Geofences are widely used in G4L. Besides the map’s visual enrichment, they can be used in reports, notifications, and units’ tooltips. Geofences can also be used as check points while configuring routes, and in their tooltips you can get dynamically updated images from external sources.

To open the Geofences panel, choose the corresponding name in the top panel or click on the necessary item in the main menu customizer. Afterwards, choose a mode which allows you to work either with geofences or groups of geofences. Note that geofence creating is available in the 'Geofences' mode only, while the other options can be used in the 'Groups' mode as well.

Creating a Geofence

There are three steps to creating a geofence:

1. Map Geofence

Start working with geofences by choosing the corresponding mode.

Press the New button, and help window will provide you with the instructions on geofences' creation. Choose a geofence type on the left: line, polygon or circle.

Then map a geofence. Here are the basic rules for mapping a geofence:

• Double-click on any place of the map to put the first point. Then add more points using the same method. Put the points as close or as far from each other as you want.
• To insert a point between two other points, double-click on a segment between them.
• To move a point to another place, click on it and holding the left mouse button drag to another place on the map. Then release the mouse button.
• To delete a point, just double-click on it. Note that points cannot be deleted if there are only two points — for lines, or three — for polygons.

Hint. A quick way to map a geofence is by using the Routing tool (create lines) or the Address tool (create circles).

2. Set Geofence Properties

Name: Geofence's name is used while tracking units as well as in reports and notifications. It is a required parameter. It can consist of one or more symbols. Besides, you can specify caption color and size. It has sense if in User Settings the option 'Display names of geofences on map' is enabled.

Description: This field is optional. Description is displayed in geofence's tooltip. It can be also added to geofence's name if the geofence is used as address source in reports. When you create a geofence, the description is filled in automatically with the address information taken from the first point you map. However, you can edit it or simply delete. Its length is not limited. You can use html (including iframe) tags in descriptions to format text or get images from other sites. For example, you can embed video from web cameras, get photos from crossroads, load weather or currency exchange, etc.

Type: Geofence can be of the shape of the line, polygon, or circle. For line, you also can indicate its thickness, for circle — radius (in meters or feet, depending on resource settings).

Resource: This option is shown if the current user has access to more than one resource. The resource chosen while creating a geofence defines the measurement system used to calculate its area, length, radius, thickness, etc. (metric, U.S. or imperial system).

Image: You can attach any image to a geofence. An image can be chosen from the standard icons (Icon Library button) or loaded from your computer by pressing the corresponding area and choosing the file you need. Supported formats are PNG, JPG, GIF, and SVG. Moreover, you can use the Icon Library application (for top accounts only) which enables uploading individual icons for geofences. The icons uploaded to the system using this application will be available for you in the standard Icon Library. To facilitate the work with the library, the uploaded icons are placed in the same list, but separately from the standard ones (at the top). All loaded images are automatically resized by 64×64 pixels to display the geofences on the map and on the list. However, in the tooltip for a geofence you can see an enlarged image (up to 256х256 px). In the geofence’s editing dialog you can delete the image used. To do so, point a cursor on it, and click the appeared delete button. Click OK to save changes, or Cancel to dismiss them.

Area & Perimeter: These fields are not editable; they are calculated automatically.

Note. Area and perimeter values also depend on resource settings, and can be given in hectares and kilometers or square miles, square feet and miles (feet), respectively.

Color: This color will be used to render a geofence on the map and to display it in a unit's tooltip and in extended unit information as well as some other places where next to the geofence's name where a unit is located, is shown a square of the same color. The color is chosen using the palette or manually (by entering its RGB code). You can also choose if geofence's shape should be shown on the map. For this purpose, the corresponding flag to the left of the color palette is used.

Visibility: Here you specify map zooms at which geofences will be displayed or not. For example, if a geofence is a city, it has sense to see it on remote scales, whereas if it is a building it is more logical to see it on more detailed scales. Different map types can have different graduation of map scales. However, all possible values fall into the range from 1 to 19, where 1 is the most detailed scale (small streets and houses are displayed) and 19 is an overview (the whole world).

3. Save Geofence

When finished, press Save. In case of a mistake, press Clear and try again. To close the create mode without saving results, press Cancel.

Note. Geofences can be saved to a file and easily transferred from one resource to another.

Geofences Management

In the work area, there is a list of all available geofences. To move to the necessary geofence on the map, click on its name in the list.

Put check marks in the left column of the table to choose the geofences you want to be displayed on the map. Deselect these boxes to remove geofences from the map. A check mark at the header of the list selects/deselects all the geofences if their visibility corresponds to the current map scale and the appropriate layer is enabled.

If you have ticked too many geofences or they are very big, it can slow down browser performance. In this case, the setting of rendering geofences on server may help.

