IMTSA vehicle tracking software User Guide

USER GUIDE

Web interface

User interface is a rich web application which can be accessed with any modern web browser. The interface is stylish, flat-looking and intuitive.

Compatibility

The web interface is cross-browser and based on pure Asynchronous JavaScript for providing smooth and responsive HTML5 applications, fast synchronization between all the different parts of the application, data fetching, processing, animations.

It does not use Java, Flash, Silverlight or anything else that requires installation of any software, plugins or extensions. All you need is a browser.

Web interface uses cookies and browser’s local storage. After software update (i.e. new features, bugfixes) user does not need to clear cache or make any special efforts: the newer code and all necessary interface elements will be downloaded and replaced automatically.

Mobile ready

For mobile users, we recommend to download and use native mobile apps for iOS and Android, or lightweight web-interface, which will be advised automatically at the login page. Though the desktop web interface can also run on tablets, it can look a bit lazy on weak processors, but you’d rather try it yourself and see if it suits your needs.

Web Apps

The Apps can be considered as solid web interface modules which, however, are connected between themselves. Each App has its own purpose and contains data and tools convenient for a workflow process.

The common Apps which customers use and their main purposes are listed below:

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Monitoring : Basic real-time tracking and history view on the map.

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Rules : Conditions for catching up events and sending user notifications.

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Reports : Analytics in tables and graphs.

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Tasks : Mobile workforce management based on tasks and planning.

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Fleet : Vehicle technical maintenance, Eco driving and Harsh driving.

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Devices : Hardware and sensors configuration.

Monitoring

Monitoring is the basic App which commonly used for general tasks:

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Real-time tracking on the map

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View tracks history on the map

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View events history on the map

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Check current device status

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Get current telemetry readings

Screenshots

Object list

User assets are listed in the Object list. It’s a small window on the map which can be resized and moved within the screen.

You can also collapse and expand Object list when needed. For doing it, simply click on the arrow sign in its header.

Features

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Groups. You can combine objects into groups, name these groups and assign them different colours. Group management can be done in the Devices app.

Status. The colour of the circle near to the object name has the meaning – it shows the status of the device. o Green: location is fixed, device is online o Blue: location is not fixed (old), device is online o Red: device is offline o Grey: device is just registered, waiting for the first connection

Multiple object selecting. Allows to apply tools for several objects at once. For example, scale map automatically to view all selected object, view tracks of the selected objects.

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List tools. Sort list by name, by status or by distance from the selected reference point on the map. Filter list by object name. View in groups or as plain list.

Map auto scale. If enabled, the map will scale automatically to fit all assets on the screen, even the assets move.

Viewing preferences. Allows to choose viewing preferences for track labels, events on the map, traces and animation when assets are moving.

Related tools

There are several tools available when you select or click on the item in the object list.

Asset view and detailed information

By clicking on the item in the object list or clicking the next to the desired object the map will focus on this object. Also in the bottom of the screen you can see the widget bar with additional information.

History view

When you select one or multiple items in the object list, three tool buttons appear below the list:

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Tracks. This tool allows to see tracks on the map

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Events. Show events on the map for the selected date/time range.

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Time machine. Playback the history how the assets moved in some day, using the animation.

Context menu

With the right mouse click on the item in the object list you will get the context menu. It contains links to the tools from other Apps which you can apply to the selected object.

Map tools

We provide wide set of tools to work with maps, addresses, tags, POIs, geofences, directions and many other items which have relation to visualisation of assets and geospatial information.

Basic tools

Basic map toolbar is located in the bottom of the screen.

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Measure distance and area. Set a few locations to calculate the distance between them or get the area of the polygon with vertex in those points.

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Show street traffic. Use Google maps and other sources to view the traffic in the streets.

Directions. Get directions between selected points on the map, see the length of the route.

Show places (POIs). You can upload POIs, define colours and icons to them. By setting up the reference point you’ll be able to sort the object list by distance from that point.

Change map. Switch map layers to get the desired detail of the surface or satellite view. Dozens of maps are supported.

Map scale. Use mouse scroll or map scaling tool to zoom in/out the map.

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Map search. Search by address or your POIs names. For the geocoding different source database / sources can be used – as defined in user preferences section.

Clear map. Remove events, tracks and other items you no longer require.

Geofences. Create geofences and show/hide them off the map.

Layers. Add your custom layers over the map layer. E.g. it can be premises or communications your company maintain. You can create as many layers as you want by uploading the data from KML files.

