What is a geofence?
A geofence is a defined area in a virtual setting that corresponds to a real-world geographic area. Geofences are used in a variety of applications. Primarily, they are used to notify fleet managers of events happening outside of an allowed area, to say whether an action is allowed or disallowed based on location or for use in data analytics.
How does geofencing work?
In ITracker, we refer to geofences as “zones.” ITracker zones have some pre-set types, but custom types can also be set up.
Pre-set zone types in ITracker:
Customer: This defines an area where a driver picks up or drops off orders. This zone type is especially helpful for understanding estimated times of arrivals (ETA), the length of time spent loading or unloading and receiving notifications when vehicles are back on route.
Home: This zone can be used for those drivers who park their trucks at home overnight or who make stops there during the day. It is helpful to categorize this so you can check to see when the vehicle has left for the day and when it has returned.
Office: Similar to the home zone, the office zone allows you to set boundaries around your company’s workplace to track when vehicles are coming and going and for how long.
You can set up zones for a wider variety of places as well. Some common types of zones include:
Airports
Fuel stations
States or provinces
Regions or countries
Parking lots or yards
Schools
Construction areas
Geofences can represent any type of area you need. For example, service companies, like internet service providers (ISPs), might create a geofence around the office to determine how frequently the technicians are stopping by the office. Combining ITracker zones with exception reporting allows you to analyze and get a clearer picture on the behavior of your fleet. In this article, we’ll define exactly what a geofence is and provide some examples of how it’s used.
What are the benefits of geofencing?
Geofencing is useful for a number of purposes in fleet management, such as measuring fleet productivity, efficiency or supporting customer service.
Geofences can represent any type of area you need. For example, service companies, like internet service providers (ISPs), might create a geofence around the office to determine how frequently the technicians are stopping by the office. Service or transportation companies use geofencing to draw virtual perimeters around a customer’s location so that they know when a driver arrives or how long it took to unload their freight. Construction companies may use it to determine if a piece of equipment that leaves a job site is being stolen or inappropriately moved.
Ultimately, combining ITracker zones with exception reporting allows you to analyze and get a clearer picture on the behavior of your fleet.
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