ANN ARBOR, MI and DETROIT – The City of Ann Arbor, Mich. has a new online tool that allows residents to track the locations of snow plows, according to City documents. In addition, Wayne County, Mich. has created a website that allows area residents, called Compass, to track the location of City vehicles involved in snow removal, according to a news release from the City.

In Ann Arbor, a total of 14 snow plows, and 33 smaller vehicles, are equipped with 33 automatic vehicle locators (AVL), i.e. GPS systems. The City stated the purpose of tracking is not only to monitor and improve vehicle routing, some of the usual advantages of GPS tracking systems used by fleets, but also to keep the public informed about vehicle locations as well.

Wayne County's website allows area residents to track the location of City vehicles involved in snow removal, and it provides the most recent GPS data for an eight-hour period, the route history of the truck, radar from the National Weather Forecast Office, and views from State-owned cameras, among other information.

Out of the County’s 158 trucks, 149 are equipped with AVL systems. Also, 18 of the County’s trucks are equipped with dashboard video cameras.

Ann Arbor has a number of pages on its website dedicated to the automatic vehicle locator program as well as a frequently asked questions page for residents on using the system and snowplow removal. Wayne County has a prominent banner on its website to promote the use of the Compass system.

You can check out the tracking tool here. You can also read more details about the City’s program here. You can see Wayne County’s Compass tracking site here.