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Map overview. A smaller map which makes easier to navigate within different parts of the big map.

Route to the point

The platform can easily create a route between two addresses or points on the map. It is possible within the same city as well as between different places.

To create a route, you are to point its start and its end. The system will create a route automatically. In case you need to make the route more exact, you should point one or several intermediate places drugging the middle of a route.

“Route to this point” function

You have a possibility to create a route to the chosen object. The route will be built to a place showing distance and average time. This function helps to indicate arrival time to the address. It is very helpful in case you need to estimate time from current destination to any desired place, for example if you are waiting for internet shop’s order or food delivery, you will be able to see its arrival time.

This function is available in the “Monitoring” app. To create a route, you should click on a needed place on the map and press” Route to this point”

To create a route, you are to:

1. Choose a tracker

2. Click the right mouse button on the needed place

3. Press “Route to this point”

Points of Interest

Points of Interest (POI) is a very useful feature as for organizations so for end users. Any user can create a list of POIs for his or her convenience – it can be just a couple of places (like home, work, supermarket, etc.) or include thousands of POIs (for needs of the logistic manager).

There are several parameters you can set for each

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POI:

Name. You can use any name you want, like Office, Warehouse or Accounts Department – choose a label that fits your purposes and will help you find your POI easily.

Icon. You can use any picture from the library or upload it from your PC.

Tags. Tags are used to work with big amount of POI and are very helpful if you have more than several dozen POIs. There’s no limit in the quantity of tags, the same POI can be identified by several tags, but we’ll get to that later.

How do I create and edit POIs?

To create a new POI right-click the map.

If you want to see the list of already created and edited POIs – use the map tool “POI” on the right side of the tools panel.

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What do I need POIs for?

Finding objects on the map – you don’t have to specify the whole address anymore. Just type the name or tag you assigned to the POI and you’ll have the list with all the matches.

Creating routes and geofences – you can easily find place on the map and draw a circle or polygon. You can also create a route between several POIs, let’s say between your office and warehouse.

Assigning tasks to the employees – instead of the whole address of their destination you can just use the name of the right POI and our system will create the task.

Geofences

Geofence is a virtual perimeter for a real geographic area.

Introduction to Geofences

Geofences are used to define virtual perimeters. The system can control whether object crossed geofence border (either “in” or “out”). All these events are logged, so user can obtain geofence reports and receive alerts.

Moreover, you can assign various rules for events to geofences. For example, if you need to get speeding alerts only within a certain area (e.g. in city) or route.

To access Geofences tool click the Polygon icon on the map toolbar. Here you can create and import new geofences or edit the existing ones. To display desired geofences on map simply mark checkboxes.

Geofence types

There are three basic types of geofences available:

1. Circle – geographical area with a given centre and the shape of a circle with a minimum radius of 20 meters (radius and centre of the circle are defined by user).

2. Polygon – area bounded by an arbitrary polygon with any number of vertices.

3. Route – allows to create a virtual perimeter between two (or more) points. E.g., it is used to ensure that a vehicle doesn’t leave a predetermined route, and if it does, an alarm can be set to inform the interested party.

How to create a geofence

1. Locate the desired area on the map. You can use ‘Address search’ tool.

2. Choose ‘Geofences’ tool by clicking on the Polygon icon in the bottom of screen.

3. Click the Add geofence button.

4. Choose one of three shapes from the list and enter geofence name.

5. Draw a geofence on the map:

1. Circle – move a circle with a mouse, having pressed the centre of the circle. To change the size of the circle, pull the point on the edge of the circle.

2. Polygon – initially has a form of the correct pentagon, which can be easily and randomly changed. To add new vertices, you need to pull the mouse over the centre of one of the polygon’s sides. To delete a vertex just doubleclick on it.

3. Route – you need to choose start and end points, the system will automatically build a route between them. If you want to add more points on the route, drag the route with the mouse. Next, determine the size of the vicinity.

6. Specify the name of the geofence and save it. Geofences you created can be edited or deleted.

Tracks history / Trip Replay

Track view is one of the basic tools commonly used to see the location history. We provide powerful and easy way to view tracks for the chosen date and time range.

View tracks

You can retrieve track list and view those tracks on the map – for any date range under the limitation per your tariff plan.

1. Select the required assets from objects list. You can take just one or mark multiple assets. You will see the Tracks button under the list. Click on this button.

