CompassCom Introduces New Line of AVL Products

ENGLEWOOD, COLO., 13 June 2001 – CompassCom Inc., an Englewood, Colo., provider of GPS-based solutions, today introduced a new line of automatic vehicle location (AVL) products designed specifically for tracking public safety fleets.

The CompassCom AVL system differs from others on the market with its ability to communicate with multiple telecommunications systems simultaneously and interface with any standard in-vehicle AVL module. In addition, the new system is compliant with the E911 Phase II wireless requirements mandated by the Federal Communications Commission.

“A city or regional emergency services authority can purchase the CompassCom AVL system and simultaneously track separate police, fire and ambulance fleets from a single dispatch center or share the information among several dispatch centers,” said CompassCom President Brant Howard. “This makes it much easier to coordinate emergency response efforts involving multiple agencies.”

AVL utilizes a combination of GPS satellite and wireless telecommunications technology to track the locations of emergency vehicles in real-time. The location data is transmitted with other vehicle status information via radio frequency signals to a dispatch computer where the dispatcher can view vehicle locations on a computerized map display. This enables the dispatcher to determine which vehicle can best respond to an emergency call.

CompassCom installed and implemented AVL components as a reseller for other vendors for five years before developing its own AVL product line, which integrates the characteristics that most benefit public safety fleets. The CompassCom AVL system includes CompassTrac™ fleet tracking software and CompassFDE™ universal AVL server.

CompassTrac™ is the client system that displays vehicle location and status on a digital map display. CompassTrac is capable of displaying emergency call locations identified either by street address or latitude/longitude coordinates, allowing its users to pinpoint distress calls coming from cellular telephones in accordance with E911 Phase II rules. This software is fully compatible with any ESRI GIS product.

CompassFDE™ is the AVL server that communicates with multiple CompassTrac clients or computer-aided dispatch systems simultaneously. It can receive GPS location and discrete vehicle status inputs from a variety of in-vehicle AVL boxes using any of several telecommunications methods – CDPD, analog cellular, or standard radio.

The Utah Highway Patrol (UHP) and Douglas County (Colo.) Emergency Telephone Service Authority are the first two public safety organizations to purchase the new CompassCom AVL system. Both systems have been operational since late last year. UHP and the Valley Emergency Communications Center in Murray, Utah, purchased the system to coordinate public safety activities along the entire Wasatch Front Range. It will be used in public safety efforts surrounding the upcoming international sporting events that will be held in Salt Lake City in 2002.

CompassCom was established in 1994 as a product and service provider for Global Positioning System (GPS), Geographic Information System (GIS), and Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) markets. CompassCom offers complete GPS and GIS solutions as a business partner with Trimble Navigation, ESRI Inc., and AT&T Wireless.