GSatTrack to Tableau: Getting More out of Reports

Posted by GSE Data Science Team on Jan 11, 2024 View Printable Version

GSatTrack tableau

GSatTrack to Tableau: Getting More out of Reports

Data Visualization: GSatTrack and Tableau

In the Remote Data Ecosystems Series, we discussed the idea that data operations involve gathering, moving, transforming, and delivering. In the final article, we mentioned the multitudinous options available for delivering data, displaying data, and working with it in a UI. Tableau is one of those many options, and whether you use GSatTrack's API to get your data into Tableau or not, you can also use the GSatTrack portal to run reports and export data that can be visualized in Tableau as well. Our own data scientists wanted to provide an example of that with a short walk through.

GSatTrack Offers Powerful Reports

GSatTrack stands as a cutting-edge, web-based solution that seamlessly integrates satellite and GSM tracking capabilities. Compatible with modern web browsers and operating on a multilingual platform, GSatTrack consolidates the positions of hundreds of products into a single unified interface. This innovative system empowers users to effortlessly display and manage asset locations and movements in real-time, offering insights into crucial data such as position, speed, altitude, and heading through continuous GPS updates. With GSatTrack, businesses gain access to a universal, hardware-agnostic, and cloud-based data visualization and management platform. This advanced solution enables managers to track, command, and control assets worldwide in near-real-time, fostering enhanced efficiency and decision-making.

Downloadable reports and data visualization play integral roles in the landscape of informed decision-making, presenting organizations with a multitude of benefits. These tools offer a profound comprehension of data, unveiling insights into patterns, trends, and anomalies that might otherwise go unnoticed. Rooted in evidence, reports and visualizations empower decision-makers to ground their choices in tangible data rather than intuition, thereby elevating the precision of decision-making. The ability to distill complex data into easily understandable formats is a hallmark of visualizations, fostering effective communication and consensus-building among stakeholders. By translating intricate information into accessible visuals, these tools become invaluable aids in shaping a shared understanding and facilitating more streamlined decision processes.

Downloading Reports

Reports provide Asset and Ecosystem Managers with powerful tools to visualize and export data in a more concise and actionable format than what Map Views and log lists can offer. These reports excel in synthesizing extensive data, transforming it into actionable insights that directly contribute to cost savings and efficiency measures. The flexibility of generating reports in both PDF and CSV formats enhances their usability, offering versatility in accessing and utilizing valuable information.

Types of Reports

Activity Report

Alert Summary Report

Asset Activation Report

Example: Fleet Trip Report

Access the Report Menu

Log in to your GSatTrack account and navigate to the "Report" menu.
Choose "Fleet Trip Report"

From the available report options, locate and select the "Fleet Trip Report"
Select Specific Group(s) or Asset(s) and date

Choose the specific group(s) or asset(s) for which you want to generate the fuel consumption report. This helps in customizing the report based on your tracking needs.
Specify the date range for the report. This allows you to focus on fuel consumption data within a particular time frame, whether it's a specific week, month, or custom period.
Run report

After selecting the specific parameters (group/asset, date range), click on the "Run Report" button. This will initiate the generation of the Fuel Consumption Report based on your specified criteria.

Interpreting and understanding the data in these reports.

Asset - The name of the asset whose report was generated

Trips - The Number of trips for the asset.

Position - The position number for the particular asset.

Trip time – The total time that a trip has taken, calculated from the difference of trip start and trip end times.

Travel time – The time during a trip that the asset was moving (not idle).

Idle time – The time during a trip where the asset was idling. An asset is idling if it is stationary for any period of time during the trip.

Stopped time – The time the asset was stopped before the next trip started; the time between trips taken.

Duty cycle – The percentage of time during the report period that the asset was taking a trip. Calculated by dividing total report time by total trip time. For assets reporting ignition this will also equate to the period of time the vehicle was powered on.

Distance traveled – The total distance traveled during the trip or report period. If your device reports odometer values they will be used. Otherwise, GPS distance (as a bird flies) is used to determine distance.

Fuel consumption – For assets reporting fuel consumption, the amount of fuel consumed in the trip or report period.

Average fuel efficiency – The fuel efficiency is calculated by taking the distance traveled divided by the amount of fuel consumed for the trip or report period.

Idle fuel consumption – The amount of fuel consumed while the asset was idling.

Average speed – Average speed is calculated by taking the total distance of the trip(s) and dividing it by the trip time. E.g. a 100 km trip that took two hours would have an average speed of 50 kph.

Max speed – The maximum speed as reported by the device during the trip or report period. This is based solely on the positions reported by the device so it is possible the asset had a faster instantaneous speed in-between reports.

Non-trip – Non-trip items are any positions that are reported outside of a trip. Either positions that are recorded while ignition is off or stationary positions before any movement is detected if ignition is not being reported.

Uploading Data to Tableau

Tableau is a powerful and widely-used data visualization tool that plays a crucial role in transforming raw data into meaningful insights.Tableau enables users to create interactive and visually compelling dashboards, charts, and reports.

In Tableau begin by selecting 'Connect Data.' Then, choose the 'More' option and locate the report downloaded in the previous steps. Once the data fields are visible, proceed to create a new worksheet. In this version, let's start by visualizing the total fuel consumption per asset in the form of a treemap. Place the assets in the columns and fuel consumption in the rows. To enhance the visualization, you can customize the color in the 'Marks' menu.

tableau 1

In the second example, where we analyze 'Average Fuel Efficiency,' arrange the worksheet with assets in the columns and utilize the 'AVG' function for the rows, representing the Average Fuel Efficiency.

tableau 2

Moving on to the third example, focusing on 'Idle Fuel Consumption,' present the data using horizontal columns.

tableau 3

For the fourth example, comparing 'Idle Fuel Consumption versus Total Fuel Consumption,' include assets, fuel consumption, and idle fuel consumption. Opt for the 'side-by-side bars' option to visually compare these metrics.

tableau 4

Transitioning to the 'Dashboard' section, seamlessly integrate these created worksheets by dragging and dropping them into the dashboard."

tableau 5

We are using 2023.3.0 Version of tableau in this article , things can be a little different if your version is different.

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About the Author

GSE Data Science Team

The Robots

GSE’s Data Science team strives to keep GSE at the forefront of data technologies, helping to define the future of telematics products, data quality, and intelligent systems.

More Information

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