A fleet manager’s guide to the advantages of GPS tracking

GPS technology helped to transform the fleet industry, providing real-time insights for fleet managers to improve the safety and efficiency of their operations. There are numerous advantages of GPS for fleets, and leveraging this technology strategically is key to optimizing fleet management and maximizing profitability.

In this guide, we dive into the benefits of GPS tracking for fleets, the advantages of GPS fleet tracking, and how you can leverage Samsara’s GPS capabilities to transform your fleet operations. 

What is GPS tracking?

GPS stands for global positioning system, and it uses satellite signals to monitor the real-time location and activity of vehicles, trailers, equipment, and anything else with a GPS device. By continuously collecting and transmitting data, GPS tracking systems provide fleet managers with immediate information about the location and status of their assets.

GPS tracking is now foundational for modern fleet management. GPS technology plays an important role across many facets of fleet operations, including powering advanced telematics systems, enhancing driver safety programs, optimizing dispatch operations, and more. 

In the trucking industry, there are many advantages of GPS. The most well-known example of GPS in fleet management is using a location navigation system to pinpoint the exact location of vehicles and assets that have GPS tracking devices installed. But there are many more uses of GPS across fleet operations.  For example, GPS technology enables real-time insights into driver behavior, helping to reduce incidents and improve safety. From a compliance standpoint, GPS simplifies compliance with Hours of Service (HOS) regulations and ELD requirements by automatically tracking driver hours and vehicle movements. 

By providing real-time visibility into critical components of fleet management like vehicle locations, routes, and driver behavior, GPS technology enables fleet managers to make faster, data-driven decisions. It also helps reduce costs, minimize downtime, enhance customer service, and maximize operational efficiency.

How does GPS work?

GPS technology leverages satellite-based navigation systems that determine the precise location of a GPS device anywhere on Earth. Commonly used in smartphones, vehicles, assets, and fleet management systems, GPS plays a vital role in navigation, location tracking, and real-time data sharing. GPS technology is complex, but here’s an overview of how GPS works:

1. Satellite signals: A network of at least 24 GPS satellites orbits the Earth, continuously transmitting signals that include the satellite’s location and the precise time the signal was sent.

2. Signal reception: A GPS receiver—such as those in vehicles, phones, or telematics devices—receives signals from multiple satellites. To calculate an accurate position, the receiver needs data from at least four satellites.

3. Distance calculation: The receiver calculates how far away each satellite is relative to the asset with the attached GPS tracker by measuring how long it took the GPS signal to reach it.

4. Location determination: Using a process called trilateration, the receiver determines its exact location (latitude, longitude, and altitude) by intersecting distances from the satellites.

5. Real-time tracking: Once the location is known, it can be displayed on a map, shared with a central system, or used to power GPS navigation, telematics, and fleet management software.

Benefits of GPS technology in fleet management

In fleet operations, GPS technology plays a particularly important role. By leveraging GPS, fleets gain real-time vehicle tracking, asset tracking, efficient route planning, automated compliance reporting, improved driver safety, and more through location-based data and alerts. Some of the benefits of GPS technology include:

1. Real-time vehicle tracking

GPS enables fleet managers to monitor the real-time location of their vehicle fleet. This visibility improves route planning, minimizes delays, and supports faster response times. It also helps locate lost or stolen vehicles, reducing risk and operational costs.

2. Asset tracking and theft prevention

GPS technology allows you to track valuable assets, such as trailers, and large equipment, and small equipment, across job sites, warehouses, or delivery zones. Real-time asset tracking improves inventory management, reduces idle time, and maximizes equipment utilization. Additionally, GPS helps reduce theft and misplacement. If an asset is stolen or lost, fleet managers can leverage GPS to pinpoint the exact location of their assets, increasing the chances of recovery and minimizing downtime.

3. Enhanced driver safety

GPS systems capture data on driver behavior, such as speeding, rapid acceleration, harsh braking, and more. Fleet managers can use this data to identify risky driving patterns, improve driver coaching, enforce safety policies, and reduce accidents.

4. Streamlined regulatory compliance

By combining electronic logging devices (ELD) and GPS tracking, fleet managers can automatically record driver hours, vehicle movement, and rest periods. This helps fleets comply with complex FMCSA Hours of Service (HOS) regulations, reducing the risk of violations, audits, and penalties.

