David Smith looks at how posts are using their extensive networks to collect data on everything from air quality and hyper-local weather to road damage and risk, for the benefit of communities, customers and their own operations.
Postal services are taking advantage of their unique positions at the heart of supply chain networks to collect valuable information about weather, road conditions and air pollution. In the era of big data, fleets can be equipped with sensors that extract valuable information. Several projects are underway, including by DPDgroup, DHL and Finland’s Posti. All three are exploiting their extensive networks for insights, but their goals are quite different. The two projects with the most in common are DPDgroup’s and Posti’s, which depend on attaching sensors to vans.
DPDgroup’s air-quality monitoring initiative aims to amass data about air pollution in 20 European cities. DPDgroup is using Pollutrack sensors that are connected to vans or fixed stations. Meanwhile, Posti is using sensors and machine vision from environmental and industrial measurement technology provider Vaisala to monitor the state of Finland’s roads, hyper-local weather and driving conditions. Posti has commercialized its offer, whereas for DPDgroup it’s a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative. DHL’s global Resilience360 service is very different to the others, using networks of experts to provide risk reports to companies with multi-tiered supply chains.
