Financial GPS: a new kind of market requires a new kind of GPS
What Is “Financial GPS”
“Financial GPS” is a term Skymeter uses to describe a GPS-based system that meets the requirements of financial transactions. GIROADS, a European research initiative, concluded traditional GPS and “Financial Grade GPS” are distinct categories. The study divided GNSS/GPS applications in transport into three distinct categories: safety-of-life-critical (can it drive your car), liability-critical (including financial transactions), and non-liability-critical (today’s GPS). Financial transactions were given as an example of a liability-critical market.
Liability-critical applications, according to this study, included: on-street parking, pay-per-use insurance, accident reconstruction, taxi metering, car rental, road user charging and tracking of special vehicles.
The Importance of Evidence in a Financial Transaction
Financial transactions are different from other GPS services, because one person is liable to pay another. Money will change hands based on what the GPS system calculates. Errors become important. If the driver refuses to accept liability, only a court can enforce payment. If there is no evidence, the driver will not have to pay. If drivers discover that challenges lead to them not having to pay, they are very motivated to keep challenging the system. Evidence is therefore crucial.
The three tests for evidence, all three of which must be met, are: relevance, admissibility and weight. The primary problems caused by the large errors in GPS are admissibility and weight. Since it is known that GPS data is sometimes wrong, there is no way to prove that any one set of data is right or wrong, without a series of additional steps being taken to provide this proof. Skymeter takes these steps to ensure evidence.
Transaction accuracy involves multiple steps, from measuring to pricing to auditing. It is crucial that the data is handled appropriately at every link in the chain. Ultimately, one party must guarantee the transaction accuracy from satellite to courtroom. This is one reason that Skymeter offers metering as a service. Contact us for more details.
GPS Map-Matching and Financial Transactions
The standard way to correct for GPS errors in driving (e.g., navigation) is through a process called map-matching. Here a sophisticated heuristic algorithm (i.e., a guess) is used to select the ‘right’ road. Guesses are not evidence in courts. This is why Skymeter’s “Financial Grade” GPS does not include any map-matching, nor on-board maps.
Beyond Evidence: an Acceptable System
Financial transactions have a series of other requirements in the real world. To Skymeter, “Financial Grade” is not just a technical and judicial concept, it is also includes economic and business factors. Skymeter believes the term “Financial Grade” includes:
• accurate financial transactions
• a full chain of evidence for each transaction
• privacy protection
• at minimal total cost of ownership
Financial GPS = accuracy + evidence + privacy + minimized costs
