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Published in IET Software
Received on 4th December 2007
Revised on 4th December 2008
doi: 10.1049/iet-sen.2008.0048

ISSN 1751-8806

Automatic vehicle location tracking system

based on GIS environment
O. Aloquili1 A. Elbanna2 A. Al-Azizi1
1

Department of Electrical Engineering, Hashemite University, P.O. Box 150459, Zerqa 13115, Jordan
Department of Information Technology, University of Petra, P.O. Box 961343, Amman, Jordan
E-mail: [email protected]
2

Abstract: Recently, automatic vehicle location (AVL) has become more widely used, affordable and popular than
ever before. AVL is used for different tracking purposes, especially for those related to tracking one vehicle or a
eet of vehicles. Tracking system technology was made possible by the integration of three new technologies:
navigational technologies such as global positioning system (GPS), database technologies such as geographic
information system (GIS) and communication technology such as general packet radio service (GPRS). The
proposed software design tracking system is used to pinpoint the position, ground speed and fuel level of a
given vehicle. This improves eet management by making it secure and more efcient. The system has the ability
to detect the optimal path between source and destination, depending on many factors such as travel time, jam,
topography and number of trafc lights. The authors applied greedy techniques (GT) such as Dijkstras and
Kruskals algorithms to a graph weight depending on the proposed cost function (CF). The geofencing technique
is applied to the system based on real coordinates and grants security and safety to the eet of vehicles. The
designed software offers more exibility in loading digital maps. This proposed software has the ability to
visualise the real position of vehicles on maps and to take decisions according to real-time information.

Introduction

Automatic vehicle location (AVL) is a system that enables

companies to trace and coordinate the movements of their
eet of vehicles. Much of the AVL software has been
created for eet management and vehicle location purposes.
The AVL communications software system was built based
on the geographic information system (GIS) environment,
but these types of systems use short message service (SMS)
technology [1 4].
The main contribution of this proposed software is to apply
the pre-published computer algorithms with GIS application
and its concepts. This system is based on a known technique in
computer algorithms called greedy technique (GT). This
approach suggests constructing a solution through a
sequence of steps, each expanding a partially constructed
solution obtained until an optimal solution is reached. At
each step of this technique the choice is made as follows:
feasible, locally optimal and irrevocable. The main task of
the proposed software is to compute the optimal path
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between two real GIS coordinates. The authors used singlesource shortest path algorithm Dijkstras algorithm (GA)
and made it compute the optimal path but not the shortest.
This depends on the proposed cost function (CF); it
considers many parameters such as travel time, street
condition, topography, average speed, distance and number
of trafc lights. The second task is to nd the minimum
spanning tree (MST) based on Kruskals algorithm (KA) on
GIS digital maps with the proposed CF as graph weight.
The third task is to apply the geofencing technique based on
global positioning system (GPS) readings. A buffer zone
area as a rectangle was made to compute the borders of this
fencing as real coordinates, and if the eet steps out of the
border the system will raise an alarm.

Designed software

The main contribution in this paper is to design the eet

vehicle tracking software; this software was designed using
VB6 and map object programming tools. The objective of
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this software is to interface between GPS/general packet
radio service (GPRS) modem and GIS environment by
receiving GPRS packets from the GPRS/GPS modem.
The designed software is called Track it Software, and it
appears to be user friendly for different clients needs and
requirements. In this system a new technique was used,
with the position correction processed by the tracking
software. The main station receives data from the GPS
receiver and makes the correction process. The corrected
vehicle position is calculated by adding the difference
position between the GPS modem position calculated by
the base station and the position at a xed point.

2.1 Software characteristics

The tracking system software contains many features to make
the tracking software more reliable. The main features of this
proposed software are database, alarm parameters, tracking
tools and load map.
Database is designed in a specic procedure to give permission
for the administrator to be able to add, edit and remove the
member data. In addition, the database provides the ability to
dial up with a multi-user to trace a eet of vehicles at the same
time. This makes the tracking software more reliable and efcient.

destination. The proposed design tracking system receives

real-time or historical information from Geo Database and
then it computes the optimal path of tracking depending
on the following parameters:
1. Time: First of all, the proposed CF will compute the time
depending on the distance between source and destination
and the average speed on the streets as follows:

T1

Distance
AVG speed

2. Travel time: CF divides a day to four intervals and the

travelling time will affect the time as shown in Table 1.
3. Number of trafc lights: The time after this factor is shown
in Table 2. Each trafc light will increase the time with 30 s.
4. JAM factor: The time after this factor is shown in Table 3.
5. Street condition: The time after this factor is shown in
Table 4.
6. Topography: The time after this factor is shown in Table 5.

