Omnitracs 5.7SR - New Features and Enhancements

Using the Street Address in Google Maps 

If your workers use Google Maps to navigate to a service location, and they make their deliveries to the front door, workers might find that the directions provided by Google Maps are not always accurate.

To provide directions to a worker, Google Maps manipulates the geocode information sent from Omnitracs. This can result in Google Maps providing inaccurate directions. Now, you can choose to send the street address to Google Maps instead of the geocode. This prevents Google Maps from manipulating the information and the worker is directed to the front door of the service location with more accuracy.

To have Omnitracs send street addresses to Google Maps rather than geocodes, you must turn on the Use Address for Google Maps Navigation region setting.

Administration > Regions > Add/Edit Region > Phone Settings > Smart Phone - Allowed Worker Actions 

Note: If your workers deliver to a loading dock or back door, Omnitracs recommends you do not use this setting.

New Alerts for Grounding and Railway Crossings 

Letting your workers know when an unsafe event is about to occur can deter mishaps and accidents. For instance, being alerted to the risk of grounding their vehicle can certainly change the way a worker drives down a hilly road or if the worker knows a railway crossing is less than a mile away, they can prepare to stop for a train. New alerts have been added to Omnitracs Navigation to help your workers identify possible risks on their trips. 

The Risk of Grounding alert lets your worker know when there is a risk nearby of the vehicle grinding on the road surface and getting stuck. The Protected Railway Crossing alerts the worker to a nearby railway crossing with automatic barriers and signals, so it can be approached with caution. The Unprotected Railway Crossing alerts the worker to a nearby railway crossing that does not have barriers or signals. By default , each alert is enabled. Your workers must turn it off if they do not want to receive notifications. For each alert, the worker can change the Alert Distance and if wanted, turn on an alert sound.

The Risk of Grounding, Protected Railway Crossing, and Unprotected Railway Crossing alerts are managed under Menu > Settings > Alerts.

Tap the appropriate alert and toggle it to On or Off. Use the + and - icons to set the Alert Distance to a minimum distance of .1 mile up to a maximum distance of 1.0 mile. Omnitracs Navigation will send a notification to the mobile device when the alert distance is met. If the worker wants an audible alert, toggle Alert Sound to On. The worker will receive an audible alert in addition to the notification, when the Alert Distance is met.

Usability Enhancements to Omnitracs Navigation 

Enhancements have been made to Omnitracs Navigation so that your workers get a more user friendly experience.

So that a worker doesn't cancel a trip accidentally, a confirmation screen now displays when Cancel is chosen. This gives the worker the opportunity to abort the action before the trip is canceled.

Previously, when a route path was not able to be recalculated, due to one or more vehicle settings, the worker had to press the retry button after each attempt. Now, Omnitracs Navigation will automatically try to re-calculate a path. 

So the worker knows exactly which stop is being arrived, the address of the stop now displays in the Arrived area of the "You have arrived at your stop" screen.

Changes to the Region Filter

Larger organizations may have many regions to help organize and structure their data. However, because of the large amount of data involved, it can take a long time to load all the information. To help increase performance, some changes were made to how the list of regions is presented throughout Omnitracs Web, including the Shared By Regions page on Maintenance items and in FleetView. 

• When you search for a region, regions that do not match the search criteria disappear from the list. 
• If you are using hierarchy management, when you select a lower level region the box for the higher level region now turns green instead of black, indicating a sub-region is selected. Checking and unchecking the box for the higher level region will still select/deselect the sub-regions under that region. 

New Black Box Events in the Performance Alert Report

The Performance Alert report helps you track potentially unsafe behaviors that a driver may engage in. Now, there are additional behaviors that the report can alert you to: 

• Hard Brake 
• ABS Brake
• Forward Collision Warning
• Forward Collision CMS Warning
• Forward Collision  Haptic Warning
• Stability Control Warning
• Following Time Warning
• Lane Departure Active
• Lane Departure Imminent
• Lane Departure Disable

Vehicle Inspection Forms Include an Item for Spotted Lanternfly

The Spotted Lanternfly is an invasive insect that poses a threat to agriculture in some states (primarily in Pennsylvania at this time). In order to be in compliance with state regulations, drivers in affected states must be able to prove that they have checked their trailers or tractors for the presence of this insect. To meet this need, the following pre-, post-, and midday inspection forms now include a Spotted Lanternfly item:

• U.S. Tractor inspection forms
• U.S. Trailer inspection forms
• Canada Tractor inspection forms
• Canada Trailer inspection forms

This item appears on inspection forms in both the mobile and the host website.

Changes for Daylight Savings Time

To accommodate Daylight Saving Time changes, the graph in the Driver Log/UVA editor can now switch to a 25-hour day (end of DST) or 23-hour day (beginning of DST).

When Daylight Saving Time ends (when we “fall behind” in autumn), there are essentially two occurrences of 1:00 a.m., creating a 25-hour log day. If you insert an event in the log on this day, you will be asked to select either the first or second instance of the selected time.

When Daylight Saving Time begins (when we “spring ahead”), there is no 2:00 a.m.—we skip right over it, creating a 23-hour log day. If you insert an event in the log on that day with a time between 2:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m., you will get a message saying “Invalid time” and you will need to select a new time.

The graphs in the Driver Log Report and the ELD Driver Log Report also accommodate a 25-hour or 23-hour day to reflect DST changes.

New Canadian Fertilizer Exemption Rule

A new Canadian Fertilizer Exemption rule (CAN 14/180 Fertilizer hrs) is now available for drivers who haul fertilizer in Canada. Under this rule, drivers who haul fertilizer are exempt from Canadian cycle reset requirements if they have the appropriate permit.

Drivers who are eligible for this rule can select it from the Change Rules screen.

Under the CAN 14/180 Fertilizer hrs. rule:

• Drivers must take at least 36 consecutive hours of off-duty time within any 14-day period. This means they cannot accumulate more than 12.5 consecutive on-duty days and the minimum 36 consecutive hours of off-duty time must be taken in any 14-day period.
• Drivers must take nine consecutive hours of daily off-duty time for the duration of the 14-day cycle until the 36-hour reset is taken.
• When drivers take nine consecutive hours off duty, they must still take one hour separately to make up the 10 hours for the day. The hour can be split into 30-minute segments. After this reset is taken, the driver may switch to a different rule set.
• Drivers do not need to take a 36-hour reset before using the exemption, but when this rule is selected, all hours accumulated since the last 36-hour consecutive off-duty period apply towards the 14-day period calculation.
• Drivers are exempt from parts 24­-29 of the Canadian regulations and are therefore not required to take 24 hours off in the preceding 14 days.
• Drivers cannot use off-duty deferral while they are on this permit.