move ahead with virtual earth fleet...

Microsoft Virtual Earth

Move Ahead with Virtual Earth Fleet Solutions


Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Increase Fleet and Workforce Efficiency 5

Organizations use Virtual Earth to manage operations 5

Reduce Costs and Environmental Impact 7

Improve Customer and Constituent Services 9

Fleet management in the public sector 10

Deploying Solutions with the Virtual Earth Platform 11

Conclusion 12

Learn More 12


Introduction

In a challenging economy, managing a fleet efficiently is more important than ever to reduce costs and

improve fleet utilization. Virtually every successful organization relies on fleets and mobile workforces—from

transportation companies and manufacturing enterprises with field engineers, to retail companies providing

home deliveries, to local governments tracking city service and emergency vehicles and personnel.

Leading organizations have justified investing in fleet management software solutions as a result of

the annual savings in operating costs alone, which can amount to an average of $1,100 per vehicle.1

Organizations using such solutions have realized a 12 percent increase in service profitability, 13 percent

improvement in vehicle utilization, and 27.9 percent increase in operator compliance.2 The Microsoft®

Virtual Earth™ platform helps reduce operating costs, as well as fuel and training expenses, by supporting

software solutions for tracking, monitoring, and maintaining fleets and mobile workforces.

Minimize mileage, save fuel, and provide accurate point-to-point directions. (www.maps.live.com)

Many organizations that use dispatchers to communicate with drivers are relying on Virtual Earth for

improved productivity and more intelligent dispatch. Dispatchers see accurate location data right on their

computer screens, with updates every few minutes. As the cost of fuel rises, Virtual Earth provides the

information fleet managers need to optimize field operations and reduce vehicle idling time, so

organizations can achieve fuel usage and carbon emission goals.

As a result, businesses are able to improve customer service, government agencies can better serve

constituents, and managers can visualize a wealth of location data. With this information, they can analyze

organizational operations, make better decisions, and deploy resources quickly and effectively.

3


Whether you need a cost-effective solution to manage a fleet of vehicles, or your mobile employees

need a more productive system to locate and make sales and customer service visits on the go, you

can use Virtual Earth to:

Increase fleet and workforce efficiency•

Reduce costs and environmental impact•

Improve customer and constituent services•

View trip history and monitor driving behavior to ensure safety. (www.onterrasys.com)

4


Increase Fleet and Workforce Efficiency

Some organizations have no integrated software solutions for fleet tracking, monitoring, and maintenance.

Without a method for keeping track of vehicles and workforces, managers can only infer where fleets and

personnel are, based on scheduled deliveries. With a Virtual Earth fleet management solution, you have

near real-time visibility into the location of your workers and assets.

5

Virtual Earth integrates GPS data gathered from mobile assets with other data layers on a map.

GPS location captured and sent to server

Virtual Earth is a powerful data

visualization tool that you can use to

overlay location-based data on a map

to facilitate fleet planning and routing.

You can add near real-time weather and

traffic data on a map, as well as your

own data, to guide decision making

about routes. The visual representation

can help your organization better

identify fleet assets when deploying to

locations. It also allows fleets to be more

responsive to schedule changes or route

disruptions, reducing their downtime

and making them more efficient.

Organizations use Virtual Earth to manage operations

Arkansas-based J.B. Hunt Transport Services, for example, uses

Virtual Earth to consolidate data from various systems into a single

interface that helps operators quickly see downed equipment in

relation to repair facilities. As a result, the company cut driver wait times

by more than 6,000 hours, decreased repair rework, and expects to

save hundreds of thousands of dollars annually by getting use of its

data and operators’ knowledge.