5. Improved fuel efficiency and profitability

GPS tracking reduces fuel waste by minimizing idle time, preventing unauthorized vehicle use, and identifying inefficient driving habits. It also helps improve routing, cutting down on unnecessary mileage and lowering fuel costs across the fleet.

6. Optimized routing and more efficient dispatching

GPS technology enables real-time routing and dispatch optimization. Dispatchers can assign jobs based on vehicle location and driver availability, while GPS-enabled tools help drivers avoid traffic jams, road closures, and delays. As a result, fleets experience faster response times, shorter travel distances, reduced fuel use, and enhanced on-time performance, helping to improve customer satisfaction and more efficient fleet operations.

7. Improved fleet maintenance

GPS and telematics systems track engine hours, mileage, and diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs). Fleet managers can use this data to schedule preventative maintenance, avoid unexpected breakdowns, and extend vehicle lifespans, reducing downtime and vehicle repair costs.

8. Accelerated response times for frontline workers

When frontline workers step out of their vehicles to do their jobs, they face diverse risks. Slips, falls, aggressive encounters, severe weather, or even working alone—each of these can lead to an emergency situation that organizations need to respond to, fast. By leveraging GPS technology, fleet managers gain real-time GPS location insights when critical worker safety events occur, allowing fleets to get immediate help to frontline employees.

Improve fleet management with Samsara GPS capabilities

Samsara is a modern fleet management solution that leverages advanced technology like GPS to help fleets improve safety, efficiency, and sustainability. Samsara offers a suite of industry-leading products that are powered by GPS, such as:

1. Fleet Telematics

Samsara Fleet Telematics leverages Vehicle Gateways to capture live GPS signals from multiple satellite systems, delivering precise location tracking. Data is transmitted via 4G LTE to the Samsara cloud, giving fleet managers real-time visibility. VGs plug into a vehicle’s diagnostic port to collect telematics data like engine performance, fault codes, and fuel usage. It also functions as a WiFi hotspot and seamlessly connects with Samsara AI Dash Cams to improve driver safety.

2. AI Dash Cams

When paired with the Vehicle Gateway, Samsara’s AI Dash Cams record GPS-tagged video of events like harsh braking or collisions. This helps improve driving behaviors, streamline coaching, and support insurance claims with visual evidence.

3. Asset Tracking and Equipment Monitoring

Samsara’s Asset Tracking solutions offer real-time GPS visibility for powered and unpowered equipment. The Powered Asset Gateway tracks trailers and heavy machinery, while the Unpowered Asset Gateway monitors containers and equipment with long battery life and rugged design. 

For smaller tools, the Asset Tag uses Bluetooth and the Samsara Network to track the location of assets such as pallet jacks, lawn mowers, portable pumps, fiber spools, concrete saws, skip loaders, toolboxes, bins, small generators, and more. By leveraging GPS to track your assets, you can minimize theft and misplacement, improve utilization, and enhance operational efficiency. 

4. Smart Trailers

Samsara’s Smart Trailers solution uses real-time GPS and integrated sensors to improve trailer visibility, utilization, and regulatory compliance. With Samsara, fleets can monitor trailer location, dwell time, and usage patterns. Additional sensors provide data on cargo temperature, door activity, and load status, making them ideal for cold chain transport and time-sensitive shipments. This helps manual inspections, supports accurate billing, and improves trailer operations.

4. Routing & Navigation 

Samsara’s Routing & Navigation solutions offer modern, integrated routing technology to help fleets cut costs, stay compliant, and deliver more reliably. Samsara’s Route Planning, Route Execution, and Commercial Navigation functionality makes it possible for fleets to unify route planning, dispatch software, navigation, and telematics for deeper insights, proactive decision-making, and a competitive edge.

5. Samsara Wearable

Samsara Wearable enables organizations to protect workers wherever they are, whenever they need it. The Samsara Wearable sends alerts or status updates (such as falls, SOS events, or periods of inactivity) through Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to nearby Samsara Vehicle Gateways or Asset Gateways, relaying the worker’s real-time GPS location to the Samsara cloud. When an alert is triggered, managers and responders see the worker’s live GPS location and nearby vehicles/assets, and can coordinate a fast response.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can improve your fleet operations, check out Samsara's GPS fleet tracking solution and speak to our team today.