Vehicles & Devices View

Did you install new AVL hardware and would like to name or rename the vehicles so that your team can better understand which vehicle is in service, rather than its unique ID?

The Admin Panel contains the Vehicles & Devices view, which allows you to manage the mapping of devices to vehicles in Swiftly's system. Devices may include routers, GPS trackers, or other types of on-vehicle hardware. You must have permission within the Swiftly dashboard to make any changes to your agency’s device configuration. To get permission, reach out to [e-mail] .

Adding a New Device

The "Add Device" button allows you to add a new device. A new device must have the following attributes:

• Device ID: The id that will come through your feed(s) to Swiftly representing that device, typically a serial number
• Vehicle ID: This must be an existing vehicle (If the vehicle does not exist, create it first using the "Add Vehicle" button)
• Device Type: This must be one of the existing types in the dropdown menu. If the device type does not exist yet, email [e-mail] to request that it be added to the system.

Moving a Device from One Vehicle to Another

Use the "Add Device" button and add the device to the vehicle you'd like to move it to, and the system will recognize that an existing device is being moved from one vehicle to another.

Adding a New Vehicle

To add a new vehicle, click the "Add Vehicle" button, enter the vehicle ID in the panel on the left side, and click the "Add Vehicle" button in the panel. The vehicle will now be created in the table, and you can now add new devices to it.

Adding Vehicle from AVL Feed

If you are using an integrated AVL feed with vehicle information, vehicles are automatically populated in Vehicles and Devices.

Deleting a Vehicle

While it's technically possible to remove a vehicle from "Vehicles and Devices" using the steps below, please note that a vehicle will reappear in the vehicle list if your AVL feed continues to send GPS data for the deleted vehicle. 

To permanently delete a vehicle, please consult with your IT person or AVL provider about permanently removing the vehicle from the AVL feed. Note: this excludes Onboard App vehicles; these vehicles can be permanently deleted from Vehicles and Devices.

Process:

Click on "Edit Vehicles"

Select "Remove Vehicle"

Enter the vehicle number in the "Vehicle ID" box.

You'll be prompted to click a checkbox to confirm that you want to permanently delete the vehicle and all associated devices. Once that is checked off, you can select the red "Remove Vehicle" button to complete this procedure. 

Still having issue? Note a different process is required for vehicles from an AVL feed

If you are receiving vehicle information through an AVL feed, the best way to ensure that the vehicle ID appears as expect or is removed from Vehicles and Devices is to make the change in your integrated feed.

These changes need to be performed at the feed source (your GTFS-RT, vehicle position feed, etc...). Please contact your IT team or AVL provider for more information. If you are unable to contact them, Swiftly can provide more assistance.

Importing and exporting vehicles

Are you adding vehicles en-masse, doing fleet-wide data cleanup, or just need to keep your agency's vehicle list updated or in sync with an outside system? You can now import and export vehicles.

Import

It's now possible to bulk import from a spreadsheet: Upload a CSV file listing vehicles and their attributes, and the system creates the new ones and updates the existing ones in one pass. The template is included here.

• After upload, admins can see a preview of every row including what will change, which rows already match existing vehicles, and which rows have problems. Nothing is applied until the admin reviews and confirms. 
• Partial success, not all-or-nothing:  If most of a file is good but a few rows have errors, the good rows still get applied. The admin sees exactly how many succeeded and how many didn't, so a small mistake doesn't mean starting over.

Note: Swiftly will run a safety check before anything saves. 
 

Export

You can also export the current fleet:  Admins can download the agency's full vehicle list as a CSV, in the same format the import expects. That gives them a ready-made starting point to edit and re-upload, or to hand off to another team or system.

Note: last reported GPS/AVL is not included in these exports. If you need more support on this, please reach out [e-mail]

FAQs

Is it possible to pull an entire list of all vehicles from the API or the dashboard?

While it is possible to pull an entire list of active vehicles through the Vehicles API; unfortunately, at the moment, it is not possible to pull an entire list (active/inactive) from the API or the dashboard (unless you copy each page of vehicle IDs directly from the dashboard). If you need a list of all your vehicles in a clean report, please email [e-mail] with your request and we would be happy to assist.

How do you integrate a new AVL source?

Swiftly Technical Support can integrate a new data source for you. Please be advised of the following:

1. Known vendors list:
   If your CAD/AVL system, GPS tracker, or router is on Swiftly's known vendors list (e.g., AngelTrax, Avail, Clever BusTime, INIT, TransLoc, Trapeze/TransitMaster, Zonar, CalAmp, Samsara, Cradlepoint, Teltonika, etc.), integration is very likely straightforward.
    

2. Data refresh rate
   Vehicle locations need to update at least every 30 seconds, ideally every 5 seconds. If the source can't hit that, that's something to flag for a workaround discussion.
    

3. Required fields

   1. Vehicle ID

   2. Latitude and longitude

   3. Timestamp for each data points

4. Requested fields (if available)

   1. Speed

   2. Heading
       

5. Delivery method

   1. Swiftly strongly prefers HTTP, typically pulling data via a REST API.

   2. Preferred formats: GTFS-realtime (GTFS-rt), SIRI VM, or JSON (XML, CSV, and others are acceptable too).

   3. Alternatively, some devices push data via a socket connection (TAIP or NMEA format) — Swiftly provides the port and IP address, and the customer configures the device. Note: NMEA must be modified to include a device identifier that maps to a specific vehicle.

Swiftly Data Integration Guide [Slideshow]

To get support, email [e-mail] to start the process.