User loads a fleet tracking Web application

Virtual Earth data and results requested, and returned to Web application

“Our drivers spend less time waiting—when our operators pick up the phone, they can say, ‘Hey, Raymond, I see that you’re scheduled to go to Texas, but you’re sitting in Arkansas—what is going on?’”3

Shane Garner, Developer, J.B. Hunt Transport Services


Virtual Earth features bird’s eye4 imagery, which depicts cities and points of interest at a 45-degree-angle

view for a realistic visual tour of major cities and landmarks. Mark Brewer, IT services manager at J.B. Hunt,

says, “When people realized that they could get views from an airplane—not from a satellite—of company

and customer assets, that helped us choose Virtual Earth.”5

With real-time location visible in Virtual Earth, fleet managers

can ensure that their workforce and assets remain within a preset

boundary or on a planned route, and that they follow the appropriate

time parameters for a delivery or service. Since this visibility is made

possible by GPS, managers can determine the direction and speed

of an asset, as well as monitor personnel driving behavior. These

capabilities help increase operator compliance with company and

regulatory guidelines, allowing operations to run more smoothly and

improving service workforce productivity.

Britain’s largest bed manufacturer, Silentnight, has gained round-the-

clock visibility of its delivery operations by introducing a system that links

its digital tachographs with Masternaut Three X’s vehicle tracking service,

which uses Virtual Earth. Silentnight can instantly see who is in transit,

idling, taking a break, or making a delivery.

View fleet status—driving, idling, or stopped—to improve planning and increase efficiency. (www.masternaut3x.com)

6

“[The solution] gives us a full and complete view of the fleet, with precise location and movement details. It’s also extremely convenient, as the system is activated as soon as the driver inserts the tacho card into the tachograph, which means there is no need for a driver ID key.”6 Nick Dacey, Distribution Director, Silentnight

Microsoft Virtual Earth 7

Reduce Costs and Environmental Impact

Initiating a fleet management plan using Virtual Earth may lead to major operational and financial

improvements for your organization. Without an integrated fleet software solution to increase operational

efficiency, vehicles often burn more fuel and cover more mileage than necessary. In addition to absorbing

the high cost of fuel, organizations that manage fleets must pay carbon emission, state, and cross-border

taxes related to the amount of fuel consumption. Therefore, not only does fuel and mileage conservation

save money and reduce negative environmental effects, but it also cuts tax requirements.

Driving behavior has a significant impact on business profitability and customer satisfaction. For instance,

unsafe and unskilled drivers can negatively affect the insurance premiums and the accident costs the

company incurs both financially and to its reputation. Additionally, these drivers cause more vehicle wear

and tear, leading to higher maintenance and repair costs.

Rather than hire extra drivers and fleet dispatch staff, you

can deploy a software solution that integrates Virtual Earth

for fleet tracking, monitoring, and maintenance to help save

money. For example, United Biscuits, a leading European

manufacturer of biscuits and snacks, implemented a fleet-

tracking solution based on Virtual Earth to help employees

locate and direct their transport vehicles efficiently in real

time. As a result, the company improved its fuel economy by

7 percent. Employees can analyze report data and educate

drivers to reduce their fuel consumption, saving £80,000

(U.S. $110,000) per year. Direct routes and improved driving

skills reduced fleet mileage by 3 million miles in four years,

decreasing emissions by 19.2 percent—a total of 4,700 tons of

carbon dioxide. Overall, United Biscuits saves £200,000 (U.S.

$275,000) per year using a fleet management solution that

integrates Virtual Earth.

“With Virtual Earth we know exactly where our vehicles are—and where they should be. We have improved efficiency, decreased working capital, and dramatically increased green benefits.”7

Rob Wright, National Logistics Controller, United Biscuits


Similarly, Bombardier Transportation has deployed a Virtual Earth solution developed by Virtual Earth

partner Shoothill to visualize location information about its fleet of trains, making it easier for managers to

decide where to place resources for maximum cost-efficiency. With service engineers able to react more

quickly to problems, such as signal failures and vehicle breakdowns, the company has significantly reduced

maintenance costs. Locating trains, directing them, and realizing issues in real time also lower the amount of

money Bombardier spends on fuel.

8

Bombardier Transportation uses a heat map to view where incidents are occurring. (www.bombardier.com)

“With Virtual Earth we can see exactly what we need. It’s popular with our engineers, helping them diagnose and solve problems quickly. We also manage our engineering resources better, reducing costs.”8

Robert Cain, Requirements Manager, Bombardier


Improve Customer and Constituent Services

Despite today’s advances in cellular technology,

organizations that manage fleet and mobile workforces

need more than Nextel radios, mobile phones, or two-

way direct-connect to quickly and efficiently communicate

and receive location status and information. Relying on

these devices can lead to delays, which compromise the

level and quality of service to customers and constituents.

