Turning Winter Fleet Data into Airfield Readiness

How Tamazari Strengthened Airport Snow and Ice Management with Samsara Telematics

SUMMARY

As part of the second phase of a five-year enterprise telematics strategy, the Metropolitan Airports Commission engaged Tamazari to help configure and operationalize Samsara across 676 vehicles and assets, including 207 pieces of snow-and-ice equipment.

We helped turn their technology deployment into a governed, usable operational system. The engagement connected fleet data with airport operations, giving teams greater visibility into vehicle movement, equipment activity, material application, asset health and incident history.

Tamazari supported requirements gathering, Samsara configuration, Esri dashboard requirements, installation verification, data normalization, training, documentation and user acceptance testing. And, just as importantly, our team also provided continuity through staffing changes.

CLIENT BACKGROUND

The Metropolitan Airports Commission, or MAC, is a public organization responsible for a seven-airport system that includes Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and six general aviation reliever airports. Together, these facilities support commercial aviation, corporate and recreational flying, cargo transportation, flight training, military activity and emergency medical services throughout the Twin Cities region.

Winter makes that public mission considerably more complex. Minneapolis-St. Paul receives an average of approximately 55 inches of snow each year while serving millions of passengers. Keeping that volume moving through a Minnesota winter requires specialized plows, brooms, deicers, spreaders and multipurpose vehicles working in carefully coordinated cycles.

Like a utility, an airport is live, safety-critical infrastructure. Operations cannot simply stop while systems are upgraded. Technology changes must be tested, documented and introduced without compromising the services that communities, businesses and travelers depend on.

CHALLENGE

For an airport, clearing snow is not ordinary fleet work. A plow’s location, the moment its blade touches the pavement, and the amount of deicing material applied to a runway directly affect whether an aircraft can arrive and depart safely.

MAC needed to improve its ability to manage, track and monitor fleet activity across its airfields. The organization required more than dots moving across a map. Teams needed to know what each vehicle was doing, where snow had been cleared, what material had been applied, and whether an asset was operating as expected.

Building that visibility was not as simple as connecting every vehicle to the platform. MAC’s fleet includes many different types of equipment, and each one communicates its activity differently. A runway plow, for example, operates very differently from a liquid deicer. A spreader may rely on a different combination of switches, auxiliary inputs and power takeoff configurations than a broom or multipurpose vehicle. Even two pieces of equipment performing the same job may generate different signals depending on their make, model and configuration. The team therefore had to understand not only what each asset was, but how its activity should be interpreted within the platform.

The asset records added another layer of complexity. Installation teams knew the vehicles well, but gaps and data inconsistencies emerged during the hardware deployment. Those details had to be carefully reviewed and reconciled before MAC could rely on the data with confidence.

The project also contended with a challenging organizational environment. MAC’s internal team was already stretched across competing priorities, while personnel turnover and changes within the technology vendor’s implementation team introduced additional continuity and delivery risks.

At the same time, governance needed to evolve alongside the technology. MAC developed a formal telematics policy during the project and made thoughtful decisions around privacy, security and appropriate access. For example, GPS visibility was intentionally disabled for certain police and emergency vehicles.

In this environment, success meant finding the right balance: giving operational teams the insight they needed while ensuring that access, permissions and policies reflected the sensitivity of the work.

SUCCESS CRITERIA

• Establish trusted, real-time visibility into fleet locations, movements, utilization and vehicle health across MAC’s airport system.

• Capture operational activity from specialized snow equipment, including plow activation, broom use and dry or liquid material application.

• Provide usable Samsara and Esri dashboards for operational monitoring, reporting and accident investigation.

• Define appropriate user roles, permissions and privacy controls for a security-sensitive public organization.

• Validate configurations through documented testing, installation verification and user acceptance testing.

• Create a repeatable foundation that MAC could sustain and expand throughout its five-year telematics program.

SOLUTION

Tamazari helped MAC translate airfield operations into a connected fleet environment built around Samsara and Esri. Gateways installed in vehicles transmitted available information such as fuel levels, diagnostic fault codes, vehicle identity and operating status. Additionally, external-facing dash cameras were deployed on selected snow equipment, with additional wing and rear-facing cameras used where operators needed greater visibility around large plows.

