(ST. JOSEPH, Mo.) St. Joseph might have missed the brunt of Monday's winter storm, but city streets said they're prepared for the next big one, thanks to the newest 21st century technology. 

“We can look at every vehicle we have in our four divisions or we can set up groups,” said Keven Schneider, Superintendent of streets & infrastructure. 

Inside the streets department, hangs their brand new tool- a GPS tracker. The plasma maps out the city and tracks the trucks salting, sweeping and plowing the streets. 

“Not only does it show where the truck is, but it can show us if a plow is up or down, if it’s spreading salt or not and just progress on the routes themselves," said Schneider. 

This truck tracker isn't only helpful to the streets department, but residents too. If a resident's street hasn't been plowed yet, city streets can soon check the status of the street in real time.  

“We’re still learning the software, but we hope by next year to be able to have routes inserted using GIS and we’ll be able to watch the progress of the routes as we go,” said Schneider.

It also serves as an insurance and safety tool. 

Schneider said the tracker can go back to a specific date and time. “If somebody calls and says, ‘Hey, your plow hit my car overnight,” we can see if we were even in that area.” The tracker can also pinpoint where an employee is if they were to get injured on the job.

St. Joseph city streets said virtually mapping the trucks' locations throughout the city makes plowing more efficient and easy. 

As for Tuesday night's storm, Schneider said the streets department is montering the storm to see if trucks need to hit the streets in the morning.