Calling them dumb might sound mean, but the reality is that a significant portion of the satellite device market is comprised of simple, one-way terminals that transmit very limited data. While there are also incredibly powerful, complex machines in the field that are capable of managing communications switches, receiving over the air configuration, and running computing processes on the edge, the importance of their counterparts cannot be understated in this industry.
Because so many companies and governments rely upon these simpler terminals for daily operations, it is critically important to understand the ways in which GSatTrack can help maximize the value of the data they collect and transmit, because the ROI of hardware functionality alone is barely enough to justify tracking costs. In order to truly capture and extract value from a data ecosystem, there needs to be a powerful and feature-rich visualization platform to transform information into insights.
There is a very simple relationship between terminals and their visualization portals. Terminals in the field gather and transmit data, and then the portal turns that data into the processes, animations, reports, and organized records that help organizations save time, save money, and save lives. Put simply: GSatTrack can't change the data your devices can collect and send, but it can certainly make sure that once that data has been collected and sent, that you have the absolute best toolset available to work with it. When the portal is intelligent, the devices can be dumb.
GSE has an exceptional example of the ability to use GSatTrack to leverage maximum value from any terminal. With the release of the GSatSolar, GSE will finally have a low-intelligence device on the market whose primary goals are to deliver very basic tracking data at a low cost. Even with the limitations of the GSatSolar, GSatTrack still offers the same level of complexity for real market applications and solutions. Below are just a few of the things that are possible with GSatTrack and the GSatSolar working together.
The GSatSolar reports location-related information, including speed, which is more than enough to give GSatTrack's Alert feature dozens of events that can be configured in Alert messages to stakeholders. In the ranching market, for example, speed is an incredibly useful piece of information for reasons that are about to make a lot of sense. Let's say that on a regular Tuesday afternoon, one or more members of your herd reports a position with a speed reading of 44mph. Your animal is either training for the Olympics, or it has (willingly or unwillingly) hitched a ride in the back of someone's Silverado without your knowledge. Setting up a Speed Alert to notify you by SMS message when one of your animals is moving faster than 12mph could help you avoid this kind of problem, and even find the wayward beast, wherever its journey ends.
Location data can also be used with complex features like Geofences in order to keep track of times when Assets leave a designated area where they are supposed to be, or when they enter a dangerous location and need to be extracted. For remote operations with small assets tracked by GSatSolar, like all-terrain vehicles, asset managers can draw geographic boundaries on the map called Geofences, which can provide visual representations of a worksite in the portal. If a small asset reports a position outside of the Geofence, it can trigger an Alert and send a message to the asset manager or to any number of stakeholders who may be able to assess the possibility of theft or a lost worker, allowing people to act fast to recover the asset and/or the crewmate.
Nearly every asset tracked by a GSatSolar terminal will have expectations with regard to movement. Either the asset is stationary, and movement is a bad sign, or the asset is something like an animal, which is expected to move about the grazing area and explore the back-country hiking trails nearby, and sitting stationary for hours on end can mean something is wrong. A tool called the Asset Movement Report can help people identify which Assets have been sitting still and which have been moving in a given timeframe. This is particularly useful for animal tracking, as mentioned, because it might give handlers the ability to rescue Artax from the Swamps of Sadness before it's too late.
In addition to Geofences, Alerts, and Reports, users have access to powerful map tools that can overlay live data with position reports from assets to provide an enhanced visual experience. There is also a suite of routing and distance analysis tools, and a dedicated Journeys feature, which allows users to view segments of location history alongside live and historical data. Store Places in the portal, save individual data points for future reference, and display them alongside tracking data or use them to trigger Alerts and filter reports. Share controlled portal data with anyone via links, email, and social media posts. There are so many features that GSatTrack users employ to leverage the data in their ecosystem to its fullest potential, and these powerful features certainly enhance the value of any dumb terminal that feeds data into the portal.
The list of examples above is by no means an exhaustive list of the ways GSatTrack can add a tremendous amount of value to an ecosystem that relies on dumb terminals for its data collection. One could easily argue that GSatTrack is just as important for low-intelligence devices as it is for intelligent terminals because it elevates the value of the data to an extraordinary level far beyond that which is expected from these devices. Where the industry standard is to display a dot on a map, GSatTrack provides intelligent insights as a core experience that makes it the best possible complement to dumb terminals in any industry.
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A writer with over two million words published, Justin comes to GSE from the startup world, where he developed a passion for innovative problem solving and product development. His articles share the perspective and experience that comes from successfully taking products to market in over 20 different industries.
Contact Justin Vizaro at Justin@gsat.us [1]
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