RASTRAC is an automatic vehicle location (AVL) and mobile fleet management
software package. When used with a compatible communication network, it allows the
user to view the geographic tracks and statuses of a set of remote mobile
vehicles as they travel, using almost any mapping backdrop. RASTRAC is uniquely designed to provide maximum user configurability while
simultaneously offering the ease of use associated with the Microsoft Windows
graphical environment.
RASTRAC accepts incoming vehicle location data in asynchronously multiplexed form
with a vehicle label attached to each data packet. RASTRAC collects the incoming data, displaying (and recording, if you wish) ALL
reporting vehicles in ALL maps that contain them. Playback is accomplished in the
same manner: each file you play back is treated as a unique vehicle in the
current session. Each vehicle has its own Status Window that can be opened or
closed. It's all done in the Windows Environment so you can scroll, zoom, and
move all map windows.
You can create map and advisory images in a number of ways. Scanner-captured
graphics can be stored as RASTRAC-compatible raster images, and can then be used with RASTRAC.
Additionally, most Atlas and trip-planner programs allow you to export
the map images to raster files. Of course, anything you can display on your
video screen can be captured to the Windows clipboard and then pasted into a paint
program using the "Print Screen" key on your keyboard. To define a map,
simply type in the Latitude/Longitude values for two points on the map! In fact,
you don't even have to be accurate, because, if you can direct one of your mobile
units to travel to two different locations on the map, RASTRAC allows you to GPS-calibrate from 1 to 500 separate points on the map,
bringing the map into almost perfect accuracy!
With RASTRAC you can utilize vector map databases from most professional Geographic
Information Systems (GIS). Maps created in MapInfo® (MIF/MID format) and ESRI
ArcView® (shape files) can be easily imported into your RASTRAC system. Google maps are supported and other formats will be available in the future.
RASTRAC advisories are easily formatted and described in a similar manner. Simply
define an advisory as a raster image (e.g. a photograph of a street intersection,
place, or driver) or a string of text, or both. The region where an advisory
will be displayed is a geographic polygon described much like a map. Advisories
are further defined by a course (between 0 and 360 degrees) and possibly an event for which the advisory is displayed. You can therefore define, for example,
two advisories for a given place on a highway; one which is displayed when a
given vehicle is moving in one direction, and the other when it's moving in the
opposite direction. You can also define Windows applications to be executed
when a vehicle enters and exits an advisory region, including audio/video
advisories. You can even use Windows to execute a terminal program to place a
telephone call.
In addition to real-time GPS multi-vehicle tracking, RASTRAC provides a full-function track recorder capability. With this capability,
you can record the movements of any or all of your vehicles to disk files and
play them back later. Other recorder options include variable speed factors,
loop, jump-to-time, and pause/resume capability.
Thank you for choosing RASTRAC to serve your vehicle tracking needs. Manning NavComp, Inc. is dedicated
to meeting the software needs of today's fleet management applications.
All of the functions discussed thus far (and more) are described in further
detail within this on-line document.
