Landmarks and Geofences are both virtual boundaries placed around a specific property or geographic area. The difference between them is in how they interact with the tracking devices.
A traditional GPS tracking device (also known as a vehicle tracker) will report their location every 60 seconds with the engine running and every 20 minutes in the background with the engine off. This means that when a vehicle enters or exits a Landmark, that activity is noted in the readings within a minute as the engine has to be running in order for the vehicle to cross the boundary.
A 2830 Asset tracking device (also known as a Trailer tracker) on the other hand reports every 15 minutes when connected to a 12 volt power supply. That interval will drop to three times daily if disconnected from power. If one of these devices crosses a Landmark boundary, there will be a potentially significant delay between the action occurring and the action appearing in the data.
Utilizing Geofences for areas of concern regarding Asset/Trailer trackers will eliminate this gap. Unlike a Landmark, the Geofence is essentially ‘saved’ to the tracking device. As a result, when the Asset device crosses the Geofence boundary, the Geofence prompts the unit to produce a report even when not scheduled to do so. This removes the gap.
*Note: TopFly Solar Powered Asset Trackers do not have the gap issue referenced above and can utilize Landmarks. Geofences are not compatible with TopFly devices.
If Asset/Trailer tracking devices have not been purchased, then Geofences will probably not be needed. If needed, please contact our Care Team to verify the types of devices purchased.