Alarm parameters represent the signal received from the

sensors of the GPS/GPRS modem to give an indication of
vehicle status. The criteria of the alarm parameters in the
designed software are as follows:
Speed alarm: The speed signal of the tracked vehicle received
from the GPS/GPRS modem allows the administrator to make
a note of it, and therefore maintains control over the vehicle
driver. For instance, if the vehicle speed exceeds a certain
limit, then the alarm turns on.
Temperature and fuel alarm: The sensors of the GPS/
GPRS modem are connected with the vehicle to read the
status of temperature and fuel level to alarm the
administrator of the vehicles current status.

The results of CF will be the weight between two points;

the authors used graph theory and Dijkstras routing
algorithm to compute the optimal path between source and
destination. Modications to Dijkstras algorithm were
made as follows:
The network may have cycles, but all arc lengths must be
non-negative.
Table 1 Travel time
Travel time

Effect

(6 12) AM T 2 T1 0.05 T1

(12 6) PM T 2 T1 0.12 T1

Tracking tools: The toolbar of the designed software

contains main tracking tools to make different functions on
the map related to geographical property, such as zooming,
identifying, extent, measure distance and refresh map tools.
These tools make the displaying process more reliable.
Load map: A new procedure is designed to load maps, where
the users import the map from the hard disk automatically and
then the software saves the maps in a database and enables the
users to restore or remove it at any time.

2.2 Discussion
2.2.1 Optimal
transportation
with real-time information

movement

2.2.2 Cost function parameters: The proposed CF

will compute the time required to move from source to
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(6 12) PM T2 T1 0.3 T1

(12 6) AM T 2 T1 0.01 T1

Table 2 Trafclights against effect

No of trafc lights

Effect

T3 T2

T3 T2 30

T3 T2 60

T3 T2 90

T4 T2 120

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Table 3 Residential against effect
Residential

Effect

dense

T4 T3 0.13 T3

medium

T4 T3 0.08 T3

Low

T4 T3 0.01 T3
Figure 1 Example of Dijkstras algorithm

Table 4 Conditions against effect

Condition
extra

Effect

Dijkstras algorithm was made as follows:

T5 T4

P { }, T {1, 2, 3, 4, , 6}
P {1, 4}, T {4, 5, 5, 6}

medium

T5 T4 0.05 T4

bad

T5 T4 0.1 T4

P {1}, T {2, 3, 4, 56}

P {1, 4, 5}, T {5, 6}
P {1, 4, 5, 2}, T {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
P {1, 4, 5, 2, 6}, T { }

Table 5 Topography against effect

Topography

Effect

hill

T6 T5 0.1 T5

at

T6 T5

sharp

T6 T5 0.03 T5

Maintains a partition of N into two subsets:

Set P: permanently labelled nodes
Set T: temporarily labelled nodes
Move nodes from T into S one at a time in non-decreasing
order by the minimum path from the source node

For each link, there are associated weight graphs computed

with the proposed CF as shown in Fig. 2.

2.2.3 Compute the minimum cost map traverse

depending on the proposed CF: In this section, the
authors used Kruskals algorithm to do this task with the
proposed CF to compute the weight between two points.
The algorithm begins by sorting the map street weights in
non-decreasing order and then starting with the empty subgraph. It scans this sorted list adding the next edge on the list
to the current sub-graph if such an inclusion does not create a
cycle; it simply skips the edge otherwise.
Algorithm MinimumCostTraverse(Map G)

begin
P : { }; T : N ;
d (i) : 1 for each node i in N
d (s) : 0 and pred(s) : 0;
while jPj , n do
begin
pick i inT with minimum d (i) value; == the value will
be taken from our CF
move i from T to P;
for each (i, j) in A do
if d ( j) . d (i) cij then
d ( j) : d (i) cij and pred( j) : i
end;
end;

An example of Dijkstras algorithm and how to determine the

minimum cost is shown in Fig. 1. The modication to
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{
==Kruskal0 s algorithm for constructing the minimum
spanning tree
==input: a weighted connected graphG (V , E)
==output: ET, the set of edges composing the minimum
spanning
tree of G: Sort E in non-decreasing order of the edge weights
ET 0; counter 0;
K 0;
While ecounter , jV j  1
K k1
If ET U {eik} is a cyclic
ET ET U {eik};
ecounter ecounter 1;
return ET;
}
The weight graph of the proposed CF is shown in Fig. 3.
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Figure 2 Weight graph of the proposed CF

Figure 3 Weight graph of the proposed CF

2.2.4 Geofencing: The authors developed this process to

apply the geofencing technique to generate a buffer zone that
the eet cannot go out of. The response of the proposed
system is shown in Fig. 4.

