How Can GPS Tracking Help When Something Unexpected Happens?
GPS tracking is useful every day — but sometimes its value becomes most obvious when something doesn't go to plan.
A vehicle may not arrive where expected. A member of a team may need assistance. Several vehicles may need coordinating quickly. A business vehicle may move when it shouldn't. Or a vehicle may be stolen.
In those situations, being able to see where your vehicles are and what they're doing can provide useful information when decisions need to be made quickly.
A standard GPS tracker isn't an emergency-response service and doesn't replace 999, breakdown cover, eCall or professional monitored recovery.
What it can provide is visibility.
Know where a vehicle actually is
Sometimes the first problem is simply establishing the vehicle's location.
A driver may be somewhere unfamiliar.
A vehicle may have broken down away from its planned route.
A team member may be trying to describe a location they don't know.
Or an office may simply need to establish where a vehicle has stopped.
A GPS tracking platform gives authorised users access to the location information being reported by the vehicle.
Instead of relying entirely on:
“I'm somewhere near…”
you have information available on the map.
Coordinate several vehicles from one screen
Tracking becomes particularly useful when several vehicles are involved in an operation.
Multiple compatible trackers can be displayed within the same Global Trackers account, allowing authorised users to see where different vehicles are without contacting every driver individually.
That can help answer questions such as:
Which vehicle is closest?
Which vehicles have already arrived?
Where is the rest of the team?
Has a vehicle left the expected area?
Which vehicle should we send next?
This type of visibility can be useful for businesses, field teams and organisations coordinating vehicles across a wide geographical area.
➡️ Managing a fleet? Read: How Can I Track All My Work Vans?
GPS tracking isn't only about commercial fleets
One of the interesting things about vehicle tracking is how differently organisations use the same underlying technology.
Global Trackers supports organisations that use tracking to help coordinate vehicles involved in operational and response work.
In those situations, the value isn't primarily about mileage reports or fuel costs.
It's about being able to see where resources are when people need to coordinate them.
The technology is the same.
The problem it solves is different.
Can tracking help if a vehicle breaks down?
Tracking can provide useful location information if a tracked vehicle becomes stationary unexpectedly.
It doesn't diagnose every mechanical problem and it doesn't replace breakdown cover.
But knowing the vehicle's location can make it easier for an office, fleet manager or other authorised person to understand where assistance may be needed.
Journey history can also provide context around where the vehicle travelled before it stopped.
What if a vehicle doesn't arrive when expected?
There are many perfectly ordinary reasons why a vehicle might be delayed.
Traffic, a changed route, a previous job taking longer than expected or an unscheduled stop can all affect arrival times.
Rather than immediately ringing the driver, tracking information can help an authorised user establish the vehicle's location and recent journey activity.
For businesses coordinating field staff, that can make day-to-day operations much easier.
Can movement alerts warn me about unexpected activity?
Yes.
Movement alerts can notify you when a tracked vehicle begins moving.
That can be particularly useful when a vehicle is expected to remain stationary — for example overnight, at a depot or while stored.
An alert doesn't automatically mean an emergency or theft.
It tells you something has happened that you may want to investigate.
Can geofences help?
Yes.
A geofence is a virtual boundary around an area on the tracking platform.
That might be:
- A business yard
- A depot
- A work site
- A storage facility
- An operational area
- Another important location
Depending on the configuration, the system can generate an event or alert when a vehicle enters or leaves that area.
This can help teams monitor vehicle movements without somebody continuously watching the map.
What happens if a vehicle is stolen?
If you believe a tracked vehicle has been stolen, contact the police and follow their instructions.
Tracking information may provide useful information about the vehicle's location and movement.
However, don't attempt to recover a stolen vehicle yourself based solely on a location shown on the tracking platform.
➡️ Read our full Guide: How Can I Track My Car If It Gets Stolen?
Can Global Trackers immobilise a vehicle?
The GT1 and GT3 support vehicle immobilisation when correctly wired and configured for an appropriate installation.
This is an additional capability of those devices rather than something every tracker automatically provides.
Immobilisation needs to be installed and used appropriately.
It should never be treated as a way of remotely stopping a moving vehicle.
If immobilisation is required as part of your tracking setup, discuss it with us before installation so the correct device, wiring and configuration can be considered.
➡️ Choosing hardware? Read: Which GPS Tracking Setup Is Right for My Business?
Can tracking help coordinate teams across different locations?
Yes.
Because tracked vehicles can appear within the same platform, an authorised coordinator can see resources across different locations.
This can be useful where teams:
- Work across large areas
- Respond to changing jobs
- Operate from several bases
- Need to know which vehicle is nearest
- Need visibility without repeatedly contacting drivers
That doesn't replace communication between people.
It gives the people coordinating the operation better information when they communicate.
What if the vehicles travel into Europe?
The same principle can apply when tracked vehicles travel outside the UK, provided the tracking service has suitable connectivity.
Global Trackers uses multi-network M2M connectivity across the UK and supported European networks.
➡️ Travelling abroad? Read: Will My GPS Tracker Work in Europe?
Can I see the vehicles from my phone?
Yes.
Authorised Global Trackers users can access tracking information through the GPS Monitor Plus app or through a web browser.
That means the person coordinating vehicles doesn't necessarily need to be sitting at a particular office computer.
➡️ Read next: Can I Track My Car From My Phone?
What can't a standard GPS tracker do?
It's equally important to understand the limitations.
A standard Global Trackers GPS tracking service is not:
- A replacement for 999
- A monitored emergency-response centre
- A substitute for breakdown cover
- A guarantee that a stolen vehicle will be recovered
- A substitute for appropriate vehicle security
- Automatically a crash-detection or eCall service
Those are different services and technologies.
What GPS tracking gives you is location and operational information that may be useful when something unexpected happens.
Visibility when it matters
Most of the time, GPS tracking is about ordinary things.
Checking where a van is.
Reviewing yesterday's journeys.
Monitoring fuel use.
Managing maintenance.
Seeing whether equipment has moved.
But when something unexpected happens, having that same information readily available can become particularly valuable.
You know where vehicles are.
You can see several of them together.
You can review recent movement.
You can receive alerts about events you've chosen to monitor.
And you can use that information to help decide what needs to happen next.
If your organisation needs to coordinate vehicles, monitor mobile teams or build particular security features such as immobilisation into its tracking setup, tell us how you operate.
We'll help you configure tracking around what you actually need.