What is Geofencing?

24 Jun 2015

GEOFENCE

Geofencing is a particular feature located inside a software program that utilizes radio frequency identification (RFID) or global positioning system (GPS) to define geographical boundaries. It can be thought of as a virtual barrier.

Try to imagine a map full of hundreds of dots.  Each of these dots represents a different job site, work order, or eager customer. While it is very useful to be able to visualize tasks by location, this type of map can easily go from being a valuable tool for fleet managers to being overwhelming when trying to figure out how to react to each point of interest.

This is where geofencing comes to the rescue. Although you might not be intimate with the term, fleet experts use it regularly to maximize productivity. Simply put, geofencing is really a virtual boundary that surrounds real-world geography.  Visualize an invisible dog fence; although you cannot see it by the naked eye, it is there and helps to keep pets contained within a particular location.

How Geofencing is Used

Geofencing is used with moving things such as trailers, trucks, containers, and more.  However, fleet managers looking to monitor trucks and trailers say it’s particularly useful in improving their ability to:

  • Keep track of arrival and departure schedules.
  • Eliminate delays and offer advanced warning to customer sites of cargo arrival.
  • Add extra security by being able to monitor high-value loads.
  • Keep track of a fleet of vehicles inside a particular region.
  • Limit fleet travel to particular locations.

With geofencing, users are able to draw zones around customer sites, workplaces, secure areas and more. To work properly, trailers need to have access to the Internet and GPS tracking devices installed that have geofencing capability.

According to XTRA Lease’s trailer tracking manager, Craig Nolle, using geofencing is perfect for customer service and operating efficiency.

“It lets you know when trailers are or are not where they’re supposed to be, improving productivity and helping the fleet operate at peak performance.” he says.

Also according to Nolle, geofencing will be appreciated by fleet managers due to its ability to:

  1. Keep Unattended Loads on Lockdown.

While you can’t surround the load with armed guards, you can surround it with an invisible fence. You will be able to identify unacceptable activity if that fence is breached in any way. This will allow you to investigate it immediate and if you suspect the trailer of being stolen, call the authorities.

  1. Provide Advance Shipment Arrival Notice.

Geofencing will alert you when your trailer is arriving at a customer site or distribution center. You might wish to set up a perimeter that is 30 minutes away from the facility that is being delivered to. Once this geofence is entered, you will get an alert.

  1. Provide Improvement with Customer Service, Driver Efficiency and Load Scheduling

Managers can determine whether or not remaining route stops can be delivered on time through geofencing. If not, the user will be able to re-assign deliveries and pickups or reroute them as needed.

Geofencing is just one of various different tools that monitoring and fleet GPS tracking systems offer for helping fleet managers keep an eye on their fleet. Even though it’s not a magic bullet, it can be thought of as getting x-ray vision into a zone that is invisible that you are monitoring. This can help to keep optimization and costs where you would like them.

Call us here at LiveView GPS toll free at 1-888-544-0494 – Monday through Friday from 9 am – 5 pm PST for a GPS fleet tracking demo today.


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