2.3 The designed software

The designed software is responsible for receiving GPRS
packets from the GPS/GPRS modem, which contains the
GPS data, analyses and data management, and then
displaying data into a GIS environment [5]. The overall
system design is shown in Fig. 5. This designed software
contains three phases:
1. Management phase (database).
2. Communication phase (GPRS server).
3. Map phase.

2.3.1 Management phase (database): The

management phase contains functions of organising
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members (drivers) information, received data from the

GPS/GPRS modem (tracking data) and GIS data
(checkpoints) [6, 7].
This phase was built using Microsoft Access Database and
is improved using structured query language (SQL), which
interacts with the system software. Administrator records
can be easily added, edited and removed from the database.
The management window contains three main tabs: user
tab, tracking tab and checkpoints tab, as shown in Fig. 6.
1. User tab: The user tab contains members (drivers)
information, with functions like Add, Edit and Delete
concerned with the members information. The Reports
button allows browsing reports for available members.
2. Tracking tab: This tab contains the core of the system,
which is divided into online track and ofine track, as
shown in Fig. 7. By using tools of this tab, the administrator
can perform several functions such as:
start a new online tracking session for a selected member,
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Figure 4 Response of the proposed system

Figure 5 Overall system design

save or remove online tracking session,
run an ofine tracking session,
manage an archived tracking session.
Online tracking: Online tracking implements the interface
between both software and hardware. This part is concerned
with tracking real-time data of vehicle positions, where the
data received from the GPS/GPRS modem are displayed
directly on the related map.
When clicking on the start track button, the GPRS server
starts listening on port number 554 for any GPS/GPRS
modem request to make a connection with the server
[8, 9]. When the connection is established (between the
modem and server), the modem starts sending National
Marine Electronics Association (NEMA) data that contain
the location, speed, time and sensor parameters to the
server, as shown in Fig. 8.

Figure 6 Management tap

The sample of received data is shown in Fig. 9.

The GPRS server reads these data and then processes
them to obtain necessary data such as longitude and
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latitude coordinates (3216.4838, 03613.9412) that

represent the location of the vehicle, which can be
displayed directly on the map [10]. The sequence of points
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representing the dynamic locations of the vehicle is shown in
Fig. 10. On the online track the designed software is able to
manage a eet of vehicles, where the control station can
monitor more than one vehicle at the same time. The data
received from the GPS/GPRS modem contain a unique
number for each modem, shown in Fig. 9. This number is
the identier for each vehicle when the modem sends data
for the main station; the tracking software checks the
identier number to identify the driver of the vehicle.

Ofine tracking: This part does not have a real-time

transmission of data. Ofine tracking is used to review the
data stored in online tracking (archived data). The data will
be shown on the map in sequence as in the online track, as
shown earlier in Fig. 10.
Checkpoints tab: Checkpoints are important in any map; they
represent references added by the user for better understanding
and easy map readings. The points can be schools, restaurants,
hospitals etc. In the system software the checkpoint can be
added by entering the point value in the information box by
the user, or by using the mouse pointer to the main map and
then clicking on the desired point on the map. The
checkpoints can be displayed on the map by selecting the point
from the list menu and then clicking on the Activate button.
The point will be displayed as a red circle, as shown in Fig. 11.

2.3.2 Communication phase (GPRS server): The

GPRS server is the base of communication operation between
the system software and the GPS/GPRS modem. This phase
is related directly to the management phase, since it is
responsible for making connection with the GSM modems,
fetching the received GPRS packets and performing some
processing and data management [11]. These data will be
inserted into the database tables to be displayed in the loaded
map.

