GPS Tracking – Track Drivers, Vehicles And Assets, Tracking Path, Playback, Breadcrumbs, Tracking Source And More

Route4Me’s real-time GPS tracking system enables you to automatically track the exact location of drivers, vehicles, and assets on routes. See where your drivers are and have been with detailed location history, track route compliance, and more. The Route4Me GPS Tracking App for iOS and Android GPS Route App record all route completion activities. Additionally, Telematics Integrations enable you to connect GPS vehicles with installed OBD and GPS devices for fleet tracking, and asset monitoring.Track the exact GPS location of your field employees. See where your drivers are, where they've been with detailed tracking history, view their route compliance, and more with Route4Me's GPS driver tracking.

 

 

Real Time GPS Route Tracking And Tracking History

Route4Me’s GPS tracking app enables you to view the current location of your drivers on routes at any time, track their routing activities, and gather actionable intelligence to improve routing efficiency. Real time tracking can be performed through Route4Me’s iPhone GPS App and Android GPS App or Telematics. To see current locations of users and vehicles on a routes, go to “Operations” and “Routes” from the Navigation Menu to open your Routes List and follow the steps below:

  1. Click the Map Button in the top-right to open the Routes List Map.
  2. Click the Gear Icon to open the Map Settings.
  3. Use the “Vehicles” and “Users” fields to enable last known location on routes for Telematics Vehicles and field employees, respectively.

This provides a basic overview of where your drivers and fleet vehicles are located. To see detailed route tracking history with travel paths, location updates, and more, click the Down Arrow next to a route and select “Edit” to open it in the Route Editor.

Open Your Routes List

To use GPS tracking for tracking drivers and vehicles, first open a route from your Route4Me Routes List in the Route Editor.

 

In the Route Editor, click the Tracking Button to access the options described in the table below:

In the Route Editor, click the Tracking Button on the map to access the Tracking Path, Breadcrumbs, Playback, Compliance, and Tracking Source options.

OptionDescription
Tracking PathThe actual path the user or vehicle travels on the route with travel direction arrows. The Tracking Path corresponds to the tracked GPS route activity of the user or vehicle reported by the Route4Me Mobile App or installed telematics device from a Telematics Vendor.
BreadcrumbsGPS tracking Breadcrumbs are shown at every location where the vehicle or field employee’s coordinates were updated by the Route4Me GPS App or telematics device on a GPS vehicle.
PlaybackEnable the Route Playback player, which you can use to view the recorded route navigation data as a video playback with playback speed controls. Additionally, the Playback player shows the dynamic speed of the vehicle on the route.
ComplianceTrack a driver’s compliance with the planned route. This option will display the tracking paths and distance for portions of the planned route that were traveled, detours and deviations, and the portions of the planned route that weren’t traveled.
Tracking SourceThe Route4Me App uses location services to synchronize user location on routes with your Route4Me account. The Mobile App tracking source is shown as “Route4Me“. You can also use a Telematics Integration to track GPS vehicles via installed telematics devices. Tracking data is synchronized with your Route4Me account according to the Vehicle Position Refresh Rate in your telematics settings, and the Tracking Source is shown as the name of your Telematics Vendor.

 

Enable GPS Route Tracking Path And Location Updates

To view the Tracking Path of a field employee, check “Tracking Path” box in the Route Editor Tracking Options. The Tracking Path shows the actual driving path, biking path, or walking path of the user assigned to the route.

To see Location Updates on the map, check the “Breadcrumbs” box. These are generated at regular intervals according to the Vehicle Position Refresh Rate and store data such as timestamps, vehicle speed and coordinates, and the Tracking Source (Route4Me Mobile App or Telematics). Hover over a Breadcrumb to see its associated details. Enabling “Breadcrumbs” also shows the most recent location of the user or vehicle assigned to the route and the same tracking details when you hover over it.

Route4Me GPS Tracking Path and location update Breadcrumbs show the user's actual travel path and synched location data on routes.

NOTE: The “Tracking Path” option is automatically enabled when you enable “Breadcrumbs” or “Compliance“. GPS Route Tracking is active and location data is synched only after assigned users start routes and until the routes are completed.

 

Planned Route Compliance Tracking With Route Deviations Distance

Route4Me’s GPS route tracking enables you to see if planned routes are followed, when and where a deviation or route detour occurs, how much of the planned route was completed, and more. To track route compliance GPS distance, check the “Compliance” box in the Tracking Options.

