How can you optimize local deliveries with GPS data?

1 Benefits of GPS data

GPS data can offer many benefits for your local delivery business, such as saving time and fuel by finding the shortest and fastest routes for your drivers, reducing costs and risks by monitoring vehicle speed, location, and performance, and enhancing customer service by providing accurate delivery estimates and notifications. Additionally, GPS data can help improve safety and compliance by tracking driver behavior and avoiding road hazards, as well as gain insights and feedback by analyzing the data and identifying areas for improvement.

2 How to collect GPS data

To collect GPS data, you need to equip your vehicles with GPS devices that can transmit their location, speed, direction, and other data to a central system. You have various options available, such as dedicated GPS trackers that are installed in your vehicles and powered by their batteries, smartphone-based GPS trackers that use your drivers' phones and their data plans to send GPS data, or OBD-II GPS trackers that plug into your vehicles' diagnostic ports and access their engine data. Each type of GPS device has its own unique advantages and disadvantages depending on your budget, needs, and preferences. Therefore, it is important to compare the features, costs, and reliability of different GPS devices before making a decision on the best one for your business.

3 How to use GPS data

Once you have collected GPS data, you need to use it effectively to optimize your local deliveries. You can use GPS data for a variety of purposes, such as planning routes in advance by estimating the distance, time, and traffic for each delivery. Additionally, you can use GPS data to adjust your routes on the go based on current traffic, weather, and road conditions. Moreover, GPS data can be used to send updates and alerts to your drivers and delivery confirmations, ETA, and feedback requests to your customers. You can also use GPS data to track your vehicles' location, speed, fuel consumption, mileage, maintenance, and emissions; measure your drivers' driving habits; and calculate your delivery time, cost, accuracy, and satisfaction.

4 How to choose a GPS software

To use GPS data effectively, you need a GPS software that can process, store, display, and analyze your GPS data. There are various types of GPS software available, such as web-based, desktop-based, and mobile-based. Each type has its own advantages and disadvantages depending on accessibility, functionality, and security. It is important to compare the usability, compatibility, and scalability of different GPS software before selecting the one that best suits your business needs.

5 How to integrate GPS data

To make the most of your GPS data, it should be integrated with other data sources and systems that are pertinent to your local delivery business, such as customer, order, inventory, accounting, and marketing data. This way, you can gain a comprehensive overview of your local delivery business and make decisions based on data-driven insights. Customer data can provide you with customers' names, addresses, preferences, and feedback; order data can include orders' details, status, and history; inventory data can show availability, location, and quantity of products; accounting data can include invoices, payments, and expenses; and marketing data can cover promotions, campaigns, and leads.

6 How to improve GPS data

To ensure the accuracy and reliability of your GPS data, you should regularly improve it by updating your devices and software to the latest versions and patches, calibrating them to the correct settings and parameters, cleaning the data of any errors, duplicates, or inconsistencies, validating it by cross-checking with other sources and methods, and securing it by encrypting it, backing it up, and protecting it from unauthorized access. Doing this will help you avoid any problems or issues that might affect your local delivery operations and customer satisfaction.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?