Mapping Systems Not Designed for Trucks Pose Safety, Traffic Risks, Officials Warn

By Sean McNally, Senior Reporter

This story appears in the March 15 print edition of Transport Topics.

As the use of mapping and routing software becomes more prevalent across the trucking industry, service providers and state transportation officials said fleets must be wary of the risks posed from using applications not specifically designed for trucks.

These officials and fleets executives also said that, despite the efforts of government agencies and mapping companies, data used to chart routes for trucks are not always precise.

“In New York, we have a tremendous problem with trucks getting on restricted-access facilities because they followed their generic commercial GPS device,” said Todd Westhuis, a special assistant in the New York State Department of Transportation’s operations division. “Generally, they don’t realize their mistake until they hit the first bridge they come to.”

However, those incidents, fleets say, are not always the fault of the truck driver.

“We will continue to struggle with data accuracy,” said Don Osterberg, senior vice president of safety and driver training for Schneider National Inc. “Municipalities do not spend enough time updating their road networks and maps as frequently as we would like, due to limited resources.”

Schneider, Green Bay, Wis., ranks No. 9 on the Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.

Part of the problem, Westhuis told TT, is that some truckers use a Global Positioning System setup designed for cars, not realizing it won’t adjust automatically for such things as low bridges or weight limits.

Seeking a solution for this problem, New York state recently embarked on an effort to reach out to providers of electronic mapping and routing software for trucking companies and to provide them with access to more data about roads in the state.

“What New York state is doing is how the process improves and should be commended,” said Craig Fiander, vice president of marketing for ALK Technologies, Princeton, N.J.

Fiander echoed Westhuis’ warning, saying that trucks “should absolutely not be driving with an automobile GPS device.”

ALK is one of several companies that provide truck-specific mapping and routing for fleets, but those companies often find that good, up-to-date data are hard to come by.

“We get our information through a variety of tools,” Fiander said, adding that ALK validates data it receives by asking users or checking it against other map data. However, he said, “In some cases, you do find situations where it may not be 100% complete or there may be a missing truck designation or restriction.”

Luke Wachtel, vice president of marketing for Maptuit Corp., Boston, said its data have become more accurate in the 11 years since the company began offering truck-specific mapping.

“The more we grow, the better we are . . . Wikipedia is a good example,” Wachtel said, comparing the company’s map data to the online, open-source encyclopedia. “It has user and professionally provided data, and that’s not unlike what we do. Whatever data we get from users has to be vetted by fleets, then vetted by us before it is published.”

Currently, Wachtel said that about 70% of the alerts it gets are from users.

Amy Krouse, spokeswoman for Rand McNally, Skokie, Ill., said that while the company does a lot of “direct outreach” to state agencies, there still are a number of challenges in gathering data.

“The biggest challenge is the variety of outlets and data formats that we need to work with to arrive at accurate and complete data,” Krouse said.

Westhuis said that nationwide, there is no universal way for states to provide mapmakers and routers with data, and he sympathized with their plight.

“I think a lot of [information] has to be scraped [up], or it’s incomplete,” he said. “What we’ve tried to do is put it in very ingestible formats . . . and what a lot of other states are starting to look at is not only what we’ve done but what can be available in their own systems.”

Krouse said states need to “standardize their reporting of transport data.”

Ray Starr, a traffic engineer for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, said the state has “some legacy things,” so not all of its data are standardized.

Standardizing data, he said may not be helpful for states, but “it’d be helpful to the navigation people and all those who want to get it from lots of states.”

However, Starr said states were getting closer to that point.

“Until they get to the second or third revision, they leave something to be desired, but a lot of that stuff is getting” better compared with the early stages, he said.

Map-generator Navteq, Chicago, told TT in a statement its “biggest and constant challenge is keeping up with the rate of change to the road network.”

Starr said Minnesota updates traffic conditions every 30 seconds, but for other incidents, like the collapse of the Interstate 35 bridge, it could be “a little slower, but . . . within a couple of minutes.”

“For perspective, Navteq makes 2 million changes to the database every day,” the company said. “Although we release a new database four times a year, the timeline in which our customers incorporate this information into their products varies.”

Getting changes to users also can be a challenge. “One of the weaknesses is that the GPS device makers don’t update their databases in real time with changes to the mapping solutions,” Westhuis said.

Wachtel said that for planned long-term outages or changes, Maptuit “responds on the fly,” but not all information gets into the system.

“If it’s going to be less than 30 days, we tend not to react unless a fleet asks us to,” he said, noting that “often these guys miss the dates [for planned construction]. They miss the date when they start and/or when they finish.”

“If it’s a temporary closing . . . to send out a universal routing patch and/or change request to everyone doesn’t make any sense,” Fiander said.

He cited the 2008 closing of Interstate 95 near Philadelphia as an example.

“It was shut down for about 40 hours . . . it would be illogical to override [the system] and make that change in that fashion,” he said.

Schneider’s Osterberg said while map data have improved, the company has drivers complete a trip plan and validate the suggested route to ensure accuracy.

“Ultimately, the driver is accountable to accept or customize the suggested route solution. Some maps may not be up to date with new road openings or information,” Osterberg said, adding that, when drivers report errors and updates, “we immediately submit that information to Maptuit so that that information can be shared with other Maptuit customers.”

Ryan Holm, operations manager for C.R. England Inc., said drivers using personal GPS systems can “absolutely” wind up on a restricted road or bridge.

“The largest portion of our fleet are independent contractors, so we will provide a suggested routing . . . but it is really up to those individuals to route themselves how they want to go,” he said.

Holm said some of their drivers have reported occasionally being sent on a wrong route.

Tony Stroncheck, president of mapping, mileage and routing data provider ProMiles Software Development Corp., Bridge City, Texas, said state agencies are improving their map data as they work on improving infrastructure generally.

“Every bit of information is out there, you just have to go acquire it, collect it, and then you’ve got to put it to the test,” Stroncheck said.