2. Select the date/time range. You can also set other various parameters which influence the result and its viewing options: o

Split with parking’s – The whole track (i.e. the track of the day) can be split in trips for better view. The parking state is defined with Stay maximum speed and Stay minimum

duration parameters, as configured by user in Devices app. o

Show events – Enable showing related events which have been logged. The rules for events can be configured in Rules app. o

Show LBS – Select whether you want locations defined by GSM and Wi-Fi signals (less precise than satellite navigation) to be shown. o

Clustered – If this box is checked, the Interval and LBS locations with same coordinates and accuracy will be stacked together and shown as one clustered landmark. o

Smart filter – It filters out the most common inaccuracies caused by weak GPS signals, errors in LBS locations and others. The track looks better and more understandable to user. Normally it is recommended this checkbox to be enabled, but for tests and debug you can disable it. o

Colour mode – Choose how you want your tracks to be coloured. This option allows you to draw multiple tracks and compare them without getting confused.

3. Click Show tracks button. You will see the tracks list with brief details. By clicking on the View icon, you can draw any selected track(s), change its colour, etc. Each result is shown in a separate tab, so you can

view tracks for different assets and dates at once.

4. Detailed track information will be shown in the bottom of the screen under “i” icon. If you selected multiple tracks, there will be also summary information.

Track types

There are different types of tracks depending on what technology used to determine the locations and tracking mode set in the device configuration.

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Continuous tracks. These are the most common tracks, which are very typical for vehicle tracking applications. These tracks are represented as polynomic lines with Start and End.

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Interval tracks. For autonomous GPS trackers, it is often set that location is updated in relatively long time intervals, i.e. once per hour, once per day, etc. These tracks will be showed as numbered (1, 2…

N) landmarks. For better understanding they will relate to transparent grey lines, which, however, have little common with real path.

LBS locations. If location is defined not with satellite navigation systems (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and others), but with some alternative LBS technologies, such as GSM or Wi-Fi signals, it’s often not very precise. To make it clear to observer, such locations are visualised with circle, which radius means the accuracy.

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Clustered landmarks. When some asset stays in same place too long, you can get too many separate interval or LBS messages for the same locations. To make it more convenient to observer, the server will “stick” them together and show just one clustered landmark on the map. Start/end time and duration will be added to the note to this landmark.

Events history

Those events which were registered per the Rules set by customer, can be viewed on the map in

Monitoring app and in Reports app. In this section, we explain how to view them on the map.

View events

You can retrieve event list and view them on the map for any data range under the limitations of your tariff plan.

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Select required assets from objects list. You can take one or multiple objects. After you make your selection, click Events button below the list.

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Select date / time range and event types you need, then click Show events button to fetch the list of events.

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Click on event in the events list to see it on the map. The tag will also display date and time of the event and correspondent text message. Detailed information about selected events will be also displayed in the Information panel in the bottom of screen.

Links to map in notifications

When user receives a notification about some event, he can easily find out where it occurred. Each message contains a special short link which opens the map with the mark for that event. The map page is optimised for mobile and desktop browsers.

Time machine

Time Machine is a tool which allows you to playback the history of movement of your assets for any chosen date – as though you travel in the past.

How to use Time Machine

1. Select the assets from the objects list. You can take just one or select multiple.

2. Click Time Machine button below the list. It is placed next to Tracks and Events buttons.

In the bottom of screen you will see the panel of the tool where your assets will be listed.

3. Select the date you want to playback. Also, you can set various options like playback speed, show tracks and events on the map, etc.

4. Click Play button. You will see animated assets movement, while the cursor in the bottom will advise you the time of the day.

5. To exit from the tool, click Back to the future button which is in the right top corner of the bottom panel.

Time Machine

Rules

In the Rules app user, can set up conditions per which the system logs the events and sends notifications to user.

When a server receives a new portion of data from the device, it checks whether the conditions set by customer are true or false for this data. If they are true, the server generates an event, logs it and immediately sends SMS, Email or Voice notifications, as specified by user.

Two types of events

Events can be registered in two ways:

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Events generated by the device. These events are triggered due to some physical events registered by the device sensors or inputs. Examples: emergency button, AVL input change, car crash, harsh driving, etc. The list of such events varies and depends on the device model.

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Events detected by server logic. Events of this type has no relation to the device model and can apply to any device. Examples: geofence enter, speed limit exceeding, GSM connection lost, long idle, route deviation, sensor value range exceeding, etc.

