Aggregation of GPS signals
GPS signals are the basic currency in logistics. In a sense, they are the heartbeat that makes vehicles visible on their way from A to B and transports predictable. Integrating GPS signals from your own fleet with other applications is therefore the first important step for any innovative application in the areas of transport visibility and supply chain management.
Task: Cover the European market of telematics providers
Our customer, a big player in the logistics industry, has an extensive network of partner companies to carry out its transports. Its existing GPS integration solution with around 300 telematics providers, the source systems for GPS signals, was outdated and no longer met the requirements of modern and flexible software architecture. Our task was, on the one hand, to technically replace and modernize the outdated system, and on the other hand, to evaluate those processes that are necessary to be able to process GPS signals at all and to develop solutions for them.
Solution: First ask, then integrate
GPS signals are sensitive data. In order to be allowed to process even a single GPS signal, the consent of those to whom the GPS signals belong is required. For this reason, we helped our client get a clear picture of the organizational-legal aspects of its processes. Based on these results, we developed an onboarding tool that can be used to quickly and specifically request the organizationally and legally relevant information from the user, so that nothing stands in the way of the technical integration of the GPS signals. As soon as the organizational-legal process has been completed and the first GPS signals are flowing, our software takes care of consolidating the signals from around 300 different source systems.
The high number of integrations with source systems also means a high degree of external dependencies, whose potential but also risks must be dealt with. Various monitoring and analysis tools as well as notifications make it possible for our users to detect and potentially solve errors in self-service to a large extent.
This ensures a constant flow of GPS signals for our customer - in a sense, the heartbeat that makes innovative applications in the areas of transport visibility and supply chain management possible.
Result: 10 million GPS signals daily after 1 year
Within only 1 year we managed to integrate with the telematics systems of several thousand customers, currently resulting in up to 10 million GPS signals daily. Our software is able to process this immense amount of data, but also to provide detailed information about a single GPS signal - depending on the type of application and relevance.
Goals achieved
Integration with around 300 different telematics providers - in a wide variety of ways, such as connecting pull- and push-based APIs or providing your own APIs to which GPS data can be transmitted
Development of an onboarding tool that supports the necessary organizational-legal process to be allowed to process GPS signals.
Development of a monitoring and analysis tool as well as notifications that enable users to manage integrations to telematics systems in self-service and to identify and solve potential problems (such as downtimes of external APIs or expired authorization data).