Sometimes, the GPS system shows limitations or imperfections related to the quality and intensity of the signal. Even though the GPS system is not a part of :DriveSmart, they are working on its improvement but, in the meantime, it is recommended to keep the smartphone where the signal can best be sent.
However, it can be simply verified by making sure that there is no problem due to a matter of general settings, and so, optimising the GPS signal. To do this, I have to access to my smartphone (not the App but the phone itself), in Settings and tap :DriveSmart within the Applications menu.
I can configure all the permissions that I’m allowing the App, and I can check that I have the Precise Location option turn on (base on web and GPS) to guarantee that the best GPS location configuration is activated. I make sure that I am allowing the App the needed permissions for a proper location of me and so I allow the App to do a great analysis of my driving.
1. The first step is to link the handsfree with the smartphone. I can link the car device (handsfree, Parrot, etc) with the phone, through Setting in my phone (Watch out! This is about configuring the smartphone, not :DriveSmart) For this, go to “Settings -> Bluetooth settings -> Scan Devices” and search for the handsfree device you want to link your phone with.
• Automatic Start buttom -> A list of the linked devices will be showed.
• Select the emoji related to the handsfree device of the car (which will turn green).
Also, for the App to work properly, I have to turn both bluetooth and GPS location on so :DriveSmart can analyse my driving according to cartography and the characteristics of each road.
What do I do if I don’t know where I parked my car?
If I have used the App in my last trip, I have registered the location where I did my last stop, so all I have to do is go to the left menu, tap “Find me” and the App will tell me where I left my car the last time.
By the end of each month I run out of data in my smartphone, so I try to use my data as less as I can. Since I doubted, I asked :DriveSmart about how much data does the App consume, the answer was clear: less than 10mb a month, a much lower consumption than the majority of the apps. However, if I don’t want to use any of my data, I only have to turn “Offline Mode“” on, in “Settings“, and the trips will be processed when I have WiFi access.
Since I worry about the data usage, I was happy to find the “Offline Recording” option, and my data will upload only when I am in a WiFi zone. Moreover, if I see that any of my trips doesn’t show in the App, I go to “Settings” and I check the “Offline recording” to see if there is pending data to be sent, if so, I tap “Force upload” and… fixed!
Every time I spot any event with which I disagree or that seems to be unfair to me, I send a discrepancie so the technicians can analyse it and even invalidate it if it turns to be unfair given circumstances caused by conditions external to my driving (imperfections in the GPS system that gives an imprecise location of me in the road, cartography or other kind of errors in the App…).
I don’t hesitate, every time that I don’t agree, I send my discrepancies. I help to make the App even better and I always have an answer to whatever my needs are, along with a fair and objectif valoration of the issue.
The :DriveSmart driving makes me feel good for concerning about my own safety and others’. As Albert Einstein once said: “Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others, it is the only means”.
The App locates me in a different place and due to a GPS failure this happens now and then. Even though it’s a problem that has nothing to do with :DriveSmart, their technical team is working on its optimizaion and there is a system through which I can get my wrong events invalidated (for example, GPS positioning errors, cartography failures…) that could lower my score. Fair enough.
In other words, every time I find an event or a valoration with which I disagree, I send a discrepancy through the App itself. By doing this, the experts can analyse my events, give me a solution and even invalidate me so it doesn’t affect my score and my position in the ranking of Challenges.
• I only have to go to “Trips” (top right corner in the App -> Trips) and select the trip I want to view. Once I am in that trip, I tap the “Events” screen (it’s the second screen, so I swap to the left or I tap the triangle with an exclamation mark).
• Once in “Events” I tap the foldout on the right side of the event and then I tap the green buttom with the folder in, to consul all the details of the event. It shows me the exact details of the event in the moment (from my current speed to the speed limit of the road, my exact location, battery or GPS signal) and if I don’t agree, I can send a discrepancy by tapping the round buttom with the horn speaker in.
The technical team will recieve all the information of the exact part of the event that I disagree with and they will be able to analyse the valoration of the App in detail to give me a answer and a solution.
Now, the technicians can invalidate the events that are generated by errors alien to my driving, as is the GPS signal. Therefore, when I spot an event that I don’t agree with, I send a discrepancy (tapping the event I consider mistaken, in “Event Details“) to get it invalidated if there was an error so it doesn’t affect my score and my ranking in the challenges.
The invalidation is done exclusively during the labor days of the corresponding month. As it is included on the legal terms of the Challenges, the invalidation of events can alter the global score and, hence, modify the position in the Ranking of challenges so the invalidation of events will only be done during the corresponding month and in labor days since it is a process that technicians do individually.
How can we help :DriveSmart?
If my family and friends start using :DriveSmart, I will have a lot of people I know in the Community of good drivers, and I will be able to share my scores with them. They also give me 1.000 Smart Coins for each friend I add!
I invite through the App, some by giving their mail address and the :DriveSmart Team send them an email with the invitation; I invite some others with their phone number and they get an SMS.
If I do like the App, I leave my opinion in the store, whether is Google Play or in the App Store. By doing this, I spread the word so many other people know, download and start using the App. The more we are, the better Community we will create.
Within the App itself there is one of the most important functionalities, the “User’s Voice“, where I can send my comments, suggestions, errors or congratulations to the :DriveSmart team, for them to modify or work in those features that I value the most in the App.
Nevertheless, the App is not the only way I have to get Smart Coins because if I keep an eye on the emails, I check my inbox in Promos and Spam), because there is information about new surveys and exclusive promos monthly to increase my :DriveSmart account.
And the last trick, the welcome email the App sends me when I sign up. I can have 1.500 Smart Coins as a welcome gift to the :DriveSmart Community, the first good drivers Comunity.