Speed Monitoring in Pulse GPS

Speed Monitoring in Pulse GPS

Speed monitoring allows fleet managers and business owners to specify speed limits and monitor compliance with those limits.

trip history speed graph image


Speed Limit Options

There are three speed limit options in Pulse GPS, although not every option is available in every subscription package.
  1. Over Speed Threshold: Each asset can be assigned a maximum speed limit. This is configured under Assets -> Manage Assets. Click on an asset to edit it. Go to the Log Events tab. Tick the Log Over-Speed box and specify a maximum speed limit for the asset.
  2. Local Speed: This will compare the actual road speed limit to the speed of the asset on the road. The location is looked up in the Google speed-by-road API. This option is only available on the Value and Premium subscription packages.
  3. Geo-Fence Speeding: A maximum speed can be set for vehicles travelling inside a geo-fence. This feature is described here.
The speed limit that is ultimately used to determine the violation for reporting and banding purposes is the lowest limit from these 3 categories.

For example, consider a truck traveling at 105km/h. The following limits may have been defined:
  1. Over Speed Threshold: 80km. This implies that the truck should never exceed 80km/h, regardless of whether the local speed limit is higher.
  2. Local Speed: 100km/h. The truck's location is looked up against the Google API and a limit for the road of 100km/h is returned.
  3. Geo-Fence Speed Limit: A geo-fence may have been created with a limit of 85km/h. All assets in the organisation should not exceed 85km/h in this geo-fence.
This truck is exceeding all 3 limits, but the lowest limit is used to determine the violation. In this case, the Over Speed Threshold of 80km/h is chosen because it is the lowest of the 3.

Speed Profile - Local Speed

The next important concept is the "Speed Profile".
  • A Speed Profile defines 3 bands for the severity of the speed violation. Band 1 is the least severe violation and band 3 is the most severe violation.
  • These bands allow violations to be grouped by severity.
  • Speed Profiles are setup at the Organisation level and must be configured by GPS Tracking Systems. Contact the Support Team for assistance.
  • Configure a speed profile and specify the limits for each band. Three fields describe each band:
    • Minimum: asset speed must exceed (local looked up speed limit + this minimum speed) to be in the band. Eg. Min = 5km/h; Local speed limit = 60km/h; then this band starts at 65km/h.
    • Percentage: asset speed must exceed (local looked up speed limit + this % of looked up speed) to be in the band. Eg. Percentage = 10%; Local speed limit = 60km/h; then this band starts at 66km/h.
    • Maximum: asset speed must be less than (local looked up speed limit + this maximum limit) to be in the band. Eg. Max = 15km/h; Local speed limit = 60km/h; then this band ends at 75km/h.
  • Many profiles can be created in an organisation.
  • Once configured, a Speed Profile needs to be assigned to an asset: Go to Assets -> Manage Assets. Click on an asset to edit it. Go to the Advanced tab. Select one of the Speed Profiles.

Speed Monitoring

Speed monitoring can be achieved in a variety of ways.

Reports

  • The Fleet Management Summary v2 uses the speed bands. Version 1 of this report does not use the bands.
  • The Speed Event Report allows all violations to be listed, for multiple assets or drivers. This can be filtered by band.
  • The Speed Detail Report lists all of the data points and the speed bands they fell into. This can be filtered by band.
  • The older Speed Report simply lists speed violation according to a specified absolute speed limit. The limit must be specified when running the report. Bands, local speed limits, and Geo-Fence limits are ignored.
  • The Speeding Detail Report lists speed violations according to the Assets "Over Speed Limit" (Manage Assets->Edit->Log Events tab). Bands, local speed limits, and Geo-Fence limits are ignored. Each violation is listed.
  • The Speeding Summary Report lists speed violations according to the Assets "Over Speed Limit" (Manage Assets->Edit->Log Events tab). Bands, local speed limits, and Geo-Fence limits are ignored. Violations are summarised by asset.

Manage Trips View

  • In the Manage Trips View a coloured bar is shown for each trip, allowing trips to be assessed at a glance. The colours correspond to the various bands: green is band 0; yellow is band 1; orange is band 2; red is band 3. Hovering over the bar reveals the percentage time spent in each band.

Trip History Map View

  • In the Trip History Map View, a horizontal line should appear under each trip in the right hand trip list. The colour of the line corresponds to time spent in the various bands. There is also the option to colour the track on the map according to the band that the asset was in.
  • Additionally, in the Trip History Map View, a Speed Graph can be shown. This plots the asset speed and speed limit against time for the trip.

Alerts

  • Alerting is based on a speed defined in the alert. This speed is fixed for the alert and cannot be related to local speed. Geo-Fences can be specified in the alert. For example, an alert may be created with these criteria: Use Device Data Value: Speed is Above: 100km/h; Use Geo-Fence: Area1, Area2, Area3, When: Inside Geo-Fence.