Also, phones often lose power, drivers may turn them off,

or drivers may be unable to respond in a crisis, leaving

dispatchers unable to locate or contact them and, therefore,

delaying service. Integrated help-features can alert

dispatchers to requests for assistance.

Using a Virtual Earth integrated fleet management

system, you can see on a map where the nearest drivers

are located relative to customers, helping create more

efficient use of your organization’s resources, minimizing

mileage, ensuring service level agreement compliance,

and ultimately increasing customer satisfaction with more

on-time deliveries. You can also link real-time tracking with

customer service systems, so those employees can provide

accurate status information directly to anyone who calls to

inquire about a delivery.

Malin, one of the largest Raymond electric forklift dealerships, for example, decided to add GPS

tracking capabilities to its fleet of service vehicles, using Microsoft MapPoint Fleet Edition, a Virtual

Earth product. The company created a centralized dispatch operation to control assignments and

manage tracking of its entire fleet, across nine different Malin office locations. Its fleet mapping solu-

tion captures data that helps Malin clarify discrepancies between a service engineer’s time card and a

customer’s service report.

After seeing a noticeable improvement in customer service since deploying its new tracking solution,

Malin plans to introduce a Web-based customer module. The company will be able to provide

customers with direct access to accurate estimates on service truck arrival time, reducing dispatcher

time on customer calls and enabling customers to better self-serve.

9

“FleetTracker [with Virtual Earth] helps our dispatchers and service engineers focus their time on what’s most important—our customers.”9

Gavin Rick, IT Manager, Malin

Improve delivery accuracy and customer service.

http://www.microsoft.com/mappoint/en-us/Fleet.aspx


Fleet management in the public sector

The public sector also benefits greatly from an

integrated fleet management solution with Microsoft

Virtual Earth. Such fleets include emergency services

(police, fire, EMS), non-emergency services (garbage,

snow plows, inspectors), and city transit. For example,

the City of Anaheim, California, needed an easy-to-

use business application that would consolidate and

display data collectively from all the city’s computer

systems. With partner EDS, the city developed the

Virtual Earth–based Enterprise Virtual Operations

Center (EVOC) portal, which layers the city’s GIS data

on top of Virtual Earth, providing users with the ability

to visualize city assets, resources, and live incident

reporting. This system merges information from the fire departments of seven cities and from the police

departments of two of those cities. The City of Anaheim can also display critical public locations such as

hospitals, fire stations, police stations, and schools.10

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), a charity that provides a 24-hour lifesaving service in the

United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, represents another example of how an integrated fleet solution

using Virtual Earth addresses and improves public safety. AWS developed a mapping application for the

RNLI that uses Virtual Earth to track vessel speed and GPS position. The tracking system, MOB Guardian,

can determine that a boat or crew member is in

danger within minutes and automatically alert coast

guard officials, who will dispatch the appropriate

rescue vessel. By improving the detection of distressed

boaters, the solution reduces response time to crises

and contributes to saving more lives.11

Virtual Earth mapping technology also has reverse

geocoding functionality for locating fleets, mobile

employees, and delivery sites more quickly and

easily. Managers and drivers can find the closest

street address based only on latitude and longitude

coordinates from a GPS or other geospatial device.

10

Improve response time and facilitate better communication. (City of Anaheim, California, internal application)

View your mobile assets in near real time. (www.portmetrovancouver.com)


Deploying Solutions with the Virtual Earth Platform

The ease and speed of development of a Virtual Earth solution helps organizations of any size

save precious time and development money. IT developers can use their existing HTML and

JavaScript skills to add Virtual Earth to applications. Virtual Earth also offers development tools in its

interactive SDK, which shows the code needed, depending on desired functionality. These features

support rapid prototyping and ease of application development.

