The experts are at one: with telematics and GPS, an effective fleet management and a higher security level on construction sites is possible.

The term telematics means to transmit measured values to a physical distance to a recipient.

The technology behind telematics solutions consists of these main elements: A telematics control unit, mobile data communications, a server and a front-end web app.

There exist Server-Client based or internet based architectures. The first one, the server infrastructure is located at the clients. The advantage is that sensitive data is directly stored at the clients. But it means that a very costly IT infrastructure is necessary and needs to be maintained. The second solution, the server is maintained by a service supplier. The data that is stored in a cloud can be recalled via web browser or app and a personalized login. This is the most common solution as it is also affordable for smaller clients.

The Control Unit is the central hardware part of the telematics device. It communicates via interfaces with the machine’s CAN Bus and collects and transmits all important machine data like position, speed or diagnostics via wireless network like GPRS/GMS or LTE to the cloud server in form of data packets (MQTT messages). When the data reaches the server, it gets unpacked and stored in a database. A cloud based telematics server consists of a web server, an application server, and a database. The two servers are necessary for a smooth data exchange between database and front-end application. The user can at any time access the data stored in the database via a desktop or mobile app on a computer or a mobile device. 

The data that is stored can be used for various different tasks, for example fleet management. The vehicle data delivers the necessary information for real-time tracking, driver monitoring, fuel optimization or tour planning. Also, services like maintenance can be improved with those data or to track stolen vehicles is possible.

But not only for industry telematics gets more and more important, also in the private use, telematics play a role, for example vehicle insurance companies offer telematics tariffs, that offer insurances that charge the customers according to the vehicle usage pattern.