Figure 10 Tracking path of vehicles

Figure 7 Tracking tab

Figure 8 Start tracking

Figure 11 Active checkpoint

Figure 9 Sample of received data

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The GPRS has two modes: transmission control protocol
(TCP) mode and user datagram protocol (UDP) mode [12,
13]. This makes the system software more efcient and
compatible, as the user will be able to switch between TCP
or UDP modes coupling with the server settings or the
importance of the received data.
In the TCP mode, the GPRS server is turned on when the
user chooses the start track button from the tracking tab, so
that the GPRS server changes its status from closed status to
waiting status. It opens a specic port (554) on the central
computer and starts listening (waiting) to any request from
the modems to hold a connection with the central
computer, as shown in Fig. 12.
During the listening status, if any GPS/GPRS modem
sends a request data to make a connection with the central
computer, the GPRS server changes its status from
waiting status to connected status and a connection will
be established [14]. This can be demonstrated as shown in
Fig. 13.
Then the NEMA data received are as follows:

$GPRMC, 122831.742,A,3156.1921,N,03555.3342,E,
0.00,,020506,, 1C
The NEMA data are received by the GPRS server until the
vehicle is switched off as the modem is switched off, or when
the administrator stops the tracking session by clicking on the
stop track button.
In the UDP mode, the GPRS server is not required to
make conversation with the modem, and the received data
will be fetched and inserted in the database table directly.
For the UDP mode, there is no way to guarantee the
connection status to be connected or not compared with
the TCP mode [15].

2.3.3 Map phase: The map phase is a GIS environment

used to load digital maps and monitors geographical data on
the loaded map. This window is built using two main
programming tools:
Visual Basic (v6.0) programming language.
Map Objects (v2.0): is a set of mapping and GIS components
for developing applications under VB6 environment.

Figure 12 GPRS server status when start tracking

Figure 13 GPRS server status when connection accepted

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Certainly, this window is related the management phase, and
precisely relates to the tracking and checkpoints tabs for
monitoring data functions (that is displaying the main map,
checkpoints, tracking the selected vehicle and points that
correspond to the location of the selected vehicle) [16]. In
addition, it provides some map tools such as zooming,
panning, identifying and measuring distance. As shown in
Fig. 14, the map window contains four main parts:

Zooming, full extent, pan, and identier: This tool is

essentially to browse a map and is required in any map
browsing.

Map window, Tool bar, Map legend, Secondary map.

Refresh: The map will be drawn in random colours; the

Refresh tool can change the colour of the loaded map to a
more comfortable one.

Map window: This is the core of the GIS operation and

the main part in the map section, as it is used as a GIS
environment for digital maps and geographical data. The
map window is used to display the loaded map, activates
checkpoints, and tracks the selected vehicles and points to
the location of the selected vehicle.
Tool bar: Contains tools to make different functions on
the map related to geographical property. The main
function of this tool is:

Measuring distance: This feature measures the distance

between two specic points on a map and gives the
distance in miles or kilometres; this can be demonstrated as
shown in Fig. 15.

Geofencing: Is used to make a buffer zone, where the

main control station can alarm the administrator if the
vehicle moves out of the fence area.
Map legend: The map legend is one of the digital map
properties where the layers of a loaded map will be
displayed. It makes it easier to display and control a loaded
map by showing or hiding layers, as shown in Fig. 14.

Figure 14 Map window

Figure 15 Distance result

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are critical in the process of power faults detection in power
transmission and substations elds.

5
Figure 16 Secondary map zooming
Secondary map: This is a small map shown in the window
corner; its function is to specify the area, where the map is
zoomed, as demonstrated in Fig. 16.

System verications

Several tests of the designed software were performed to check

out system performance and operation. The nal validation
process was done by tracking more than one vehicle at the
same time: one at specic streets in Greater Amman
Municipality in Jordan and one at Hashemite University
campus streets. The vehicles positions were tracked at
specic points and the results of using our tracking system
were compared with the real positions; the comparison
results were within accuracy limits, which are almost 95%.

Conclusions

The tracking system has the ability to trace and coordinate a

eet of vehicles, with integration of GPRS/GPS technology.
It ensures that the tracking process is within an accurate and
acceptable range, since it allows managers to supervise vehicle
status (i.e. fuel, temperature and door status); the system
provides reliable and precise information about the amount
of work by all employees, so the administrator will make
sure that his/her eet is working in location and being
monitored efciently and effectively.
The proposed system provides the eet an ability to take
decisions according to real-time information, in addition to
historical data. The geofencing technique applies grants
safety and security to the eet throughout the trip.
The designed software offers more exibility, especially in
loading digital maps; it has improved taps such as the
Tracking tap and the Parameters tap, which makes the
software more reliable. The main features and advantages of
this proposed system are the ability to transfer between
WGS84 and any other geographical system in order to
visualise the real position of vehicles on the map. In addition,
all acquired information about the eet and tracking process
is stored in the system database archive. The software system
can report all information about the eet of vehicles and users.
This proposed system can be used in monitoring and
controlling applications. The software system was applied
in the power industry (such as in power substations) to
control a variety of parameters (e.g. coolant temperature
alarm, fuel alarm and power factor correction alarm) that
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