vehicle locating AVL
Ernest Jodoin
Hi Folks
I am doing some research on AVL (automated vehicle locating).
Nowhere in Ontario except Toronto do they have a satellite system to locate the closest ambulance.
I just reviewed response times in Halton-Mississauga. I knew where the hospitals were, where the patient was, and where the ambulance garage was, but the system could not tell me where the vehicle was so the closeest could be deployed.
Seems such a system would improve response times because we would have data to have vehicles mobile in the right areas (system status management) at all times.
Anyone have any information or comments on AVL. I mean even courier companies use the system these days,m why can't we . Would add to cost effective resource management?
Jerry Gault
Ernest Jodoin wrote:
>
> Hi Folks
> I am doing some research on AVL (automated vehicle locating).
> Nowhere in Ontario except Toronto do they have a satellite system to locate the closest ambulance.
>
> I just reviewed response times in Halton-Mississauga. I knew where the hospitals were, where the patient was, and where the ambulance garage was,
but the syste
>
times.
>
> Anyone have any information or comments on AVL. I mean even courier companies use the system these days,m why can't we . Would add to cost
effective resource
Hi Ernest:
AVL should be used..everywhere...with the soon to start zone
coverage in the Ottawa-Carleton area, AVL would enhance the reasoning behind
roaming zones. It appeals to me in many ways, cut down on air time, locate
the closest vehicle decreasing response times, no more "shafting". It would
also better enable dispatch to see the whole picture, manage resorces better
and cut down on their stress. The MOH should get off their ass and spend a
few dollars and bring the fleet into the 1990's. While their at it, how about
better radio's, better vehicle seats, and oxygen saturation devices.
Bye for now....Jerry
ThirdLvl
Subject: Re: vehicle locating AVL
From: Jerry Gault <jga...@worldlink.ca>
Date: Sat, 19 Oct 1996 07:39:26 -0400
Ernest Jodoin wrote:
>
> Hi Folks
> I am doing some research on AVL (automated vehicle locating).
This may be an advantage, albiet small, but if dispatch (A) knows the
area, (B) is doing their job, (C) is keeping track of who's assigned
where, then a difference of a a few blocks is not going to make a
significant difference in response times. Where I am, AVL has been fought
tooth and nail for one MAJOR reason: Do you want Dispatch to know where
you are every second of every shift to within a few hundred feet? Do you
ever stop at a bank, fast food restaurant, or somewhere else even slightly
out of your stationed area, or enroute to an assignment (obviously not
enroute to a Lights & Sirens run)? With an AVL, Dispatch, (and Management)
will know your every activity. The system our company uses now gives an
assigned area, with an acceptable radius of 3-4 blocks. Anything within
that area is fair game.
With AVL, it is like having a productivity monitor on a computer at an
office job. How many keystrokes an hour are you doing? When is there
lapses of input? What was your reason for having that 15 minute lapse? Why
this 20 minute lapse? Do you REALLY want that? Do the EMPLOYEES? (If you
are management?) What will happen to morale?
>> Seems such a system would improve response times because we would have
data to have vehicles mobile in the right areas (system status management)
at all
times.<<
Any Computer Aided Dispatch system can give you that information, given
the database of previous runs, current runs, and Vehicles in service.
Kevin L Shumaker Sr, EMT
Thir...@aol.com
Brian & Deb Tangen
Jerry Gault wrote:
>
> Ernest Jodoin wrote:
> >
> > Hi Folks
> > I am doing some research on AVL (automated vehicle locating).
> >
> > Seems such a system would improve response times because we would have data to have vehicles mobile in the right areas (system status management) at all
> times.
> >
I work for AMR in Genesee County, Michigan, USA. We have AVL in all of
our rigs. It definitly comes in handy when you are trying to find the
closest rig to a call or when you can't find an address. We have often
times asked our dispatch to AVL us to help us locate a home. They can
tell us if we are on the wrong side of the road and everything. If we
have to take our rig into another county and we are not familiar with
the area, they will AVL the whole call, telling us when to turn right,
left and everything. It has it's benefits. The problem is that we are
the only service in our area that has this and our County dispatch
doesn't use it properly and they are still calling all the different
companies to see who is closest before they actually assign a call. I
hope that gives you some ideas and answers
Deb Tangen
EMT-B
AMR
David M. Pierce
In article <32696C...@tir.com>,
Brian & Deb Tangen <tan...@tir.com> wrote:
>I work for AMR in Genesee County, Michigan, USA. We have AVL in all of
>our rigs. It definitly comes in handy when you are trying to find the
>closest rig to a call or when you can't find an address. We have often
>times asked our dispatch to AVL us to help us locate a home. They can
>tell us if we are on the wrong side of the road and everything. If we
>have to take our rig into another county and we are not familiar with
>the area, they will AVL the whole call, telling us when to turn right,
>left and everything. It has it's benefits. The problem is that we are
>the only service in our area that has this and our County dispatch
>doesn't use it properly and they are still calling all the different
>companies to see who is closest before they actually assign a call. I
>hope that gives you some ideas and answers
Thank you for this post, Deb. It will help the folks I approach for
funding AVL grasp the benefits of adding this technology to our system.
It is tough for smaller private EMS entities (or smaller public EMS
entities, for that matter), operating witin very narrow budget constraints,
to be able to afford these technologies. Last time I checked it would cost
around $80,000 (US) just to integrate AVL into our CAD system. Then there
is the expense of epuipping each vehicle.
Another less expensive, but also much less robust, approach is to use a
stand-alone GPS based tracking system. This is more suited to tracking
aircraft and watercraft rather than ground vehicles, but would still
provide dispatch with more reliable information as to a vehicles
whereabouts. (Of course the crews *always* keep dispatch informed of their
location anyway <grin>)
We've tapped out our charitable resources for this year (new computers,
radio system interface and a greatly expanded map database). Maybe in
another year or two... ;)
Green with envy -->Dave
David M. Pierce <singi...@telis.org>