To find out the current position of your vehicles on a map, all you need is free GPS tracking. More advanced systems with greater capabilities involve buying or leasing hardware and a monthly subscription fee, but as we know these are fixed costs, and those are best avoided. Today we lift the lid on the average fleet monitoring platform and try to find out whether GPS location is possible for free. Read on.
Free GPS tracking is within reach!
Every smartphone user knows full well that they can locate their position on a map and use the device itself as a sat-nav thanks to the built-in GPS module. In addition, linking it to a Google account (Location History) or Apple account (Find My iPhone) lets you track the route history and current position. The alternative is third-party apps. In the Play Store or App Store you will find several free apps for locating other mobile phones. Just configure the smartphones to be located to track their position online and check the route history. The downside of these solutions is their simplicity and their limitation to the most basic functions, where position accuracy, refresh rate or the amount of data in the archive leave much to be desired. This is precisely why the idea of creating a professional vehicle tracking system arose.
What are the differences between professional and free systems?
The first fundamental difference is that access to the former is paid. Creating a professional vehicle tracking application and maintaining it generates costs, which users then cover in the form of a monthly subscription. Free solutions, although sufficient in only a few cases, are free of any charges, since today even mobile internet on phones is standard with operators. On the other hand, in return for the subscription fee, professional systems can be expected to run stably, offer more flexibility and freedom in accessing data, and have procedures to ensure the security of the information processed. Some commercial systems, besides service support, are also regularly developed and updated.
Why do professional systems charge subscription fees?
GPS tracking systems consist of trackers, a server back end where the data from the transmitters is stored, and an application for tracking and analysing vehicle routes. Each of these elements generates maintenance costs, in which the user participates. Fortunately, a monthly fee of between PLN 30 and 50 per tracked vehicle is relatively low compared with building and maintaining the whole IT infrastructure. Of course, retail and wholesale prices cannot be compared, but even so it pays more to entrust the care of the fleet to an external company.
The components of the cost of vehicle monitoring include:
- Data transfer between the tracker and the server, and the SIM card subscription,
- Purchase of disk space for vehicle data,
- Software maintenance of the vehicle tracking application,
- Technical support for the correct operation of the trackers and response to faults,
- Design and development of new system functions.
You can also add the fee for a security audit and a certificate confirming compliance with standards, for the use of commercial maps and for improving the mobile app.
What if free GPS tracking were possible after all?
Let us assume, for the sake of the simulation, that Jan Kowalski is a private business owner with a fleet of 10 company vehicles, modest needs, no expectations, and who occasionally wants to see the positions of his company vehicles on a map.
Let us also assume that he has trackers and SIM cards bought at a bargain price and a browser application that a friend in IT built for him as a favour. In the table below we have gathered the most likely risks Jan Kowalski may face when using almost free GPS tracking:
The greater the needs, the smaller the chance of using a free system
Standard, sometimes almost free solutions do not always do the job. It must be said clearly that a vehicle monitoring system was conceived as a tool, just like a phone, a car or a computer. From the example of brands such as Sagem, Sony Ericsson, Nokia and Alcatel one conclusion can be drawn: users need new technologies and will always seek them out. The development of new technologies is something worth investing in, because they make our lives easier
