How does GPS tracking work?

Global Positioning System (or GPS) refers to the satellites orbiting the Earth that beam down signals that can be picked up by suitable devices. Your smartphone uses these signals to determine your location, for example.

Install or plug in

Once installed, the GPS tracker continuously receives GPS coordinates from these satellites. It also receives information such as the position of the vehicle, speed, location and engine status. It will then relay the data via cell towers into our servers.

You can then log on to the internet via a desktop computer or mobile device and see exactly where your vehicle is located.

Precision all the way

Our GPS trackers have strong receivers that are accurate to ~6 feet, meaning you can even pinpoint parking spots.

The devices update between every 1-30 seconds while the vehicle is moving. With our custom algorithms, we deploy multiple techniques to conserve data while keeping the GPS tracking as accurate as possible.

State-of-the-art algorithm

The details of our algorithm are not public, but we have programmed the devices to make them intelligent and know when they need to update.

For example, if the vehicle is moving only 5 mph, you don’t need to know they have moved only 35 feet. That’s less than a block every 10 seconds.

However, regular city driving sees significantly faster update times to provide the best possible turn-by-turn tracking. By doing this, we can spend less on data and can pass the savings along to you and your business. You can thank our engineers!

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Why Use GPS Fleet Tracking

Whether you have a fleet of two or two thousand vehicles, you need an easy way to monitor where each vehicle is, and how it's being used. Every company faces different challenges and has different reasons for considering GPS tracking. However, we do hear a lot of the same things.

How do I install a One Step GPS tracker?

Our GPS trackers can either be plugged in or hardwired into a vehicle, depending on your requirements.

The plug-in device can simply be plugged underneath the vehicle’s dashboard in the onboard diagnostics (OBDII) port. This is the same plug that mechanics use to find out what is wrong with a vehicle. Once it’s plugged in, you will never need to charge it, and if it’s removed you will be notified by text or email. Our product plugs into all 1996 and newer vehicles.

The plug-in device can also be hidden several ways for a more discreet installation. Speak to your One Step GPS sales representative for more information.

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Some of our GPS Alerts

Does GPS tracking pay for itself?

Yes it does, and in more ways than one. Eliminating just one hour of unnecessary overtime per month can pay for the service.

With improved efficiency, taking on that one extra job can be enough to shift your bottom line into the black. An accident avoided due to improved driving behavior can be worth an entire year of the service, recouping the outlay in an instant.

The success stories we have heard from our customers will help illustrate just some of the unexpected ways companies have saved money using GPS tracking.

For example, one company with a fleet of 20 vehicles saved $8,000 in unnecessary payroll expenditure and over $1,000 in fuel costs by eliminating unnecessary driving in just the first month!

Another customer recovered an expensive piece of equipment that had been stolen from a job site. When the police showed up at the location our GPS indicated, they were surprised to discover 14 additional stolen vehicles and pieces of equipment at a chop shop.

One Step GPS saved another customer $6,000 She noticed that one of her vehicles was being driven two weekends in a row when it should have been parked. She decided to check it out, and when she arrived at the location, she found two of her employees doing a side job for a customer that should have gone to the company. On top of that, they were using company materials in the project and asking for cash.

One of our customers found a foreman of his taking several company employees to his own jobs — and the company was paying for it. He had “free” labor and the jobs the company was getting paid to do were taking longer to complete. That is, until our GPS tracking system exposed the fraud.

Finally, one company had an employee come in late one Monday. He said he had an accident on his way to work and totaled the vehicle on his way in. But when the company pulled up the GPS data to see what happened, it turned out that the vehicle had crashed the night before on the way home from a bar. Without that vital information, the same thing could have happened again, with no recourse for the company.