Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) Systems Used by DOTs
From: / "Mcdiarmid, Meredith M" <>Subject: / Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) Systems Used by DOTs
Happy Friday everyone!
NC plans to use AVL as a resource for dispatching service patrol vehicles in an attempt to better manage incidents on our roadways. I have a few questions I'm hoping those of you that already use AVL may be able to answer for me. Any information will be helpful.
1. Do any of you use an AVL system to manage and/or dispatch your service patrol vehicles?
2. If so, does your AVL system record historical information about the speeds of service patrol vehicles?
3. If so, how long do you retain the historical information?
4. If so, has anyone run into any issues about that historical speed information being public record, available to anyone who requests it?
5. If so, have any of you had the historical information used against the DOT in an adverse manner and had it bring a negative light to your service patrol programs?
6. If your AVL does not record historical information about speeds, was that a feature you had turned off purposefully?
7. If so, why?
8. Any other lessons learned concerning AVL you'd like to share?
Thanks for your time and have a great Memorial Day Weekend!
Meredith McDiarmid
From: / "Rella, Bob (DOT)" <>Subject: / Re: Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) Systems Used by DOTs
Please see comments below.
Robert J. Rella
1. Do any of you use an AVL system to manage and/or dispatch your service patrol vehicles? Yes.
2. If so, does your AVL system record historical information about the speeds of service patrol vehicles? Yes.
3. If so, how long do you retain the historical information? 30 days on the live system, 6 months on the archive.
4. If so, has anyone run into any issues about that historical speed information being public record, available to anyone who requests it? Has never has been requested.
5. If so, have any of you had the historical information used against the DOT in an adverse manner and had it bring a negative light to your service patrol programs? No.
6. If your AVL does not record historical information about speeds, was that a feature you had turned off purposefully? On part of our system (the live sharing) it is turned off. The speed information is only for the program administrators.
7. If so, why? The information has the potential to be misunderstood, misread, and misused. For example, mistakes in the programming of the trimble device could give an erroneous number.
8. Any other lessons learned concerning AVL you'd like to share? It has been very positive from a safety, incident management and program management standpoint. We have been using it for about 11 years without issue.
From: / Dhanesh Motiani <>Subject: / Re: Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) Systems Used by DOTs
Meredith, NJ DOT has a very strong Service Patrol Program. Although, we are going through some changes, our main mission has been to provide safety on the patrolled roads. 1. Do any of you use an AVL system to manage and/or dispatch your service patrol vehicles? We do utilize AVL, however, not to dispatch the trucks. We use it for managing the fleet. 2. If so, does your AVL system record historical information about the speeds of service patrol vehicles? yes 3. If so, how long do you retain the historical information? 90 days is included in the price, if we want more than that, we would have to pay extra. 4. If so, has anyone run into any issues about that historical speed information being public record, available to anyone who requests it? No 5. If so, have any of you had the historical information used against the DOT in an adverse manner and had it bring a negative light to your service patrol programs? No, as a matter of fact there are times when we have used this data to prove that it wasnt the NJDOT service truck that passed them but someone else who looked like us. Having said that, we do use internally to verify a complaint about speeding or loafing.
6. If your AVL does not record historical information about speeds, was that a feature you had turned off purposefully? NA 7. If so, why? NA
8. Any other lessons learned concerning AVL you’d like to share? Unions normally argue the use of AVL as a sole source for disciplining someone. Also, the speeds may not ALWAYS be totally accurate. Good Luck and enjoy your long weekend as well.
Thanks for your time and have a great Memorial Day Weekend!
Dennis Motiani
From: / "Snyder, Joe" <>Subject: / Re: Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) Systems Used by DOTs
1. Do any of you use an AVL system to manage and/or dispatch your service patrol vehicles? Yes
2. If so, does your AVL system record historical information about the speeds of service patrol vehicles? Yes
3. If so, how long do you retain the historical information? Archived, in ORACLE Database
4. If so, has anyone run into any issues about that historical speed information being public record, available to anyone who requests it? We would we have to follow FDOT Open Record Request policy, currently we have never received a request for this type of data .
5. If so, have any of you had the historical information used against the DOT in an adverse manner and had it bring a negative light to your service patrol programs? No
6. If your AVL does not record historical information about speeds, was that a feature you had turned off purposefully? N/A
7. If so, why? N/A
8. Any other lessons learned concerning AVL you'd like to share? Having a more robust reporting system and make sure you are getting all necessary information logged. Last, have a vendor who allows the ability to integrate real time AVL into your Event Management Software Application.
Sincerely,
Joseph Snyder
From: / "Easterling, John" <>Subject: / Re: Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) Systems Used by DOTs
Meredith, Below are the responses for Florida's Turnpike Enterprise.
John
1. Do any of you use an AVL system to manage and/or dispatch your service patrol vehicles? Manage and dispatch
2. If so, does your AVL system record historical information about the speeds of service patrol vehicles? Yes
3. If so, how long do you retain the historical information? Archived indefinitely
4. If so, has anyone run into any issues about that historical speed information being public record, available to anyone who requests it? Never had a request specifically for speed information, but have used historical location data to address customer complaints
5. If so, have any of you had the historical information used against the DOT in an adverse manner and had it bring a negative light to your service patrol programs? No
6. If your AVL does not record historical information about speeds, was that a feature you had turned off purposefully? n/a
7. If so, why?
8. Any other lessons learned concerning AVL you'd like to share? When the vendor designs the software, make sure they include TMC operations needs, such as the ability to hold more than one call in queue for the service patrol vehicle dispatched, and reports that easily verify billing hours, performance measures, etc.
From: / Raymond Hallavant <>Subject: / Re: Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) Systems Used by DOTs
Meredith,
Below are the responses for Tennessee Region 3 Nashville.
Happy Friday everyone! NC plans to use AVL as a resource for dispatching service patrol vehicles in an attempt to better manage incidents on our roadways. I have a few questions I’m hoping those of you that already use AVL may be able to answer for me. Any information will be helpful. 1. Do any of you use an AVL system to manage and/or dispatch your service patrol vehicles? Manage and dispatch 2. If so, does your AVL system record historical information about the speeds of service patrol vehicles? Yes 3. If so, how long do you retain the historical information? Archived indefinitely 4. If so, has anyone run into any issues about that historical speed information being public record, available to anyone who requests it? Never had a request specifically for speed information, but have used historical location data to address customer complaints 5. If so, have any of you had the historical information used against the DOT in an adverse manner and had it bring a negative light to your service patrol programs? No 6. If your AVL does not record historical information about speeds, was that a feature you had turned off purposefully? n/a 7. If so, why? 8. Any other lessons learned concerning AVL you’d like to share? When the vendor designs the software, make sure they include TMC operations needs and reports.