In some respects, backhoe loaders are going through an evolution of sorts. A decade ago, we had just standard backhoes like the Case Model 580 and Deere 310. Today, backhoes come in all sizes from small compact machines that have digging depths from 8 to 10 ft. up to the bigger standard models that dig as deep as 16 ft. The smallest machines are powered by both gasoline and diesel engines in the 20 hp range and reach about 60 lip. Their larger cousins start at about 70 lip and go up to about 115 lip. Several companies are moving into the smaller machines because of their growing popularity particularly with the rental industry and with landscape contractors.

Historically, these machines have been referred to as "go karts" for lack of a better name. Today, the industry has a variety of small, gas engine-driven, low-to-the-ground vehicles, so more descriptive names are used based on the karts'' intended applications. Amusement and arcade parks rent the more heavily constructed karts for fun seekers to operate on a confined track. Then there are the paved-track racers that are commercially and/or association operated, where the drivers bring their high-speed, low-to-the-ground machines to the track. And finally, there is the OPE fun kart industry that supplies karts for unstructured recreation in wide-open spaces; these are the karts that I will be covering in the series.

These systems generally consist of a GIS/GPS-based vehicle tracking system and the associated mapping display software. GIS, or Geographic Information System, provides the mapping component. With the tracker devices installed in vehicles, dispatchers can follow a vehicle''s location in real-time. When an incident occurs, controllers can quickly dispatch the vehicle nearest to the incident.In the El Paso Fire Department, for instance, the GPS-powered automatic vehicle locator system tracks the location of the department''s apparatus fleet. This system consists of a radio and a GPS receiver/transceiver affixed to each fire apparatus. A signal from the GPS unit is transmitted to a satellite, the signal bounces back to earth, and the radio system tells the computer system exactly where that unit is on a map to within one meter of accuracy.

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