Methods and systems for detecting transportation relays

1. A system for determining that a transportation relay has occurred, the system comprising:

a first tracking device configured to track a location of a first load;

a second tracking device configured to track a location of a second load; and

a central computing device, the central computing device configured to:

receive the location of the first load from the first tracking device;

identify a stop event for the first load based on the location of the first load;

receive the location of the second load from the second tracking device;

identify a stop event for the second load based on the location of the second load;

determine that the stop event for the first load and the stop event for the second load are within a predetermined proximity;

determine that the stop event for the first load and the stop event for the second load occur within a predetermined time period; and

determine that the transportation relay has occurred.

2. The system of claim 1 , the central computing device being further configured to:

confirm that the stop event for the first load and the stop event for the second load are related based at least in part on a route for the first load and a route for the second load.

3. The system of claim 1 , the central computing device being further configured to:

provide an output responsive to determining that the transportation relay has occurred.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the output comprises information regarding a shipment identification, a route identification, a location of the transportation relay, or a time of the transportation relay.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first tracking device and the second tracking device comprise GPS receivers.

6. The system of claim 1 , the location of the first load being a first location of the load, the central computing device being further configured to:

receive a second location of the first load from the first tracking device; and wherein identifying the stop event for the first load comprises determining that the first location of the first load and the second location of the first load are substantially the same.

7. The system of claim 1 , the central computing device being further configured to:

receive information regarding a trailer hook or a trailer unhook event for one of the first load and the second load;

wherein determining that the transportation relay has occurred is based at least in part on the received information regarding the trailer hook or the trailer unhook event.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the location of the first load and the location of the second load are determined using cellular network triangulation.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the central computing device is further configured to update an estimated time of arrival for at least one of the first and second loads responsive to determining that the transportation relay has occurred.

10. A method for determining that a transportation relay has occurred executed by a central computing device comprising:

receiving a location of a first load from a first tracking device;

identifying a stop event for the first load based on the location of the first load;

receiving a location of a second load from a second tracking device;

identifying a stop event for the second load based on the location of the second load;

determining that the transportation relay has occurred responsive to determining that the stop event for the first load and the stop event for the second load are within a predetermined proximity; and

determining that the stop event for the first load and the stop event for the second load occur within a predetermined time period.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

comparing the location of the first load with the location of the second load to determine whether the stop event for the first load and the stop event for the second load are within the predetermined proximity.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

receiving a route for the first load;

receiving a route for the second load; and

confirming that the stop event for the first load and the stop event for the second load are related based at least in part on the received routes.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

providing an output responsive to determining that the transportation relay has occurred.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first location tracking device and the second location tracking device comprise GPS receivers.

15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

storing information regarding a time or a location of the transportation relay in a database.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

updating an estimated time of arrival for at least one of the first and second loads responsive to determining that the transportation relay has occurred.

17. A computer-implemented method executed by a central computing device comprising:

receiving location data pertaining to a first load from a first tracking device;

identifying a stop event for the first load based on the location data pertaining to the first load;

receiving location data pertaining to a second load from a second tracking device;

identifying a stop event for the second load based on the location data pertaining to the second load;

determining a distance between the stop event for the first load and the stop event for the second load;

determining a time period between the stop event for the first load and the stop event for the second load; and

determining that the transportation relay has occurred responsive to determining that the distance between the stop event for the first load and the stop event for the second load is less than a predetermined threshold distance and responsive to determining that the time period between the stop event for the first load and the stop event for the second load is less than a predetermined threshold time period.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 , further comprising:

receiving route information for the first load;

receiving route information for the second load; and

confirming that the stop event for the first load and the stop event for the second load are related based at least in part on the received route information for the first and second load.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 , further comprising:

providing an output responsive to determining that the transportation relay has occurred.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19 , wherein the output comprises information regarding a shipment identification, a route identification, a time of the transportation relay, or a location of the transportation relay.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 , further comprising:

storing information regarding a time or a location of the transportation relay in a database.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 , further comprising:

updating route information for at least one of the first and second loads responsive to determining that the transportation relay has occurred.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 22 , wherein updating the route information comprises updating an estimated time of arrival.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 , further comprising:

receiving information regarding a trailer hook or a trailer unhook event for one of the first load and the second load;

wherein determining that the transportation relay has occurred is based at least in part on the received information regarding the trailer hook or the trailer unhook event.