Portions of the tracking path are marked in different colors according to planned travel path compliance. The Compliance Panel in the bottom-left corner of the map shows the percentage of the planned route that was followed or deviated from, as well as the total planned distance that was followed and the total detour distance.

Route4Me's GPS route compliance tracking enables you to see if planned routes are followed, when and where deviations and detours occur, how much of the planned route was completed, and more.

NOTE: The image shows a route with detours. Destinations 3 and 4 are marked in red because they were visited out of sequence.

 

Planned Route Simulation And GPS Tracking Playback

Route4Me’s GPS tracking system enables you to simulate a route before starting it. This feature provides a visual representation of how the planned route will be driven so that you can make corresponding adjustments to ensure everything goes according to plan. To do so, click “View” in the top menu bar and select “Simulation Tool” from the menu.

The Simulation Tool shows the route’s duration and the expected speed of the assigned user or vehicle. You can use the Simulation Player timeline and buttons skip to a specific point or use the speed multiplier to speed up or slow down the simulation playback. This way, you can quickly and easily preview the planned route.

Route4Me's GPS tracking system enables you to simulate a route before starting it. This provides a visual representation of how the planned route will be driven before it starts.

 

You can also view a playback of a started or completed route’s tracking history. To do so, check the “Playback” box in the Tracking Options. The Playback Player shows the total route duration and the dynamic speed of the assigned user or vehicle.

NOTE: The available controls and playback options are the same for the Route Simulation and Route Playback players.

Route4Me's GPS fleet tracking enables you to view a playback of the assigned user or vehicle's tracking history. To open the Playback Player, check the Playback box in the Tracking Options menu.

 

Route GPS Tracking Data Source

The Route4Me Mobile GPS Tracking app installed on a mobile device or a vehicle’s installed telematics device from a Telematics Vendor can generate tracking data for the GPS tracking system. For your convenience, the Route Editor enables you to seamlessly switch between Route4Me Mobile App tracking data and Telematics GPS route data with a single click.

Simply open the Tracking Options, click the “Tracking Source” field and select one of the available options described below:

Get tracking data from the Route4Me Mobile App or an installed Telematics Device on a GPS Vehicle.

Tracking SourceDescription
Route4MeThe iPhone GPS App and Android GPS Tracker App use location services to synchronize a user’s position. Additionally, Route4Me’s Advanced Configuration Editor allows you to adjust the mobile app’s compliance and navigation settings.
Telematics ProviderA Telematics Integration between your enterprise route planner and a Telematics Vendor enables you to track GPS vehicles on the map in real time. Route4Me will automatically collect telematics tracking data and display it on the map.
MergedDesigned to provide an accurate and uninterrupted tracking path by utilizing tracking data from multiple sources. If one of the tracking sources is not available at a specific time, Route4Me automatically uses tracking data from another available source, providing a continuous tracking path. When both tracking sources are available, Route4Me utilizes the tracking distance from only one source to prevent duplication.

 

Track Multiple Drivers And Vehicle On Routes Map In Real Time

Route4Me also enables you to track multiple users on routes simultaneously. To do so, go to “Operations” > “Routes” from the Navigation Menu to open your Routes List and follow these steps:

  1. Select the routes you want to open by checking the boxes next to them.
  2. Click “Bulk Actions” from the top menu bar.
  3. Select “View on Multiple Routes Map“.

Alternatively, go to “Operations” > “Routes Map” from the Navigation Menu and open your preferred routes.

Route4Me also enables you to track multiple users simultaneously. To do so, select the routes with the users you want to track assigned to them and open them in the GPS tracking Routes Map.

 

Next, hover over the “Tracking” button and select “Users” to enable GPS user tracking. This will add tracking markers for the users assigned to the selected routes and open the full list of users on your Route4Me account. On the Routes Map, you can track dispatched route progress, destination visitation, real-time driver locations, and more.

The Users Panel shows the current connection status of all users on your account with color-coded icons outlined in the table below. If a Telematics Vehicle is assigned to a route, the logo of the Telematics Provider will be shown next to the user. To only display currently active users, check the box in the top-right of the Users Panel.

Your selected routes will be displayed on the map in different colors. Enable tracking markers for the users assigned to the selected routes and open the full list of all users on your Route4Me account.

ColorDescription
GreenThe user is active, and their location can be displayed on the map.
Dark GreyThe user is currently inactive but was active within the last 24 hours, and only their tracking history can be displayed.
RedThe user has been inactive for more than 24 hours, and only their tracking history can be displayed.
Light GreyThe user has never been active.

