A tracking deployment usually starts producing data long before it produces value. The gap is not analytical sophistication. It is that raw telemetry answers questions nobody asked, at a granularity nobody can act on.
Events, not points
The first useful transformation is from position samples to events: arrived, departed, dwelling longer than expected, deviating from the planned route, running outside its window. Events are the vocabulary an operations team already thinks in, and they compress enormously.
Retention is a design decision
Telemetry compounds fast. A store that answers in milliseconds at ten million rows and in minutes at ten billion is not a store, it is a deadline. Deciding early what stays at full resolution, what is rolled up, and what is discarded is cheaper than discovering the limit in production.