In 2020, the covid-19 epidemic has changed the global industrial chain and most of the offline business models. It has created business opportunities for new service providers such as food delivery, transportation, e-commerce and online shopping.
With the rapid development of food delivery, one-to-one transportation and the e-commerce market, MaaS (Mobility as a service) has become the new darling of the market, people are also heavily rely on food delivery to fulfill their basic needs under social distancing. While the efficiency of logistics and transportation is being valued further, related industries aim to deliver products and services to their customers with the fastest efficiency within the shortest time. Therefore, finding ways to improve fleet management, logistics distribution, solution of task assignment has become a top priority for Maas providers.
More than 60% of transportation and logistics companies in the globe have adopted the “asset tracking” strategy.
At present, the global transportation logistics market is gradually adopting the “asset tracking” strategy, which visually tracks the real-time transportation overview of the company’s own fleet (assets) through the use of dynamic maps. According to the Verizon Connect-2020 Fleet Tracking Trends Report, there are 64 % Fleet management companies have used GPS devices to track their assets; 98% of companies also addressed that the introduction of asset tracking systems have brought positive benefits to fleet management. In addition, various customer-oriented indicators have also been significantly improved, Including customer service quality, productivity, and dispatch efficiency all have grown by more than 50% compared to the past.
The so-called “asset tracking” is a part of “Location Intelligence”, which analyzes the real-time overview of asset operations by visualizing geospatial data, and integrates other required data such as transportation, population, weather and other geographic data And fleet data, in-depth analysis of the delivery route most suitable for the current situation, to achieve the goal of maximizing resources and optimizing efficiency.
What is Location Intelligence? How does it help the logistics industry to reduce operating costs, increase production capacity and increase efficiency?
According to a survey conducted by BCG Boston Research Group on 500 companies around the world in 2020, results show that in the transportation and logistics industry, the service provider which introduced location-based smart applications has increased sales revenue by about 6-10% compared to the past, and the customer retention rate has also increased 8-10%; For those which optimize their delivery process through the intelligent positioning system, the number of orders that a driver can deliver has also increased by 4-7% compared to the past, reducing the average delivery cost by 5-11%.
Location intelligence is the combination of two types of data: “geospatial data” and “internal expertise and customer information”. With the wide use on device and the big data from the Internet, companies can leverage all kinds of data, such as demographics, traffic conditions, time and distance, etc. As a result, the application of spatial data plays a key role in business operations, assisting, formulating and promoting customer-centric business strategies. In the transportation and logistics industry, operators can use location intelligence to improve front-end customer experience and optimize back-end system operations.
Google Cloud Trusted Partner – Master Concept believes that Google Maps Platform, as a leading brand in spatial data applications, has already been widely used by numerous of transportation and logistics companies in Taiwan, including smart car management system companies, logistics fleet companies, car dealers, ride sharing operators and takeaway delivery operators. The platform optimizes the distribution of branches, bases to warehouses, so that the space allocation and fleet arrangement between the supply chain can be smoother; at the same time, it also assists the fleet team to optimize the labor allocation using maps and spatial data to allocate sales staff and transportation vehicles, maximize labor coverage, optimize online order distribution efficiency, and to provide consumers and clients with a more immediate service experience.
Google Maps Platform provides a full range of location intelligent services: asset tracking, fleet distribution, dispatch system!
Google Maps Platform provides accurate real-time location information with a frequency of 50 million updates per day. This service can directly integrate Google Maps into the user’s driving service and fleet management system to locate vehicles and assets in real time, and to plan for various possibilities for vehicles, to improve the efficiency of business operations.
The following will illustrate the possible scenarios of using Google Maps Platformin the related industries, to introduce the three core functions that this enterprise map platform can provide:
1. Asset tracking: Control the location of assets at any time
Through real-time positioning on Google Maps, the GPS and network signal positions are presented on a dynamic map, helping users to visually grasp the real-time positions of fleets and assets. For example, the most common application scenario for asset tracking is in the transportation and logistics industry. The GPS signals of vehicles and mobile devices are received regularly through the vehicles installed on the logistics vehicles or the app on the driver’s side, so that the central control center can grasp every situation in real time. The location of a car is converted into useful address information through Geocoding API. Master Concept addressed that most of the logistics and transportation companies in Taiwan currently include: smart management fleet systems, security fleets, logistics, taxi-hailing/drivers, and ride sharing operators, all of which are using related applications to dispatch resources.
2. Fleet distribution: plan the most efficient route
The “route planning” function provided by the Directions API can create the most efficient route for complex fleet distribution tasks. This function can provide up to 25 way points to plan the transportation itinerary, and calculate the distance between the route nodes, the recommended route, and the required route according to the starting point (warehouse, terminal), depot, customer, nearest dispatchable vehicle, etc. to carry out the most effective and smooth driving planning.
Despite planning the shortest path, this function can also create a predictive traffic model, which can dynamically update the route based on the current traffic flow, so that the fleet can maintain the mobility during the peak traffic period, hence to plan out the most efficient operation strategy. In addition, it is also possible to plan routes based on “specific conditions”, such as avoiding toll roads, avoiding highways, etc.
3. Dispatch system: match the most suitable driver for the task
Other than to plan the most effective route, Google Maps Platform can also assist in matching “the most suitable” delivery option and pick-up drivers. Fleet distributors can use the Distance Matrix function to compare the delivery travel time from each starting point or satellite position to achieve the shortest delivery goal.
The Roads API can also be used to modify the position of the fleet, so that the route calculation direction and estimated arrival time are more accurate, and the overall operating efficiency of the fleet can be improved.
From system grafting to consulting service, Master Concept Group has introduced Google Maps Platform – the best enterprise map natvagation partner
With the assistance of Master Concept Group, more than 50 transportation and logistics companies in the Asia-Pacific region have introduced Google Maps Platform services, including areas such as logistics fleet industry, agent driving fleet industry, security fleet industry, branded car industry, and takaway delivery industry. Jay Cheng, the Chief Technology Officer of WeMo Scooter, mentioned: “The Google Maps interface focuses on the perspective of user experience and helps us create a better experience for customers and employees by providing a familiar map experience.”
In the process of introducing the system, Master Concept Group provides pre-project consultation, map service usage and price estimation, GMP bulk purchase preferential application, project introduction consultation, customized development and project management assistance, and even provide customer service technical support follow up after the project go-live. Or even to provide a full range of services and support covering the entire project life cycle, and assist transportation and logistics enterprise customers to use the various APIs and SDKs of the Google Maps Platform for website or application development.
At present, many logistics companies have adopted functions such as asset tracking, dynamic planning of transportation routes, effective matching tasks with drivers, and automatic completion of locations, allowing traditional companies to stand out in the fiercely competitive inter-industry market and gradually expand their business footprint; and New ventures can also open up new markets and gain a firm foothold with innovative applications.
