Tracking Boats with Bewhere Beacons
We at GPS Tracking Canada provide many different solutions for different problems that our clients are looking to solve. One unique solution we provided to one of our clients is for tracking boats with BeWhere beacons.
Background:
The client, a large boat dealership group in Ontario, came to us to find a solution to track their boat inventory. The main problem for them was that they were losing track of which boats were located in which dealership location. They frequently move these boats across Ontario to their 10+ dealership locations. and wanted to know when a boat entered and exited the harbor, as well as track be able to tell which boats are at the different dealerships at a given time.
The ideal solution for them required the devices to be:
- Waterproof
- Small size
- Unobtrusive and easy to install
- Long Battery life
- Cost-effective
Solution:
We provided the client with Bewhere Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons and WiFi Gateways as a solution to track their boats. This solution provides a compact waterproof device that can be placed on the boat. The client has also purchased a Wifi gateway for each of their harbors. The WiFi gateway acts as a receiver for the beacons and can transmit locations data from the beacon to the Bewhere tracking system.
The client has placed the Bewhere BLE beacons on each of their boats. These beacons are put in a manifest for the harbor manager to know which boat corresponds to which beacon. The Bewhere WiFi gateways are placed centrally on each of their harbors. This way, the gateway can account for all the boats in a particular harbor. The client has also provided the harbor managers with the Bewhere mobile app. This allows them to walk the harbor and track quickly do an inventory count by seeing which beacons in a given location.
In Use:
The client was able to rapidly deploy these beacons across Ontario. Using the Bewhere application, the client can track when a boat has entered or left a specific location. This system allowed them to increase inventory management efficiency, thus decreasing the cost. As you can see from the screenshot below, the client uses the map to find exactly where the specific beacon is located and also allows them to switch around the inventory without losing track of the boats. The client also established a routine, where their harbor managers would be doing a quick inventory count by just walking the harbor with the Bewhere app on their phone. This way the locations of the beacons are updated and the managers can keep track of the boats in their harbor.
