (based on the position of a vehicle), you can simply type the latitude and longitude and click the Find Street Address button.

To place the marker on the map, click the Add Address button at the lower right corner of the Address Editor window. A target icon will appear at the location specified. When your mouse is placed over this target icon on the map, a small window will appear providing complete address information.

To remove an address marker, simply select that item in the list on the left side of the Address Editor Window and click the Remove button. When you are finished creating or editing your address markers, click the [X] at the upper right corner of the Address Editor Window to close and resume normal operations.

LIVE Chat Support

In yet another of our continuing pattern of industry firsts (and our undying dedication to world-class customer support), The manufacturer provides LIVE on-line chat support from within the vehicle tracking application itself.

With LIVE Chat Support embedded directly into our tracking system (See Figure 15.0), you can ask questions or be given direction on how to use specific parts of our system even while you continue to interact with the system. There is no need to close the chat window or go try something and come back. In fact, you can leave the Live Support window open even while you manipulate the map zoom in, zoom out, pan the map, select an individual vehicle or all vehicles, or even run reports or historical playback.

15.0 Live Chat Support is built into our product.

No other vehicle tracking product on the market provides such an advanced level of technical support and assistance to the user community because no other vehicle tracking company cares as deeply about the satisfaction of its clients.

To talk with a LIVE support engineer, simply select the Live Support tab on the control panel, and click the button labeled Live Support System. A window will appear at the bottom of your screen similar to the one provided in figure 15.0.

To send a message to Tech Support, simply type your question into the lower box, and hit œenter when you are finished. The upper box will show the conversation between yourself and Tracking support as each question is answered.

Currently, we provide live online support between 7am and 7pm (Central Time) Monday through Friday and 9am through 4pm (Central Time) on Saturday. As we continue to grow, we expect to eventually staff around-the-clock support personnel to better meet the needs of our clients.

90-Day Historical Playback

The Historical Playback feature enables you to geographically reanimate the path taken by a specific vehicle based on historical (report) data.

Before we can begin an historical playback, we must first select which specific vehicle we intend to replay. To do this, select the vehicle from the VEHICLES drop list on the Vehicles Tab.

Once this is complete, select the HISTORICAL PLAYBACK tab, and click the date on the calendar for which you'd like to see a playback. Finally click the PLAY button on the top of the Historical Playback control. Once the PLAY button has been clicked, the vehicle marker will begin reanimating the precise path taken on the date selected.

Figure 16.1 The Historical Playback control tab.

Figure 16.0 An historical playback.

The marker will leave a vapor trail over the route taken to enable you to easily view the route. At the lower left corner of the browser (on the browser status bar) you will see the date and timestamp corresponding to the vehicle's marker placement. This value will increment as records are read from the historical database as the vehicle moves about the map.

As with the normal (live) playback, you may zoom or pan the map even as the playback continues to run. Likewise, you may mouse over the vehicle to see its speed at any point during the playback.

The playback will begin at midnight on the date selected and continue until the last record transmitted that day has been rendered. To terminate the playback and return to LIVE mode,

simply click the button labeled Return to Live View.

While the playback is running, you may zoom in or out on the map either by going to the MAP CONTROL tab, or by rolling the wheel on the back of your mouse. You may also PAUSE the playback by clicking the PAUSE button on the HISTORICAL PLAYBACK tab. You may play forward or reverse, jump to the end or the beginning.

To play high-speed forward or reverse, click quickly multiple times on the >> or << buttons on the playback control.

The Activity Panel

The ACTIVITY PANEL (when clicked) slides open or closed from the bottom of the browser to show the flow of data transmitted from your device(s).

If you have only one device, you will see one row of data flow through the activity panel roughly once every 10 seconds any time the vehicle is moving. If the vehicle is not moving, no data will flow.

If you have more vehicles (devices) moving, you will see a much faster flow of data. The purpose of the activity panel is to provide an at-a-glance list of the vehicles which are moving, and how fast they're moving.

Figure 17.0 The Activity Panel slides up from the bottom.

For Additional Information

For additional information, please visit us for the latest information, tips, and upgrades available for your CoPilot.

I just activated my service. Why doesn't my device show on the map?

The device cannot show its location on the map until after it makes its first transmission. Take the device for a drive and it should immediately begin tracking.

My map screen shows where the device was yesterday. Today it's in a completely different place, but the map still shows the old location. Are the satellites down?

The satellites don't go down. The problem is that the device has not transmitted its location to the server since the last location shown on the map.

Either (A) the device does not have power, (B) it doesn't have a view of the sky (and therefore cannot calculate its location), or (C) the device is in an area with no wireless data service, and therefore cannot transmit its location.

We recommend a physical inspection of the device. It's possible the SIM door (the tab on the right side of the device which covers the SIM card) may be open, the device may be turned off, or the GPS receiver may be turned off on the device.

My device/devices were moving on the map at 60mph and suddenly they stopped moving in the middle of the highway. Is your system down?

Our system isn't down. It's far more likely your browser has disconnected from (lost its socket connection to) our server. Users of wireless networks are more likely to experience this problem than users on physical wired connections.

Simply log back into the website to reconnect to our server and see current locations of your vehicles.

I got onto Live Chat Support at 4am and nobody answered.

Live Chat is staffed from 7am to 7pm Monday through Friday, and 9am to 4pm on Saturdays. Our intent here is to fully support business hours throughout the continental US, opening at 8am New York time and closing at 5pm California time.

We could conceivably farm our live support out to India, but we doubt our customers would appreciate that. And if we staffed personnel around-the-clock to accommodate that occasional 4am support call, the cost of monthly service would have to increase to offset the costs to pay those additional personnel (and we know nobody wants higher monthly rates).

As we continue to grow, we may well evolve into a 24x7 technical support schedule. At this time, however, tech support is only staffed from 7am to 7pm.

My SMS alerts and/or email alerts aren't coming through. What's wrong with the system?

There are several possible reasons for this problem. Either (A) you did not check the box in front of the SMS entry on the Alert Editor, (B) you have a 1 in front of your number (14057491105) when the 1 is not supported by your wireless carrier, (C) you do NOT have a 1 in front of your number and the carrier requires it, (D) the SMS text message was caught by a spam filter at your local wireless carrier (they decided it was spam), or (E) the wireless carrier simply failed to deliver the message.

Wireless carriers do not guarantee delivery of SMS text messages. We've seen cases where some messages were delivered in 20 seconds, while others were delivered days later.

To confirm Alert notifications are being sent properly, set up an email alert (and make sure the email isn't going into your spam filter).

When I go into Directions & Routing, I don't get the directions.

Your browser is disabling pop-ups. Enable pop-ups (either once, or for the entire site) and a separate browser will appear with turn-by-turn driving directions when you request a route.

When I search for any item tires, food, fuel, etc - nothing comes up on the map.

The map will show telephone book entries for the area viewed on the map. You may want to zoom the map out slightly to encompass a larger area to ensure the viewed map area includes businesses like those for which you've searched.

My activity panel doesn't show anything moving. What's up with that?

The activity panel shows the flow of data as it is received from your devices. If you have only a single device which is not moving, you will see nothing scrolling. When the vehicle moves, you will see one line scroll past each time the vehicle updates its position.

The more moving vehicles you have on the map, the more data is transmitted, thus the data will transmit more frequently and scroll through the Activity Panel faster. The purpose of the Activity Panel is to enable you to quickly see which vehicles are moving.

I Have Questions Not Listed Here

For additional information, please visit us for the latest information, tips, and upgrades available for your CoPilot.