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SCHENECTADY, N.Y. — Transportation management software provider Transfinder and GPS hardware manufacturer Zonar Systems have partnered to offer school districts a low-cost GPS system. 

Transfinder will market and deliver RouteTracer, its new GPS bundle, to its school district clients and Zonar will provide installation and service for the system’s hardware.

RouteTracer integrates Zonar's K12 High-Definition GPS unit with Transfinder's Busfinder AVL software to display actual and historical bus locations and path-points on a district's transportation routing map. This enables pupil transportation officials to compare actual school bus driving paths with planned routes to monitor and improve the safe and efficient transport of students.

"School district transportation officials are fully aware of the value of GPS for their purposes, but the cost of outfitting their fleets is often perceived to be beyond their reach. With RouteTracer, they now have a low-cost solution to test-drive GPS on some of their buses and to prove its value in increasing safety and efficiency while reducing cost. They can then make the case for outfitting their entire fleet," said Antonio Civitella, Transfinder's president and CEO.

Brett Brinton, president and CEO of Zonar Systems, added, "Our K12 High-Definition GPS platform is built specifically for the pupil transportation market. In addition to its many other capabilities, the K12 enables clients to locate vehicles in real time, quickly audit a route or pinpoint speed at any given time. We are excited to team with Transfinder to offer their clients our K12 GPS platform fully integrated with Transfinder's AVL software."

Transfinder will offer clients an overview of RouteTracer during a free online Web seminar, to be held Wednesday, July 28, at 1 p.m. EDT, company officials said.