CITY-PROOF GNSS: DON’T LOSE TRACK IN THE URBAN JUNGLE

Just a few decades ago, Dubai was mostly sand and open space – today, it is a forest of skyscrapers. And it is not an exception, with cities across the world growing taller, denser, and more complex every year. 

This urban transformation comes with a challenge, as traditional location tracking struggles to keep up. Satellite signals bounce off glass, get blocked by concrete, and vanish into city canyons. For businesses that rely on precise tracking – for example, car sharing, delivery, and mobility services – this makes accurate GNSS positioning more important than ever. 

WHY DOES TRADITIONAL TRACKING FALL SHORT IN MODERN CITIES?

“By 2050, nearly 70% of the global population is expected to live in urban areas,” says Guoda Rimaitė, operational marketing coordinator at Teltonika. “In 2024, there were more than 2,400 skyscrapers taller than 200 meters – and almost 500 more are currently being built worldwide. These structures block or reflect GNSS signals, creating what we call multipath errors with unstable tracking, sudden jumps on the map, or complete signal loss, and these errors disrupt operations.”

Incorrect billing, route mix-ups, or even geofence-triggered false alarms all stem from one issue – inaccurate GNSS data. Guoda explains: „For instance, in shared mobility, even slight GPS errors can prevent users from locating vehicles, causing poor service experience and lost customer trust. In high-value logistics, false geofence alerts can create unnecessary panic, disrupt deliveries, and raise suspicion over asset safety. Moreover, mismatched data between GPS and odometers can damage reporting accuracy, affect fleet maintenance planning, and even lead to compliance issues.”

As cities grow, accurate GNSS becomes more than just a technical feature – it is a critical business enabler that helps prevent costly errors, improves decision-making, and builds trust across various industries.

NEXT-GENERATION TRACKING IN ACTION

“Just a few years ago, our trackers supported three GNSS constellations: GPS, GLONASS, and either Galileo or Beidou, delivering around 19 visible satellites on average. However, everything changed with the launch of our FT platform,” says Tadas Kairys, new product development specialist at Teltonika.

“FT platform is a new-generation technology with a firmware running on a brand-new hardware base, which is built around the latest GNSS chipset and packed with advanced innovations. It is designed specifically for higher precision, better signal handling, and operation in complex environments,” Tadas explains.

FT platform devices connect to all four major satellite constellations simultaneously. This nearly doubled the number of visible and used satellites up to 41, delivering a 1.4× improvement in GNSS tracking accuracy.

“We tested our trackers across dense urban environments such as Dubai, Sydney, and Santiago de Chile. While previous-generation devices generally perform well, we still observed erratic tracking jumps, veering off course, or even cutting through buildings due to weak or reflected signals. However, the FT platform consistently maintained accurate and stable routes, even in the most challenging conditions,” Tadas explains.

SOFTWARE PERFORMANCE STARTS WITH HARDWARE ACCURACY

For software providers, precise GNSS input is more than a technical benefit – it is a gateway to enabling smarter fleet operations for businesses in today’s complex urban environments. Ksenia Filinova, technical growth manager at Wialon, shares: “Urban tracking is always a challenge, and we have seen how much it depends on the quality of incoming data. When the hardware delivers clean, reliable data, everything else falls into place."

With consistent data, software solutions like Wialon can help users stay in control of their fleets, even when they are not physically near their vehicles. It allows operators to create virtual geofence zones and receive alerts when a car enters or exits them. This is especially valuable in sensitive scenarios, such as preventing access to restricted or high-risk areas.

If needed, users can also send remote commands to block the engine, provided the tracking device supports it. “A small signal drift can trigger a false alert or even cause an unnecessary engine block,” Ksenia notes. “That’s why stability matters.”

Wialon also features a dedicated eco-driving functionality, which tracks behaviour like speeding, harsh braking, and cornering. Based on this data, the platform generates driver scores that may be used to support performance reviews or incentive programs for drivers. “If the GNSS data is unstable and causes the track to jump to a road with a lower speed limit, the system might wrongly flag the driver for speeding,” Ksenia explains. “Thus, inaccurate input can easily lead to confusion and disputes.”

When precise hardware works in sync with powerful software, the entire solution becomes more reliable, allowing businesses to make smarter, faster, and more confident decisions.