Orkin Pest Control - "Going beyond automatic vehicle location"
Company credits technology investments, GPS for better management of its 5,500-vehicle fleet.
by Yichun Xie, GIS Development
November 2004


Fleet Management and Tracking Becomes Easy and Affordable With New Microsoft MapPoint Fleet Edition 2004 Licensing
Checkmate and Orkin Inc. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Rollins Inc., Orkin provides essential pest control services to approximately 1.6 million residential and commercial customers. Orkin operates a fleet of about 6,000 vehicles in the United States, and uses Checkmate 4.6, a MapPoint-based GPS solution from Checkmate, to plan efficient routes and monitor driver compliance with safety regulations. Following Orkin’s implementation of the solution in 1999, driver efficiency has increased, enabling drivers to make an average of two extra stops per day, and Orkin’s vehicle casualty claims are down 33 percent.

GPS: Grand profit saver
Checkmate's new GO GPS system offers real-time reporting, tamperproof installation and maintenance reminder tie-in, among other efficiency enhancers

Get a grip on GPS
Largely as a result of the GPS monitoring and Orkin’s driver certification programs, workers compensation claims (a majority of which are related to driving) have dropped 32 percent since 2001, resulting in an annual savings of more than $1 million. Physical damage claims to vehicles dropped 21 percent during the same period, saving another $500,000. In addition, auto liability claims plunged 35 percent, for a savings of more than $2 million.

Trick or Treat: iPAQ Phone Due Halloween
In terms of GPS and Navigation, HP provides Microsoft Pocket Streets as a free download for customers in North America. For those looking for fuller featured GPS-enabled turn-by-turn navigation solution, HP's NAVTEQ-based iPAQ Navigation Maps and software is available as an option. The Checkmate mobile field force and fleet management solution represents another one of several GPS-based solutions compatible with the HP iPAQ hw6900.

HP and Cingular Announce Complete Wireless Solution on HP iPAQ Mobile Messenger
Cingular's EDGE network is the largest and fastest national wireless data network in the United States, with availability in 13,000 cities and towns and along more than 40,000 miles of interstate highways.

GPS Evidence In Court
In October 1999, William Jackson of Spokane County, Washington, claimed his daughter, Valiree, had been kidnapped on her way to school....Shortly thereafter, police seized Jackson's truck and recovered a GPS (global positioning system) tracking device that they had placed on the truck. The GPS track led police to three sites: a storage unit, an empty grave near a remote logging road, and a new grave miles away from the first grave, but only 50 feet from the tracked location. ....

Recent GPS Cases
Law involving GPS evidence is in its infancy because prior to May 2, 2000, the U.S. government programmed inaccuracies into civilian GPS readings of anywhere from 300 feet up to several miles,1 which hampered GPS use as an evidentiary tool.