Throughout my career, I have used GPS in several organizations that I have overseen. Here are a few war stories:
In Portland, we received a call that one of our vehicles had kicked up a rock and cracked the caller’s windshield. We checked the location of the incident against the GPS of the vehicle that the guy reported. We found that the vehicle was on the other side of the County when the incident occurred. We discovered that people get their windshield cracked and begin looking for a government vehicle on the road to blame the incident on and get a free windshield replacement.
In Jacksonville, we received a call about one of our drivers driving recklessly. We pulled up the GPS data and found that our driver was driving 50 miles per hour in a 35-mile zone. The caller was right.
Also, in Jacksonville, we deal with a lot of impatient callers who are calling in to see where the truck dispatched to their address is. We can look at the mapping software and advise them. It was not uncommon that we’d see the vehicle pulling up in front of their house and advise them to look outside the window.
GPS finds the best use for new drivers who are unfamiliar with your city. It helps them get around.
GPS systems help advise your dispatcher as to which vehicle is the closest to the incident location.
We lost one of our employees in Fairfax County. He had pressed the emergency button on his radio, and we were able to find the location of his vehicle via GPS. When it started getting dark, we dispatched a helicopter and asked him to shine his flashlight straight up, and the helicopter pilot was able to direct our search to him.
GPS is a wonderful tool. I used the it in Jacksonville to map the locations of raccoons that had tested positive for rabies.
In Salt Lake City, I used GPS to map the locations of dogs that had been declared dangerous. I have heard of communities that have online mapping to let neighbors know where the dangerous dogs are in their neighborhood.
You would be remiss if you didn’t take advantage of the tools that are available to you.