 

To enable real time route GPS tracking paths on your Routes Map, hover over the “Tracking” tab and then “Routes“. Next, select the time frame for which you want to display tracking paths. To enable tracking for the selected routes, click “Route Date“.

This will also display GPS breadcrumbs corresponding to individual GPS location updates sent from a field employee’s mobile device or an installed Telematics Device on a Telematics Vehicle.

When tracking multiple routes on your Route4Me Routes Map you can enable tracking paths to view the GPS tracking path of multiple routes simultaneously.

 

Click the Gear Icon next to a user for more options. Select “Locate on Map” from to move the map to the location of the selected user. Alternatively, select “Open Last Known Route” to open the last route started by the respective user in the Route Editor.

The “Show Activity Feed” option opens the dynamic Activity Feed, which shows a list of actions performed by the user. Learn more about Route4Me’s Dynamic Activity Feed.

When tracking multiple drivers or vehicles on the Routes Map, you can open the list of users and click the Gear Icon to locate users on the map, open each user's last known route or open the Activity Feed for that user.

 

User Clustering On GPS Tracking Map

In addition to tracking, you can enable clustering of users in close proximity. Instead of having many icons on top of each other, you can view all your team members as convenient clusters marked with the number of users in each area.

To enable Clustering, hover over “Tracking” in the top-right of the map, enable “Users“, and select “Clustering” from the menu. After that, when Clustering and real-time tracking are enabled, zoom out on the Routes Map, and all users in close proximity will be gathered into User Clusters for more convenient visualization and tracking.

In addition to tracking, you can enable clustering of users in close proximity. Instead of having many icons on top of each other, you can view all your team members as convenient clusters marked with the number of users in each area.

 

Tracking Analytics – View GPS Route Tracking Data

Route4Me’s GPS fleet tracking and user GPS tracking are indispensable tools for gathering actionable intelligence. In addition, the route optimization Web Software lets you easily enable, view, and filter route GPS analytics to gain detailed insight into the performance of your field employees and your routing operation.

 

Routes List And Routes Map GPS Data Columns

In detail, you can customize both the Routes List and Routes Map by enabling GPS tracking data columns. This way, you can easily view, compare, and analyze the tracking stats of different routes and users.

To do so, go to “Operations” > “Routes” from the Navigation Menu. Click the Display Columns Icon and enable your preferred columns. You can change data column order by dragging column names. Click “Apply” to save your changes.

For efficiency, you can easily customize the data on your Routes List with custom route data columns and adjust the sequence of these columns.

 

You can enable the same tracking data columns on your Routes Map.

  1. Click “View” from the top menu bar.
  2. Hover over “Customize Columns“.
  3. Click an unchecked column to enable it, or click a checked column to deactivate it.

The enabled columns are shown in the Routes Map List on the left.
NOTE: If you’ve expanded the map, you may need to scroll the list horizontally to see a particular data column.

You can customize both the Routes List and Routes Map by enabling GPS tracking data columns. This way, you can easily view, compare, and analyze the GPS tracking statistics of different routes and users.

 

In addition, the Routes Map and Route Editor enable you to display aggregate GPS vehicle tracking data combined for all currently selected routes in theSummary Table. To do so, follow the steps below:

  1. Click the Gear Icon in the Summary Table.
  2. Select a data column category.
  3. Enable your preferred aggregate columns.
  4. Click “Done” to save your changes.

In detail, you can track route analytics for all currently selected routes, vehicle utilization, distance, time, cost and profit rates, operational efficiency, and more.

The Routes Map enables you to display aggregate GPS vehicle tracking data combined for all currently selected routes in the Summary Table.

 

GPS Tracking Analytics With Business Insights And Routing Dashboards

With the Business Insights dashboard, you can view, filter, and export even more detailed tracking analytics. You can customize the dashboard to sort, group, and visualize in-depth, real-time statistics generated by your field team members, vehicle fleet, and routing activities. Drilling down into detailed metrics, KPIs, and analytics provides actionable last mile intelligence for any part of your business. To open your Business Insights, go to “Analytics” > “Business Insights” from the Navigation Menu.

Open Your Business Insights

Open the Business Insights Dashboard from your account navigation menu.