Telemetry

  • The Telemetry View allows you to inspect each point logged by the device. Check on: actual speed, local speed, used speed limit and where it is on the map. There are more details below.

Full Example

Let's work through a full example. We want to enable local speed limit look ups on an asset.

Enable Local Speed

Confirm with GPS Tracking Systems that the Local Speed feature has been enabled for your organisation.
local speed setting image

Configure a Speed Profile

Once a decision has been made about the parameters of the speed profile, GPS Tracking Systems will configure it for your organisation. The screen shot below will set out 3 bands:
  • Band 1: a minimum of 5km/h over the speed limit. Eg. Local speed limit = 120km/h. Speeds above 125km/h will be in band 1. In conjunction with band 2, this is effectively 125-135km/h.
  • Band 2: a minimum of 15km/h over the speed limit. Eg. Local speed limit = 120km/h. Speeds above 135km/h will be in band 2. In conjunction with band 1 & 3, this is effectively 135-150km/h.
  • Band 3: a minimum of 30km/h over the speed limit. Eg. Local speed limit = 120km/h. Speeds above 150km/h will be in band 3. In conjunction with band 2, this is effectively all speeds above 150km/h.
speed profile configuration image

The Results

The assets will now start to log data and after a trip completes, each trip will be checked against local speed limits. The data will then be classified into bands.

Let's access the data by band. Using the Speed Detail Report we can specify which asset and band we are interested in, and it will list all of the points that were in that band.


Let's access the data for the whole organisation. The Fleet Management Summary v2 will allow this.


Let's check on the trips in the Manage Trips View. The highlighted bars show the band break down of each trip. Green is band 0, yellow band 1, orange band 2, red band 3. Hovering over the bar gives a tool tip with the percentage time in each band.


Let's look at the trip in the Trip History Map View page. On the right, you will see the list of trips for the day. Under each trip is a bar, showing the percentage time in each band.


The track on the map can be coloured according to the band that the asset was in. Use this icon to turn the band view on.


You will now see the colour coded trip.


Hovering over each point will show the speed and speed limit. The speed in the brackets is the "local speed" for that road.


To show the speed graph, click on this icon from the Trip History Map View page.


This will give you a speed graph, like the one below. The graph plots asset speed and the speed limit against time. Hover over a point logged on the map and it will highlight it on the graph. The reverse also works - hover over a point on the graph and it will show the corresponding point on the map.


Looking at the Telemetry for an Asset

The Telemetry View conveniently shows each record that the asset logged, which includes the actual speed logged by the device (column marked 1 below). If "Local Speed" is enabled for the organisation, then local speed look-ups will be done after each trip has ended. The result of the look-up will be put into the telemetry table (column marked 2 below). In the beginning of the article, we discuss how the used speed limit can come from a variety of places (over speed threshold, local speed or geo-fence). The speed limit that is ultimately used for the band analysis is put into the "Used Speed Limit" column (column marked 3 below). The speed profile is then used to select a band for this data point (column marked 4 below). Click on the lat/long link to see where this location is on the map.



Troubleshooting


Q: I don't see the speed bars on the map view or the manage trip view?
A: Ensure that the Organisation is enabled for Local Speed lookup. Speak with GPS Tracking Systems to confirm.

Q: The report I'm looking at doesn't include local speeds?
A: There are some older reports that don't. Ensure that you choose the right report.

Q: The local speeds aren't accurate?
A: Unfortunately the accuracy is based on Google's knowledge of local speed limits. We've found this to be reasonable in Australia but not 100% perfect. Please test the system and build your confidence that the speed limits known by Google are good enough to be useful for your application.

    • Related Articles

    • Data in Reports

      Data in Reports Time The time of completion/start/end of any state is displayed in the reports in the format specified in the General section of a report template. In the tables that include the duration of a state, the hours may not be combined into ...

    • Reports Overview

      Reports With the help of reports, you can combine and analyze all available data about units, drivers and other system objects in a form that is convenient for you. The reports module helps to solve, among other things, the following tasks: control ...

    • Monitoring

      The Monitoring tab shows the worklist of units and groups and the latest data about them. Tap he unit name to view extended information: Info and History. Here you can also see the unit movement on the map and search units or groups by name.  ...

    • Monitoring Overview

      Monitoring On the Monitoring tab, you can see the work list of units and the map on which you can track their movement in real time. Here you can find the basic features related to tracking units and their parameters. To open the Monitoring tab, ...

    • Advanced Reports

      Advanced Reports Advanced reports include reports of the following types: Unit group; User; Driver; Group of drivers; Trailer; Group of trailers; Passengers; Group of passengers; Geofence; Group of geofences. Besides, they include the Logins table ...