In two days, a developer at J.B. Hunt created a workable proof of concept (POC) of a new solution based

on Virtual Earth. Though it was not yet integrated with company databases, it displayed maps using

layers and features of Virtual Earth, such as the maps and photo imagery, along with company asset

locations on the same interface. IT services manager Mark Brewer found the POC very valuable for

convincing the company’s Request for Information committee to select Virtual Earth—both as a dynamic

introduction to the graphical user interface and features, and because of its short development time.

The development team was able to work easily with Virtual Earth. “You can customize the map to

show what you want and zoom to whatever level you want,” says Brewer. “You control what data feeds

into your application and how users interact with it. With MSDN®, if a developer had a question that I

couldn’t answer, they could quickly go find the answer for themselves.” 12

Additionally, Virtual Earth works well with many products that organizations are already

using, including Microsoft SQL Server® 2008 data management software, Microsoft Office

PerformancePoint™ Server 2007 business intelligence software, Microsoft SharePoint® Products and

Technologies, Microsoft Commerce Server 2009, and Microsoft Dynamics® business management

solutions, as well as non-Microsoft software.

The interactive SDK supports rapid prototyping.

Microsoft Virtual Earth has a

set of partners with specific

expertise in the development

and deployment of fleet

solutions that can assist you with

your fleet management needs.

To find a partner, visit the

Virtual Earth partner showcase.

11

http://dev.live.com/virtualearth/sdk/

http://http://www.microsoft.com/virtualearth/partners/finder/


Conclusion

Whether you need to manage local service vehicles or a nationwide mobile workforce, you can help

increase efficiency, reduce costs, and improve customer and constituent service by using Microsoft

Virtual Earth in a software solution for fleet and asset tracking and management.

An integrated fleet solution with Virtual Earth helps your organization:

Focus on your fleet, not on managing base maps and imagery•

Visualize fleet and asset information, quickly and easily•

Avoid complex automated solutions, so dispatchers can optimize routes by visualizing vehicles and stops•

Accurately pinpoint customer and constituent locations•

Provide precise routing and driving directions in real time•

Work toward meeting cost saving objectives•

Minimize environmental impact•

Virtual Earth is a platform of integrated services providing quality geospatial and mapping data,

rich imagery, and cutting-edge technology that can integrate with many existing business systems

to provide unique views of data. Using the Virtual Earth platform, companies and government

organizations can create an immersive online mapping and search experience that helps customers

and constituents easily discover, search, explore, share, and visualize business location data and locally

relevant information.

Learn More

To learn more about Virtual Earth, read case studies, and view Web sites of companies mentioned in

this paper, go to www.microsoft.com/virtualearth.

12

www.microsoft.com/virtualearth


References1 Aberdeen Group, “Field Service on the Move: Driving Profitability via Fleet Management,” March 2007.

2 Ibid.

3 Microsoft case study: “Transportation Provider to Save Hundreds of Thousands Annually with Mapping Solution,” October 1, 2008. http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=4000002775

4 Available in many metropolitan areas. Not available for government customers.


6 Case study: “Silentnight beds in live tracking for delivery fleet,” February 16, 2009. http://www.masternaut.co.uk/press-release.aspx?id=187

7 Microsoft case study: “Manufacturer Saves £200,000 a Year with Satellite Tracking System,” February 25, 2009. http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=4000003777

8 Microsoft case study: “Train Engineers Rejuvenate Fleet Management with Visual Mapping Technology,” January 27,2009. http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=4000003521

9 OnTerra Systems LLC case reference: “Improved Service and Productivity through Location Intelligence,” September 20, 2006.

10 EDS; Jerry Skaw, blog: “Virtual Earth for the Public Sector,” May 31, 2008. http://virtualearth4gov.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!369B39F890CE30C1!377.entry

11 Microsoft case study: “Search and Rescue Organisation Deploys Intelligent Mapping System to Save Lives at Sea,” May 3, 2006. http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=49727


13

http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=4000002775


http://www.masternaut.co.uk/press-release.aspx?id=187



http://virtualearth4gov.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!369B39F890CE30C1!377.entry



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