Features of Open Source GPS Tracking System

Over the past few years, Global Positioning Tracking System (GPS) applications have become extremely popular among automobile consumers and in fact anyone who drives a vehicle on a regular basis probably use them. So much so that many car manufacturers offer GPS capabilities built directly into their cars. Mobile device providers have also found themselves competing with each other over their location aware applications using GPS technology. While there are several applications on the market that offer functionality for individual consumers, there is not a lot available for companies or small business owners who need to manage several vehicles at once from a central location.

The Open GTS (Open GPS Tracking System) Project is an open source project developing the Open GTS application, focusing on a GPS application specifically built for managing fleets of vehicles for small businesses. Fleet vehicles have different requirements for GPS applications than individual vehicles. For instance, the dispatch manager’s ability to keep track of each vehicle’s location through the work day is just as important as the driver’s ability to find their way around with accurate real time mapping and directions.

Types of Transportation Fleets using Open Source GPS Tracking Systems

The Open GTS package is currently the only open source application that provides these small business capabilities and has been downloaded by hundreds of small business users worldwide in over one hundred and ten countries. Companies who manage their automotive fleets with Open GTS include taxi services, parcel delivery, truck and van shipping, ATV and recreational vehicle rentals, business car rentals, water based freight ships and barges, and farm vehicles.

Skinnable Web Interfaces

The convenient centralized tracking application is built to fit into any small business application environment and can be customized accordingly. Along with the ability to code new extension modules or modifications to the base components as needed, it is easy to customize the user experience by adding your own CSS. The addition of a custom CSS will create a user experience that can fit more naturally into your existing business environment and even include your company logo and particular company background colors and fonts.

Customized Reporting

Another feature of open source GPS tracking systems is the ability to generate custom reports based on your specific data needs. For Open GTS, since it is based on XML for its underlying reporting structure, reports can be configured to provide data on a particular historical period, a particular set of vehicles in the fleet or even one vehicle in the fleet.

Geofencing

Geofenced areas, also known as geozones, are geographic parameters in which your fleet of vehicles is allowed to operate. Customizable geofencing zones allow users of the open source GPS systems to define their own areas of operation and change them as their business grows. Multiple geozones can also be defined and identified with a custom name for better organization of all of your different areas of operation.

Customizable Map Providers

Open GTS allows users to integrate a number of mapping programs including Google Maps and Microsoft’s mapping application Virtual Earth. The Mapstraction engine is also supported, which powers the popular mapping applications Map24 and MapQuest.

Operating System Independence

Since open source GPS tracking systems are web application tools, they are able to run on any operating system. The Open GTS tool is built on the Apache Tomcat application server using the java runtime environment and uses MySQL for its relational database.

Localization and Compliance

GPS tracking systems and Open GTS in particular must support easy options for localizing their interfaces and language support. In addition, Open GTS complies with all i18n compliance standards for internationalization and localization.

Author Bio: This post is by Jason Phillips. This person is one of the writers who have contributed many significant articles in the field of tracking, detecting and security devices. His recent post was on GPS fleet tracking, which was truly appreciated by readers.

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