Auto created rules

Most used rules will be created automatically when user activates a new device. For example, if a personal

GPS tracker has emergency button, a new rule “SOS button pressed” will be created automatically. User can edit this rule, e.g. add SMS / Email notifications, or suspend the rule if he does not need it.

Create rule

User can create as many rules as he needs. The already existing rules are listed in the Rules list in the left side of the Rules app.

Rule wizard

To add a new rule click Add rule in the left top corner. A pop-up window with Wizard will appear:

Proceed with wizard:

1. Rule name. Just a label to name the rule and distinct it from other rules you create.

2. Related assets list. Mark the assets you want this rule to be applied for. You can select multiple assets.

3. Event type. Select the event type you want to detect. The items which are not available for the selected device models will be disabled.

After you click Next button, you will see the rest of parameters to finish the rule wizard:

1. Specific parameters for the event. For example, for speed limit exceeding it will be the speed limit.

2. Geofence (optional). You can limit the rule with geofence, e.g. for speed limit exceeding event you can define different zones: 60 km/h for city area and 110 km/h for city outskirts.

3. Day of the week and Time (optional). The rule can be applied only for the events triggered within time range and days of the week. The following picture represents the schedule “on working days from Monday till Friday, from

9:00 am till 6:00 pm”.

Notifications

You can define the list of email addresses and phone numbers which will receive the notification about the events. If this list is empty, the event will be just logged and shown in reports and events history. The text of the notification message can be edited by user.

Suspend the rule

You can suspend the rule without deleting it. To do this just push Suspend button or Activate to restore.

Reports

User Reports app to acquire all-round statistics and analytics. The summary data can be shown in various perspectives, in tables and graphs.

Basic features

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Various reports types. Get all required data about activity, landmarks, safety and security, fleet usage, driving behaviour, device status and many other.

Flexible report settings. For each report type you can apply wide range of settings, limit the weekdays and working hours, change geocoder.

Background processing and storing. The reports are processed in background mode, using distributed calculation and data pre-processing – so you get all the data fast. Previously generated reports are stored for some time, so you won’t waste a second to get that data again.

Group reports. You can retrieve reports for a set of objects.

Web, PDF or Excel. Chose the format for report’s output: use interactive web version or save as PDF or Excel file. In web version, you can sort data in columns, highlight the data, click the addresses to find them on the map, etc.

Scheduled reports. Set your report template and receive it repeatedly to your mailbox.

Single report

To retrieve a single report, choose Reports item in the left menu of the Reports app.

1. Click Create a new report link in the left menu.

2. Select the report type. The report types are grouped per their purpose.

3. Check the objects for which you want to retrieve the report. If some object is not listed, it means that given report type cannot be applied, e.g. if no fuel level sensor installed in vehicle, it won’t be shown in the list.

4. Choose report settings. These settings depend on the report type. If necessary, you can change the geocoding from default (see User preferences ) to another.

5. Press Build report button. The report will be retrieved shortly and you can access the data in the left column, on the top of the list of previously retrieved reports. You can view the report in browser, download it as PDF or Excel file, or modify its settings and retrieve similar report.

Fleet

Vehicle List

All the information about vehicles of your organization is in the app “Vehicles”.

It makes your work easier and much more convenient. For example, you enter data on fuel consumption per 100 km (or miles), the monitoring system will calculate fuel consumption data based on this indicator to compare them with the actual.

Vehicles management

To use the guide, click on the button “Fleet” then choose “Vehicles”. Here you can add and edit vehicle, relate it with garage, relate vehicle to its GPS/GLONASS tracker.

Garage card information

In case a company has several garages or departments (branches), you create corresponding cards for them and distribute all the vehicle into garages. In the garage details, you can point its name, address, chief engineer and dispatcher’s names. The data will be used for best distribution of tasks.

Vehicle information

Vehicle information cards includes identification fields, technical statements, registration details such as:

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Label

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Photo

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Model

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Identification numbers: vehicle registration plate, VIN, classic number, etc.

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Type of vehicle

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Cargo capacity and cargo bay

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Fuel information: type, grade, consumption per 100 km

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Wheelbase

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Insurance information

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Garage

When GPS-tracker is set on the vehicle, it is shown in its information in the field “Tracker”. Don’t forget that you can set GPS-tracker with to your employee (driver of vehicle).