Auckland Canoe Polo Society
The Auckland Canoe Polo Society (ACP) is an amateur sporting club offering high quality canoe polo sport opportunities in Auckland. The ACP creates a friendly environment for anyone wanting to learn, and enjoy, canoe polo and kayaking.
The Opportunity
To prevent theft of, or damage to, a custom-made box trailer used to store and transport the ACP’s canoes and equipment by using an IoT-enabled remote location monitoring solution.
The Partnership Solution
- simple setup with minimal maintenance,
- three year battery life in a discreet tracking device,
- 94 percent network coverage of New Zealand,
- cost-effective annual fee,
- near real-time tracking.
The Auckland Canoe Polo Society (ACP) is an amateur sporting club dedicated to offering high quality canoe polo sport opportunities in Auckland. Club members ranging from beginners through to New Zealand representatives enjoy the fast, exciting sport of canoe polo.
ACP has a custom-made box trailer to store canoes and equipment and transport them between competitive events and training sessions. This trailer has been stored for free at club member’s homes around Auckland.
As Auckland has become more densely populated, free, off-street parking has become more difficult to find. Storing the trailer on a public road leaves it at greater risk of theft and it is not feasible for an amateur club to insure it and its contents. Research shows boat theft rates across Auckland have been rising by around 15 percent every year since 2017.
Jef Wright, Treasurer, Auckland Canoe Polo Society says, “Loss of our trailer would seriously impair our competitive and recreational activities. We invested in wheel clamps to secure our trailer and equipment. This affords a measure of security but a backup, technology-based solution to remotely monitor our asset’s location provides much greater peace of mind. ”
Initially ACP tested an Internet of Things (IoT) 3G tracking device. Powered by a heavy-duty battery, the physical device was large and sensitive to the condition of its mounting surface. Within a year the device filled up with water and tracking stopped.
“We were still keen to track our trailer and equipment. We chose to work with Thinxtra because the team listened to our requirements, quickly responded to questions and provided innovative, fit-for-purpose solutions. Thinxtra’s tracking hardware is also more cleverly designed than other devices we had seen,” says Wright.
The Thinxtra IoT-enabled solution uses an Xtrak device connected to the Thinxtra 0G Network, powered by Sigfox technology, to monitor the ACP’s canoe polo trailer location. Thinxtra’s small device size and three-year battery life allowed discreet installation, with few mounting constraints. Connection to the 0G Network provides a cost-effective, near-real-time tracking solution.
“It was easy for us to install the tracking device and remotely monitor our trailer position to within a few metres. The Xtrak device sends its location to a central management platform every six minutes when the trailer is moving. The platform stores this data so anyone with a login can check the trailer location history on specific date ranges and enable email alerts to notify of movements outside defined geofences. We hope that knowing the trailer location will give us a chance to recover it before it’s dismantled and the contents scattered or stolen.” says Wright.
The simple setup, 94 percent network coverage of New Zealand and modest annual cost, about as much as a cup of coffee per week, to run the hardware, connectivity and management platform, with no monthly contract, made Thinxtra an obvious choice of partner.
Jef Wright
Treasurer, Auckland Canoe Polo Society
Shaun McBride, New Zealand Operations Manager at Thinxtra, says, “The key to delivering long-term value through IoT deployments is creating fit-for-purpose, end-to-end solutions based on a true understanding of the customer’s requirements. As The IoT Telco, Thinxtra’s experience, knowledge and partner network lets us creatively connect an organisation’s physical assets and unlock data-driven insights to improve operations.”
About the Auckland Canoe Polo Society (ACP)
The Auckland Canoe Polo Society (ACP) is the best place for canoe polo in Auckland, we have members from complete beginner to NZ representatives. ACP is part of the larger Northern Canoe Polo Association, the umbrella organisation for all clubs inside the Northern Region. The Northern Region spans from Cape Reinga to include Auckland, Taupo, Rotorua, Hamilton and all the way to Waiouru and New Plymouth. We offer a great environment to learn and enjoy canoe polo and kayaking! For more information visit our website.
