Geofence Best Practices
Geofences can be valuable tools to outline specific areas that you want to have deeper insights into- it may be a yard, or a maintenance shop, or even a customer delivery location. This guide will walk you through some best practices and ways to utilize geofences.
Section 1: Setting Geofence Alerts for Boundary Crossings
FleetPulse enables you to get alerts for when a trailer crosses into or out of an area that you have designated as a Geofence. This may be useful if you'd like to keep track of when trailers enter/exit a yard or a customer location. To do this, you first need to ensure that you have created a geofence for the specific location that you want to track. Next, navigate to the “Alerts” tab in the left hand FleetPulse navigation (Figure 1) and select Geofence Boundary Crossing. Follow the prompts on screen to set up the alert, which will be emailed to the addresses that you specify. (Figure 1). An example of how to create an “Enter” geofence" is included as Figure 2, an example of an “Exit” geofence is Figure 3, and Figure 4 shows an example of when no alert would be created.
Figure 1: Navigating to the Geofence Boundary Crossing Alert
Figure 2: Example of How to Get An “Enter” Geofence Alert
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Figure 3: Example of How to Get An “Exit” Geofence Alert
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Figure 4: Example of When No Alert Would Be Sent * 
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*This may happen if the tethered and powered trailer is in the geofence location for less than 5 minutes. Or if your geofence is too small and the trailer passes through the geofence quickly without sending a GPS Report.
Section 2: Using Geofences to Dig Deeper into Yards
With FleetPulse's Yard Check Product (Figure 5), you get an instant snapshot view of all of your trailers in a geofence
and perform a virtual yard inspection- including noting dwell time, loaded / unloaded status, and their location within
the yard. Yard Check will automatically generate if you have a “Yard Type” geofence created to match the outline of the yard.
When creating this “Yard Type” geofence, make sure to cover the entire location using the polygon / circle creation tool. Consider the different
entry and exit points of the location. You may want to follow the street pattern to create your geofence. Don't worry if your yard shape
or location changes over time- geofences can be edited at any point by just clicking on them. Figure 6 below shows the Best, Good, and
Not Recommended ways of setting up a yard as a geofence.
Figure 5: Yard Check Product
Figure 6: Best, Good and Not Recommended Ways to Create a Yard Geofence
Best
Good
Not Recommended
Section 3: Setting a “Border Crossing” Geofence
Another use case that may require a geofence is if you’re trying to monitor a tractor and trailer traveling across a state or country border (i.e. from the US to Mexico). In this case, it’s best to draw a wide geofence, making sure to cover the border crossings, but expand that geofence to cover the entire state or a large part of the country. Consider your fleet routes and expand the geofence beyond a typical route. That will ensure you’re only getting geofence alerts when a trailer crosses the specified border. Examples showing Best, Good, and Not Recommended ways of setting this geofence are shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7: Best, Good and Not Recommended Ways to Create a Border Crossing Geofence
Best
Good
Not Recommended
Section 4: Technical Best Practices
- The trailer must be powered by the tractor 7-way for best results. When powered by the tractor, the trailer reports GPS every 5 minutes. When not powered by the tractor (using the FleetPulse 12-volt battery), GPS reports once a day.
- If a Yard Tractor moves your trailers, the trailer may not be receiving power from the tractor. Therefore, a GPS report will only be sent every 24 hours, or when a door event occurs, or when power is applied to the trailer.
- Geofence "Enter Events" require that the trailer report GPS location outside the geofence and then report again once it has entered the geofence.
- Geofence “Exit Events” require that the trailer report GPS location inside the geofence and then report GPS location outside the geofence.
- Enter and Exist alerts are selected individually when making an alert (Figure 1). If you'd like both, enter your email in each selection box.