Geo fencing is a relatively new term to vehicle tracking. To help you understand what it means we are going to offer an explanation of vehicle tracking and what geo fencing is. First, GPS tracking is the most common system. It allows the truck to contact a satellite to send a signal to the fleet office based on where the truck and driver are located. The information is real time. It cuts down on errors in communication. It also helps you keep track of your employees. Anytime there is an accident or issue you have the means to contact the driver, make sure they are safe, and that help is on the way.
Sounds great, right? It is, so now we can talk about what makes some vehicle tracking systems even better. Many of the modern vehicle tracking systems have what is called geo fencing. Geo fencing can be defined as a geographical barrier. Your GPS signal in the fleet truck will talk with four satellites, which relay information to your data centre. The information puts an exact location on the vehicle.
Now you have the option from base to set up a perimeter for the vehicles movements. Say that you work in a specific area of London. There are four streets that create a geographical barrier for your business. Any truck outside of that barrier is not on company business. To ensure you know when the truck goes outside the barrier you can place the geo fencing on the map. You can tell the programme that a truck outside those markers needs to send you an alert.
The alert can be sent via email, SMS, or other messaging services. You are then alerted that either the driver is going out of bounds or that something else is wrong. You would obviously have to try to contact the driver to know why they are outside the barrier, but the point is you are alerted to do so. If the driver is supposedly at a residence working with a consumer and the vehicle goes out of bounds this could mean theft has occurred.
When the alert is sent you can find out if theft is the issue and get the police to the location where your vehicle is. There are more benefits to vehicle tracking and geo fencing than mentioned above. You can also prevent time from being wasted, which costs your company money. A driver who goes outside of the parameters to get to a client is going to be wasting time and fuel. You can be alerted when something like this occurs.
You will have to spend some time plotting the fences around your clients to get the system up and running. The great news is that it is easy. You will also be able to help your base team supervise your drivers more effectively. It is a definite win- win situation. On a personal note geo fencing can be used for your loved ones and their mobile phones.