Candid conversations about using GPS and wireless technology for work and fun.
Posts tagged GPS navigation
TeleNav Track GPS Helps Ariz. HVAC Company Reach Near 100% On-Time Arrival to Customer Locations
Jan 13th
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We announced today an amazing success story of a company in Gilbert, Arizona that is using TeleNav Track to help improve customer service.
The company, One Hour Conditioning & Heating, is a residential and commercial cooling and heating service provider. One Hour’s slogan is ‘always on time or you don’t pay a dime’ which means that it is important to the company that their technicians arrive to customers’ locations on time or else they lose a lot of money.
Before they used TeleNav Track on their cell phones, One Hour technicians would do everything by paper or phone calls – including clock in and out of work, gather and relay job information, and get to and from jobs. Now, it is all done through TeleNav Track. They can clock in and out directly from their phone, send and receive job information from managers through the wireless forms on their phone, and also get GPS navigation to each job site on their phone.
Because they use TeleNav Track, One Hour technicians are now on time to customers 99.99% of the time. Can you say that about any technician that comes to your house? Not only does this save One Hour a lot of money but it makes their customers happy because they know they can count on the company to meet their deadline.
Here is another good example of how TeleNav Track is helping a satellite company reach customers on time.
Mobile GPS Navigation and Maps Usage Increases
Jul 29th
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Last week, ComScore M:Metrics released new statistics showing the growth of mobile map usage in the U.S. and in Europe. In this case, mobile maps includes turn-by-turn GPS navigation services like TeleNav GPS Navigator or accessing a static maps service via a Web browser on your phone.
Here is a quick look at the increase by country:
Pretty amazing increase since last year – especially in the US – 82%!
ComScore attributed some of this growth to the iPhone which allows access to static maps.
It’s also worth noting, however, that since May of 2007, numerous devices from carriers like AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Alltel have all launched with GPS navigation capabilities. More and more people are realizing that GPS navigation can be useful not just for traveling but also on a daily basis – to avoid traffic, find businesses, meet friends etc.
One other note from the study that I thought was interesting – more and more people seem to be transitioning from accessing maps on their PCs to accessing them on their mobile phones.
How about you? Now that you are using a navigation service on your phone, do you still look at maps online?
Using GPS to Fly Lawn Chairs
Jul 9th
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Author – Will Thompson – Director, Sales Operations
This is definitely a candidate for "do not try this at home."
A man from Bend, Oregon took off over the weekend in his lawn chair and more than 150 giant party balloons to try and fly all the way to Idaho.
Unlike others who have tried similar flights, this man made it more than 200 miles and actually reached his destination. It took him approximately nine hours.
Throughout the flight, this amateur pilot used three GPS navigation devices – one for navigation and two for tracking. One of the GPS tracking devices was a back-up for his chair, which he had separated from last year when he attempted the same flight.
You’ve got to give this guy credit for guts and determination, however I’m pretty certain we’re not going to get too many calls for Balloon Navigation solutions.
By the way, this daredevil also happens to be a gas station owner in Bend. Perhaps business is just too slow these days?
TeleNav Team Building (literally)
May 29th
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Author- Daisy Luu – Technical Writer
It isn’t every day you see blindfolded engineers stoop for paper cups on the asphalt. But then again, there’s rarely a dull day at TeleNav, where employees constantly strive to better ourselves – as well as the technologies we’re developing. To celebrate several successful product launches and partnerships with some of the nation’s top wireless carriers, employees at TeleNav headquarters recently gathered for some refreshments. And because there’s no point of being idle for too long, we played a few team-building games to strengthen our relationships with each other.
Activity #1: Team Building (literally)
Objective: Form a cube with live bodies
What We Learned:
1.) Foundations are made stronger through the support of partnerships and teams.
2.) TeleNav engineers could live off being Matrix stunt-doubles.
Activity #2: Collecting Cups
Objective: Employees form teams of four with one person being the blindfolded ‘cup collector.’ The rest of the team must create a system of communication WITHOUT using words or touch to guide the cup collector through a field of randomly-strewn cups. The cup collector must pick up as many cups as possible in one minute.
What We Learned:
1.) Effective communication is the key to success.
2.) There is a difference between listening and hearing, and sometimes you must learn to do the former and not simply be content with the latter.
3.) Headquarters can become a wildly entertaining place with some engineers emitting quacks, beeps and screeches while others meander aimlessly around a parking lot littered with cups.
National Exterminating Company Squashes Inefficiencies with TeleNav Track™
May 23rd
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Author—Sal Dhanani – Co-Founder and Sr. Director of Marketing
“We originally implemented the TeleNav Track service in an effort to better monitor the distances that our drivers were traveling and the time it was taking them to get there. TeleNav Track far exceeded our expectations,” said Ralph Morse, general manager of National Exterminating Company. “Not only can we monitor vehicle speed and distance traveled, but in the unlikely event of an emergency, we can determine exactly where a driver is located. TeleNav Track is invaluable to conducting business in our industry.”
At TeleNav, we love hearing about how our customers use GPS tracking and monitoring technologies to transform their businesses. National Exterminating Company is just one example of how TeleNav Track provides the tools needed to effectively manage a mobile workforce.
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