Standardized Measures: Distance

Numerous Dashboard pages and reports across Samsara rely on core data sourced from Samsara gateways. In this topic you can learn more about standardized distance measure and how Samsara calculates it using gateway-provided data.

Samsara Distance Calculation

Your Samsara Vehicle Gateway (VG) attempts to pull odometer values from your vehicle automatically. When available, these values enable Samsara to establish a baseline distance since the vehicles themselves can stay in sync with the dashboard. Samsara supplements this data with incremental GPS measurements to provide a high-resolution source for the distance your vehicle has traveled. When odometer data reported by the engine control unit (ECU) is not available or is unreliable, Samsara filters any unreliable data points and falls back to GPS readings to determine distance.

Note

If your vehicle is not returning odometer measurements, refer to the Vehicle Gateway Compatibility Matrix to confirm that your gateway’s cable is correct. If you find that your vehicle’s cable is correct but the gateway is still not receiving odometer readings from the vehicle, please see Editing Odometer Reading.

To provide a resilient, high-resolution measure of the distance your vehicle has traveled, Samsara measures distance using reliable odometer measurements and GPS interpolation when odometer readings are unavailable.

Earlier Distance Calculations in the Samsara dashboard

Historically, Samsara reported distance in some areas of the dashboard using either GPS or odometer data. Going forward, we will be working to align pages to start using standardized measures for consistency.

Affected Reports

• The Activity Report shows the standardized distance measure. Samsara automatically updates this report to display data using the standardized measure, including historical data. To view a report using an existing distance measure, look for the banner message and click the button to navigate to a view of the report using the previous methodology.

  

• The IFTA Report shows the standardized distance measure. There isn't an option to switch to GPS-based data. Historical IFTA data does not display standardized distance. This is because IFTA filings can be audited, and we want to provide you with the same data that you filed.

• The Fuel & Energy Report shows standardized distance. There isn't an option to switch to GPS-based data. Historical Fuel & Energy data does not display standardized distance.