What minimum equipment is needed to program the Freematics Vehicle Data Logger? I was looking for a GPS/OBD2 data logger that logs data to an SD card and eventually arrived at the Arduino powered Freematics Vehicle Data Logger. It's great that it's programmable, but I have no experience with Arduino.

Reading the documentation, it says that I program the device either by USBasp or Arduino as ISP. The USBasp is a dongle programmer, but I don't know what is meant by Arduino as ISP.

My goal is to use this device to log data. I don't plan to extensive write programs for it. What is the minimum equipment that I need to have in order to be able to write a bit of code and flash it to the device?
"Arduino as ISP" refers to using an Arduino board in place of a USBasp.  It involves loading a specific sketch onto the Arduino then using the SPI port (and a few other pins) as the programming interface to the target.

It is most often used to program blank chips for use in breadboards by people who don't have a USBasp.  Great for moving your project from the Arduino board to a breadboard without having to buy a hardware programmer.