Automatic Geofencing Notifications on Android Route Planner App

Geofence alerts and forms get triggered whenever a driver enters a geofenced area. Drivers don’t receive geofence notifications by default. To enable this feature, the route planner needs to define a specific custom data field in the Route Editor for each destination. The custom field can be added to your route addresses either by adding a corresponding column in the spreadsheet file used for planning the route or manually for each address in Route Editor after the route has been planned.

Check a sample file containing the custom column below:
geofence_activities_route.xlsx

To set up a geofence triggered alert for adding notes, first, go to your Routes List from the navigation menu.

Select the route for which you want to set up the geofence triggered alert for adding notes.

Next, select an address from the destinations list on the left side. In the address menu, click add Custom Data at the top of the screen.

Type in custom_trigger_open_notes_dialog in the Field Name box and TRUE in the Field Content box. Click Add Custom Data to finish.

If you want the drivers to receive geofence triggered alerts for each stop they visit, you need to define this custom field for each destination on the route.
To do so, in the menu of the address for which you have already set up the geofence triggered notification, scroll down to the Custom Data section.
Click the gear icon next to the custom field, then select Apply to All. This action will set up geofence triggered alerts for all destinations on the route.

Click confirm when prompted.

Now, whenever a driver enters a geofenced area, Route4Me will detect it and first activate a voice notification, then the app will open the Add Note screen automatically. The driver cannot close the Add Note screen without adding data to the note. This feature ensures that whenever the Add Note screen opens upon entering a geofenced area, the driver has to add a note to proceed driving the route.

Geofence notifications are received only one time per route destination. If a route repeats the same destination multiple times, the address will be marked as a different destination each time.

Notifications won’t be triggered if the recorded speed of a driver is over three mph to avoid any distractions during driving.

In addition to adding notes, some drivers also need to edit custom data fields while out in the field. To make their job easier and secure that each destination is properly documented, Route4Me allows modifying editable custom data fields on the Add Note screen so that drivers don’t have to open a separate screen to edit custom data while driving their routes.

Adding Custom Fields is a similar process to setting up geofence triggers. First, open the route for which you want to set up the geofence triggered alert for adding custom data. Next, select an address from the destinations list. In the address menu, click Add Custom Data at the top of the screen.

Type in the name of the field and its value, then click Add Custom Data.

Now, whenever a driver enters a geofenced area, Route4Me will detect it and first activate a voice notification, then the mobile app will open the Add Note screen where the driver can modify the Custom Data field.