Geofencing 101: boost security with virtual boundaries

A geofence is a polygon drawn on a map that a vehicle can cross. Simple enough that it is usually configured badly.

The two kinds

Inclusion zones define where a vehicle should be — a delivery territory, a route corridor, a site. The alert fires on exit. Exclusion zones define where it should never go — a border region, a competitor's yard, a known theft hotspot. The alert fires on entry.

Most fleets only set up the first kind and then wonder why they hear about problems late.

Add time, or drown in alerts

A vehicle parked at the depot overnight is normal. The same vehicle leaving the depot at 3am is not. Without time-of-day rules a geofence generates alerts that are technically correct and operationally useless — and an alert stream nobody reads is identical to no alerts at all.

Time-based and POI-based arming solves this: security tightens automatically outside working hours or when the vehicle is parked somewhere it should be stationary.

Sizing the polygon

Draw it too tight and GPS drift triggers false crossings all day. Too loose and a vehicle can sit outside where it should be without registering. Follow the actual boundary of the site with a small margin, and prefer a polygon that follows roads over a circle that ignores them.

Where the value actually lands

• Security. Movement outside expected hours is the earliest reliable signal of theft.
• Proof of service. Entry and dwell time at a customer site is delivery evidence that does not depend on paperwork.
• Route discipline. A corridor around an assigned route catches deviation while there is still time to ask about it.
• Payroll and billing. Time inside a zone is an objective record of hours on site.

Start small

Three or four zones that produce alerts people act on beat forty that get muted in the first week. Add zones when a specific question comes up that a zone would answer.