Smarter government fleet management with Geotab Data Connector

Geotab Data Connector gives public agencies a single, actionable view of their operations, from maintenance issues to driver safety risk and service readiness.

Apr 22, 2025

Updated: May 1, 2025

2 minute read

Every fleet decision shows up somewhere. In a budget review, a public audit, a council meeting. That’s the reality of government fleet operations. And it’s why your data better be solid.

Geotab Data Connector (GDC) brings all your government fleet data into one, easy-to-analyze view, to help you plan better, defend spend and deliver the services your budget is already stretched to cover. .

Bringing government operations together in one view

Geotab Data Connector gives government fleet teams a single view of what’s happening across departments, systems and assets. It eliminates manual data handling and syncs with the tools you already use, like Power BI, Tableau, or Excel so you get real-time fleet insights with just a few clicks.

With GDC, you can:

Access curated fleet data in your BI tool
Combine Geotab data with FMIS, HR and ERP systems
Track KPIs like utilization, idling, PM compliance and safety
Monitor vehicle health, driver behavior and maintenance trends
Identify high-risk drivers and vehicles
Visualize trends for reporting and proactive planning

Whether you're managing garbage trucks, snowplows, emergency vehicles, or utility vans, GDC delivers the visibility you need to oversee your entire fleet with confidence.

Curious how it works?

Real use cases from government fleets

Here’s how cities are already putting Geotab Data Connector to work:

1. Maintenance planning & budgeting

Maintenance is one of the largest operational costs—especially when unplanned breakdowns disrupt service and strain budgets.

Geotab Data Connector helps municipalities take a proactive approach to maintenance by identifying trends in Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs), getting to the root causes of recurring issues and supporting consistent PM (Preventive Maintenance) compliance across departments.

Some fleet managers leverage GDC insights to optimize preventive maintenance across both PM-A (routine services like oil changes and inspections) and PM-B (more comprehensive tasks such as brake system checks or fluid replacements). By creating vehicle-specific workflows, precise work orders and service guides tailored to each vehicle’s condition and usage, they cut downtime and keep critical assets in rotation.

2. Optimizing mixed fleet maintenance

Government fleets include a wide range of vehicles, from heavy-duty snowplows to alternative fuel powered sanitation vehicles to electric vehicles, each with their own set of quirks and maintenance needs. To extend asset life and minimize downtime fleet managers turn to GDC for proactive maintenance insights.

GDC helps public works teams spot issues before they take vehicles off the road. Recurring DTCs like Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) or Water in Fuel (WIF) are flagged early, so managers can act fast and avoid a pattern turning into a problem.

Teams can generate alerts, prioritize maintenance, and track trends by OEM or business line—all from a single dashboard. That makes it easier to issue bulletins, standardize inspections, and keep high-risk vehicles mission-ready.

3. Driver safety across departments

GDC helps safety and compliance teams centralize key risk data, like speeding and breaking all the way through to historical incidents and exception trends. When paired with tools like Power BI and Geotab’s safety templates, that data can be used to surface predictive risk indicators and benchmark performance across departments or similar fleet types.

This gives safety leads a stronger foundation for coaching, policy refinement and data-backed conversations with operations, before incidents occur.

4. Reporting on fleet performance and strategic initiatives

Fleet performance plays a role well beyond daily operations. It ties directly into strategic goals like service delivery, cost control and sustainability.

With Geotab Data Connector fleet managers can track and report on core fleet performance targets—such as availability, safety and service readiness—and put that information into the hands of leadership, council and finance in a way that’s clear, credible and easy to work with.

By integrating fleet data into business intelligence tools already in use across the organization, governments can build a complete picture of how operations support strategic priorities and public service outcomes..