Interview with Daluka SIM-card CTO about geospatial data infrastructure
In China there are more than 2000 logistics management platforms that organize work of 30 million truck drivers. According to new regulations all logistics management platforms need to collect geospatial data of their contracted trucks, and store it at least for three years. That is required to reduce tax evasion of companies that buy fake invoices. Thus tax authorities will have an instrument to verify whether this or that factory really have spent so much by checking geolocation data of its logistics activity.
This time we had a brief AMA session, in fact an interview, with Daluka SIM-card CTO Tian Shanchuan about how Goose Q team provides cheap and reliable solution for logistics management platforms to cope with new government regulations.
Dimitry: Hello! Please introduce yourself briefly. What did you do before, and what are you responsible now for?
Tian: Hello everyone. I am Tian Shanchuan, originally from Henan province, Jishui town. I am leading technology team of Daluka SIM-card. I have started my carrier in 2012 as an intern at WEME (former name of Goose Q) and I was front-end developer for smart mirrors software. Last year I have started to coordinate back-end integration of Daluka SIM-card with China Unicom and other ecosystem partners. From intern to CTO.
Dimitry: Please briefly introduce Daluka SIM-card. Is it different from other China Unicom SIM-cards?
Tian: Daluka SIM-card is a mobile communication card jointly launched by China Unicom and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing. It is a low-cost SIM card customized for the logistics industry practitioners (truck drivers, delivery workers, etc.). It provides free traffic for more than 200 business and leisure applications. Now it is also spreading to urban transportation vehicles and private cars. Well, the main difference with other China Unicom SIM-card is that it is targeted on logistics industry.
Dimitry: According to the government’s regulations, the logistics management platforms need to collect geo-positioning data starting from the next year. How can Daluka SIM-card solve this problem?
Tian: It uses a low-cost geo-positioning mechanism to collect data of vehicles path through Cell ID. Base transceiver stations communicate with Daluka SIM-card and collect geospatial data of vehicles. Daluka SIM-card can be understood as a tool for the logistics industry, which makes users feel useful and helps logistics platforms to obtain business transportation paths. Daluka SIM-card constantly collects geospatial data through cellular base transceiver stations. Bases stations in turn constantly communicate with satellites and transmit that data, so that no GPS devices are required. The information then is converted into a positional relationship by calculation, and it can be graphically displayed.
Dimitry: So these logistics management platforms can collect their driver geo-positioning data through Daluka SIM-card, no other hardware is needed, right?
Tian: Yes, no additional infrastructure investment are required for logistics management platforms.
Dimitry: There are 30 million truck drivers in China. How do you store so much data?
Tian: Our own independent cloud storage servers are deployed in Wenzhou and Ningbo. We are also using Alibaba Cloud when needed. I will bring you there next time. In the future, larger-scale hot data may be stored using distributed storage technology IPFS.
Dimitry: Yes, sure, I will make a video about that place. How do you consider to use distributed storage and blockchain in the future?
Tian: The tax-related data is the best application of blockchain technology. It is also the blockchain application way mentioned by Xi Jinping and People’s Daily. Daluka SIM-card provides geo-spatial data for the whole logistics ecosystem: drivers, vehicle safety supervision authorities, cargo owners, fleet management, SaaS developers, CFLP, logistics association services, financial and insurance companies, supply chain warehouses, taxation authorities. All of them can achieve great cost savings.
Dimitry: Understand, so choosing a blockchain technology is not so fast process. When did the Goose Q team start developing this technology, road big data ecosystem?
Tian: Goose Q team has been engaged in this path data collection and tracking technology research for nearly 10 years, and has developed nearly 100 technical interfaces and products, serving the traffic police (Jinan traffic police), map road conditions (Gao De, Navinfo, Baidu), traffic broadcasting (Datong Traffic Radio, Henan Police Voice) and other public organizations.
Dimitry: What progress has it made so far? Can Daluka SIM-card already provide the required data? Is the server ready? What about big data classification algorithms?
Tian: China Unicom and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing are launching a new round of upgrade cooperation based on the Daluka SIM-card location data. They are integrating more resources and we are open to the whole industry. One recent example is cooperation with China Logistics Smart Storage (中储智运). It is the industry benchmark, and we started to cooperate with them through the open inquiry of China Federation Logistics and Purchasing.
Tian: Logistics is lagging behind the rest of the economy in terms of digitalization. It is a desert of the Internet. It is in urgent need of advanced technology to provide low-cost services. Blockchain technology will enhance the mutual trust of the whole industry. We will launch National Freight Multimedia Verification Center at a right time. The Center will also cooperate with traditional logistics companies through the guidance of China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.
Goose Q is the biggest in China road data computation ecosystem with more than 10 years of development history. Goose Q’s main purpose is to provide a visual, verifiable, credible, traceable, anti-fraud, immutable data of the logistics industry in order to enhance its efficiency and transparency as well as to improve truck drivers’ financial and psychological wellbeing.
Webpage: http://www.gooseq.com
Telegram group: https://t.me/gooseQ
