Setting up geofences for depots, routes and customer sites

What a geofence is

A geofence is a virtual boundary drawn on the map in your tracking platform. When a tracked vehicle or asset enters or leaves that area, the platform can record the event and send an alert.

Geofences are one of the most useful tracking features, but only when they are set up around real business questions.

Where geofences are most useful

• Depots and yards: know when vehicles leave and return, and spot movement after hours.
• Customer sites: confirm arrival and departure times for deliveries and service visits.
• Fuel stations you use: link refuels to approved locations.
• Project sites: keep machinery and equipment where it is meant to be.
• Restricted areas: flag vehicles entering places they should not go.

Draw them well

Give each geofence a clear name that your team will recognise, such as "Industrial Area depot" or "Client – Athi River warehouse". Make the zone large enough to cover entrances and parking, but not so large that passing traffic triggers alerts.

On busy roads, a zone that is too tight may miss short visits; one that is too wide may record vehicles simply driving past. Test new geofences for a week and adjust.

Send alerts to the right people

An alert is only useful if someone acts on it. Decide who needs each alert: the depot manager for after-hours exits, dispatch for customer-site arrivals, and security for restricted areas.

Use reports rather than instant alerts for information you review weekly, such as time spent at customer sites. Keep instant alerts for events that need a quick response.

Review regularly

Operations change. Customers move, routes change and new sites open. Review your geofences every few months, remove ones you no longer need and update names. A tidy set of geofences keeps alerts meaningful.