The team configured power takeoff and auxiliary inputs to capture the actual work being performed. When a plow blade was lowered, a broom was activated or a spreader began applying material, that action could be recorded in the platform. This gave MAC the ability to move beyond knowing where a vehicle had traveled and begin understanding what happened along the route.

Furthermore, asset tags extended visibility to equipment such as generators and other movable assets that needed to be located and protected. Geofences were also established around airport properties so designated teams could be alerted when specialized vehicles left an expected operating area.

The result was not merely a collection of connected devices. It was a digital representation of winter operations, configured around the physical behavior of the equipment and the decisions airport teams need to make.

IMPLEMENTATION

Tamazari began by gathering requirements for the Samsara environment and Esri dashboards. The team worked with MAC and Samsara stakeholders to define operational use cases, user roles, reporting needs and the configuration required for each major equipment type.

Installation verification became a critical workstream. Tamazari reviewed how gateways, cameras, asset tags and auxiliary inputs had been installed, then helped reconcile the resulting records. Missing and inconsistent information was cleaned, normalized and mapped to the correct vehicles and equipment functions. This step was essential because a dashboard can only be trusted when the installation data behind it is accurate.

The team also created configuration documentation, user and role definitions, training materials and a formal testing process.

User acceptance testing included permission testing which surfaced several issues before the system was fully relied upon. Although testing extended over more than a month because of competing demands on MAC personnel, that time helped validate both the technical configuration and the way different users could access the system.

Throughout the engagement, Tamazari served as a consistent source of platform and project knowledge. That continuity became especially valuable as stakeholders changed on both the client and vendor sides. Rather than allowing institutional knowledge to leave with individual team members, the project captured decisions in documentation, configurations and repeatable processes.

RESULTS

Teams can now view vehicle locations and movements, monitor available health information, assess utilization and support incident investigations with more reliable operational data.

For winter operations, the platform provides more meaningful context. MAC can identify when and where plows were activated and track the timing and location of material application. That information helps teams confirm that runways and other operating surfaces are being treated in appropriate cycles while creating a stronger record for reporting and review.

Geofencing provides additional awareness when specialized equipment leaves airport property, while role-based permissions and selective GPS settings support the organization’s privacy and security decisions.

Because the engagement concentrated on foundational visibility, configuration and governance, its most defensible results are operational rather than a single cost-savings or accident-reduction figure. MAC now has cleaner asset information, tested permissions, documented configurations and a more dependable view of work occurring across the airfield. Those capabilities make better decisions possible long after the initial hardware installation is complete.

LONG-TERM VALUE

The project created a foundation MAC can build on as its fleet and operating model continue to evolve. The organization has since announced a major modernization of its winter fleet, with 58 specialized snow-removal vehicles scheduled for delivery over three years. A governed telematics environment gives MAC a clearer path for bringing new equipment online with consistent data standards, configurations and reporting expectations.

The broader value reaches beyond fleet management. Reliable winter airfield operations help protect passengers and employees, preserve airline schedules, support cargo movement and keep a major regional transportation system accessible during severe weather. Each accurate equipment record and verified runway-treatment cycle contributes to a much larger public outcome: maintaining the connections that allow communities and economies to function.

That's also the larger modernization lesson for utilities, transportation agencies and other infrastructure operators. Technology creates lasting value when physical assets, operational workflows, governance and people are connected. The platform is only the beginning. The real transformation happens when teams can trust the information well enough to act on it.

KEY LEARNINGS

• Telematics is an operational design project. Installing hardware does not automatically create useful visibility. Each signal must be connected to a real piece of equipment and a meaningful business question.

• Asset-data quality determines platform credibility. Missing identifiers, inconsistent records and incorrect installation details can undermine even the most capable technology.

• Specialized fleets require specialized configuration. Plows, brooms, deicers and spreaders cannot be treated as interchangeable vehicles.

• Governance should develop alongside deployment. Privacy rules, GPS policies, permissions and user responsibilities need to be resolved before broader adoption.

• Testing and documentation are operational safeguards. User acceptance testing exposed permission issues, while configuration records protected continuity through personnel changes.

• Implementation capacity affects timelines. In complex public organizations, progress often depends less on software speed than on stakeholder availability, decision-making and coordination.

• The strongest modernization partner stays beyond installation. Long-term value comes from helping teams stabilize, understand and continue improving the system after go-live.

Learn more about our modernization services for high-stakes fleet operations