• In addition to the PC-based method of accessing vehicle
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information. our Tracker system was provided with two other methods of access: phone and Web-based.
The phone option is an automated. premium rate service I 50p/min) called Talk. It takes about a minute to get the last position on a vehicle and about two minutes for a position request. The information given includes an exact Ordnance Survey map reference for cross-referencing.
The Web-based option allows you to access information on vehicles from any Web-connected PC anywhere, and costs the company £10 per month to access plus £2 per month per vehicle. Reporting options available are similar to those with the phone and, if you download another bit ot software, there's also an option to see your vehicles on a map.
However, one point that needs underlining about both access methods is thatas with the software— unless you poll your vehicles while they are running you will not get the latest positional information. And neither Talk nor the Web service is automatically synchronised with the software. Se as CMfound out during the trial, you could get three different sets of data on a vehicle from the three means of access— confusing, to say the least.
Even if you do poll a vehicle using Talk or the Web service, if the vehicle isn't running at the time all you'll get is information based on the last time it was polled using this means of access. If you're going to use these services only as occasional backup, this will be completely out of date. Is this worth a premium-rate phone call or a chargeable Web call? You have to judge.
In its defence. Tracker explained this was an inevitable result of the vehicles being set up to communicate directly with our office-based PC, rather than (as with Orchid vehicles communicating back to Tracker, leaving us to access its servers from our desktop. It also offered to set things up so that out of office hours our vehicle communicated direct with its HQ. allowing it to ensure the information available via Talk and the Web would be fresher. This. Tracker told us, would incur no additional user cost.
Orchid also offers a dial-in service, although it is intended to replace, rather than complement. the standard software system. The Orchid service, started up in November, operates between 07:00-20:00hrs during the week and 9:00-16:00hrs on Saturdays. Users can get vehicle information by calling a live operator on a standard London number during these hours.
Six requested vehicle positions a month are included in the standard monthly fee of £19.99 per vehicle: extra positional requests cost £1.50 a time, which includes the cost of a faxed confirmation.
Further traffic and travel-related information is also available through this dial-in service, which will be extended to a 24-hour, seven-day operation later this year.
We rang the system to check it out, and found it gave a similar range of information to our desktop system. Both our Orchid-equipped vehicles were swiftly found and accurately reported (to within 100ml, and the process took less than two minutes. Fax confirmation duly arrived soon afterwards.
The whole Orchid dial-in experience was quick, simple and accurate and left us feeling that it will be a realistic alternative to the desktop-based system, once it is available round the clock.