A geofence can be presented on the map by its name (if the flag 'Display names of geofences on map' is enabled in User Settings), by the image or shape assigned (if that option is activated in geofence properties), as well as any combination of these three elements. The geofences that overlap each other can be replaced by one conditional item.

Placing a cursor over a geofence name (in the list or on the map), you will get the following information about it in the popup tooltip: name, type, description (if specified), enlarged image, the name of the resource (if you have access to several), as well as the list of units located inside the geofence currently. Depending on geofence type, there will be also area, perimeter, length, and/or radius. The measuring units for these parameters depend on the measurement system chosen for a resource to which the geofence belongs. If a description contains links to other images, they will be shown as well. For instance, a tooltip of a geofence can look like this:

The following code has been used to add weather forecast to the tooltip:

<iframe src="https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/widget/daily/city-of-london_united-kingdom_2643741?geoloc=fixed&days=4&tempunit=CELSIUS&windunit=KILOMETER_PER_HOUR&coloured=coloured&pictoicon=1&maxtemperature=1&mintemperature=1&windspeed=1&layout=light"  frameborder="0" scrolling="NO" allowtransparency="true" sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups" style="width: 216px;height: 245px"></iframe><div><!-- DO NOT REMOVE THIS LINK --><a href="https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/forecast/week/city-of-london_united-kingdom_2643741?utm_source=weather_widget&utm_medium=linkus&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=Weather%2BWidget" target="_blank">meteoblue</a></div>

To find or to sort geofences there is a filter and a fast search provided. The filter is a dropdown list with several predefined criteria:

By property:

• Polygons;
• Lines;
• Circles.

By resource:

• Here you can find a list of the resources available for the current user (if they are more than one). Click on any of them to display geofences belonging only to this resource.

To find a needed geofence quickly, you can use the dynamic filter above the list. Type the name of the geofence or some part of the name and observe the search results.

The following icons and buttons are used in the panel 'Geofences;':

Groups of Geofences

Created geofences can be formed into groups. Groups are used to unite geofences based on any criteria, and serve as filtration parameters in several report templates. Moreover, groups of geofences are used in the notifications of the corresponding type. A group may contain only geofences belonging to the same resource as the group itself.

To work with groups, choose the corresponding mode in the 'Geofences' panel.

To create a new group of geofences, click the 'New' button. Enter a name and description, and choose geofences to be included in a group. Click OK.

A list of created groups of geofences is displayed in the work area. Groups are arranged alphabetically. The same as for geofences, a filter or a dynamic search can be used for groups. Moreover, groups can be edited, copied, or deleted. Note that upon deleting a group you can not delete its contents.

Geofences not included in any group can be found in the 'Geofences outside groups'.

Series of standard actions are available for geofences in a group (unfold a group in order the corresponding buttons to appear).

Usage

While Tracking Online

Geofences can be displayed on the map (the ones that have flags in the panel 'Geofences' are shown). That simplifies the visual perception of the map and enriches it. Different regions can be selected by different colors and you can estimate the units' presence in definite areas. If a geofence is displayed on the map, you can press and put the mouse cursor over it to see its tooltip (name, type, list of units inside, etc.). In case of the geofences that have images assigned, the tooltips appear as you just point them with the cursor.

In a unit's tooltip and in its additional information you can see its presence in geofences if the option 'Presence in geofences' is enabled in User Settings.

Besides, it's possible to get images from external sources in geofences' tooltips (webcam videos, photos, rates of exchange, etc.).

Besides, a column with geofences where units are located can be displayed in the Monitoring panel instead of ordinary addresses.

Note that in order Geofences to be displayed on the map you should check if the corresponding layer icon in the main menu is active.

In Notifications

You can be notified by e-mail, SMS, online or by other means when your unit leaves or enters a geofence. It is also possible to set speed limitations and sensor range for a unit during its presence in a geofence. Besides, entering a geofence or leaving it can be automatically accompanied by an action: send a message to the driver, block the engine, change users' access to this unit, and many others. See Notifications.

In Reports

Geofences can be used in reports as addresses (in the 'Location' column), if the 'Use geofences for addresses' flag is enabled in the 'Advanced settings' block of the reports' template.

Many tables are generated based on geofences. Among them there are the following:

• Geofences: visits to geofences (all entries and exits to/from the selected geofence(s) are given together with visit duration, distance travelled within the geofence, average and maximum speed, etc.).
• Non-visited Geofences: geofences which were ignored (non-visited) during a period or on certain days.
• Rides and Unfinished Rides: rides from one geofence to another (convenient to control how a cargo is transported in several trips).

When a report is generated, geofences can be rendered on the map.

Geofences can be also used to filter intervals in reports.

In Routes

Geofences can be used as check points while configuring routes.