Plowing the snow in southeastern Michigan has long been a tough -- and politically sensitive -- task. A Detroit News editorial cried "Snow Job" last winter after snowfall caused long traffic delays in Detroit and nearby Oakland County.

Such tracking will help the agencies send the plows where they're most needed. If a vehicle breaks down, for instance, other vehicles can be rerouted instantly to cover its territory. "We can gain some operational efficiency by knowing the location of equipment without having to communicate by radio with different individuals to pinpoint them," says Ulysses Burdell, an official in the Detroit Department of Public Works.

Moreover, since agencies in several counties are involved, trucks can be sent across county lines as needed. "We can deploy and redeploy to help each other," says Burdell.

The agencies participating in SEMSIM are the Road Commission of Oakland County, the Wayne County Department of Public Services, the Road Commission of Macomb County, and the Detroit Department of Public Works. Under a $1.1 million contract announced last Friday, Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corporation will provide GPS services during the project's first phase, in which 40 trucks will be monitored this winter. The project will expand to include some 500 vehicles over the next two or three years, making it by far the largest-scale use of the technology for this purpose to date.

Besides improving efficiency, satellite tracking of snowplows can help safeguard the environment. "You can make sure the amount of salt you're dumping on the roads is a reasonable amount," says Chip White, director of the University of Michigan's Intelligent Transportation Systems center, which serves as a consultant to the SEMSIM project.