 

If you need an overview of tracking data and to visualize performance statistics, use the Routing Dashboard. It enables you to collect, sync, visualize, and export actionable last mile intelligence and real-time statistics generated by field employees on a centralized control panel. To open the Dashboard, go to “Analytics” > “Dashboard“.

Open Your Routing Dashboard

Use your Route4Me GPS routing Dashboard to view route tracking GPS analytics for your business on a centralized control panel. First, filter routes by date range and user.

 

Export GPS Route And Tracking Data As CSV Spreadsheet

Furthermore, you can export a spreadsheet file with GPS tracking data and location history from the Web Platform. Open a route in the Route Editor and follow the steps below:

  1. Go to  “File” > “Export Route” > “Export CSV” from the top menu bar.
  2. Check the boxes next to route tracking data you want to export.
  3. Click “Export” to save your customized GPS tracking data spreadsheet.

You can also export tracking data for multiple routes simultaneously from the Routes Map in the same way. In addition to tracking data, you can also download a streamlined Tracking History file which shows the coordinates of all synced GPS location updates.
NOTE: Learn more about Exporting Route Data.

Export a spreadsheet file with GPS tracking data and location history from the Web Platform.

 

Troubleshooting GPS Route Tracking

Here, you can find instructions on troubleshooting GPS fleet tracking issues. Conditions on the road can often introduce irregularities or unexpected tracking behavior. Make sure all your preferred settings are enabled, and learn how to resolve GPS route tracking issues.

If “Tracking Path” in the tracking settings of the Route Editor or Routes Map is grayed out and can’t be enabled, check the items described below depending on whether you’re using the Route4Me Mobile Apps or Telematics Integration for tracking your drivers, vehicles, and assets on routes.

  1. To see tracking indicator GPS breadcrumbs on the map, make sure the “Breadcrumbs” option is enabled alongside the “Tracking Path” option.
    – To do so on the Route Editor, make sure the “Breadcrumbs” checkbox is checked in the tracking settings.
    – To do so on the Routes Map, open the click the “Tracking” button, hover over “Routes” and select the preferred date range of the enabled or preferred routes.
  2. For complete and accurate GPS tracking data to be synchronized with the main Route4Me account, ensure drivers are actually using the GPS tracking app to navigate routes and not closing the app. Additionally, iOS location services or Android location services must be enabled on the device and set to always allow location data synchronization.
  3. Make sure the first GPS signal is received between the route’s Planned Start Time and Planned End Time. Minor discrepancies are possible due to vehicle position refresh rate. Real time GPS tracking is active only during the time between the route’s planned start and end.

Ensure that your preferred tracking source (Mobile Apps or Telematics) is selected from the tracking menu. Additionally, a combination of GPS vehicle tracking refresh rate and road traffic conditions can lead to irregular or unexpected tracking update behavior. For example, if the GPS tracked driver, vehicle, or asset on the route is stuck in a traffic jam, several breadcrumbs could appear in the same location or closer together than expected.

Ensure that your preferred tracking source (Mobile Apps or Telematics) is selected from the tracking menu. Additionally, a combination of GPS vehicle tracking refresh rate and road traffic conditions can lead to irregular or unexpected tracking update behavior.

You can contact Route4Me support to extend the active time for GPS tracking of assets on routes by your preferred duration. Alternatively, you can use Route4Me’s Advanced Configuration Editor to apply the “TRACKING_EXTEND_ROUTE_END_TIME_FOR_SECONDS” configuration. Specifically, this will extend the time during which tracking updates are received by the specified value after the end of a route. Learn more about using Advanced Configurations.

 

 

Visit Route4Me's Marketplace to Check out Associated Telematics Modules:

Last Updated:

About author: Kristian Andreev

Kristian is a Technical Writer at Route4Me. With over a decade of experience in writing and localization, he's an expert at communicating complex technical data in a clear, concise, and user-friendly way. Passionate about bridging the gap between engineers and users, he specializes in creating documentation to streamline onboarding, enhance product usability, and support global teams on the path to success.

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About Route4Me

Route4Me has over 40,000 customers globally. Route4Me's Android and iPhone mobile apps have been downloaded over 2 million times since 2009. Extremely easy-to-use, Route4Me's apps create optimized routes, synchronize routes to mobile devices, enable communication with drivers and customers, offer turn-by-turn directions, delivery confirmation, and more. Behind the scenes, Route4Me's operational optimization platform combines high-performance algorithms with data science, machine learning, and big data to plan, optimize, and analyze routes of almost any size in real-time.