Four More Powerful Must-Have LBS Features

We’ve written before on some of the ways in which location-based services (LBS) technology can do amazing things for a company, from tracking valuable assets in real-time to offering mobile check-in options for employees across different job sites.

We’ve also pointed out how the wide range of LBS platform options available on the market can make the process of selecting an LBS platform a little daunting for those new to the market. But regardless of what LBS technology will be doing for your company, there are certain features that every LBS platform should have – and here are four of them to help guide your search.

Specific asset data

 When people think of LBS technology, they typically think of GPS tracking. What they don’t often think of is just how many items are constantly being tracked at the same time. A good platform will seamlessly allow you to set specific requirements for the assets that you want to track, and will provide metrics such as ground speed and course direction. Some platforms even offer in-vehicle video monitoring, which adds a visual component to location tracking. This aspect of a platform is especially useful for tracking and monitoring assets that are time sensitive.

Further, a good LBS platform will also capture and report on other asset-specific information. For example, many fleet managers will find it useful to know when PTO (power takeoff) for dump truck beds or garbage trucks or the like were activated – so be sure your LBS platform can capture much more than pure location data.

Reporting

 On its own, data can often be hard to process or contextualize; that is, it might not actually be useful or even understandable to humans without some form of filtering and processing – and thus, data is only as useful as the reports that can be rendered from it. Platforms that offer a sophisticated reporting capability, then, will make the information contained within your data easy to access and to understand.

The ability to create reports also potentially has to be accessible to multiple company team members. Reporting capabilities should therefore offer high-level options as well as detail-heavy specifics that can be helpful for a company across all of its different departments. Consider choosing a platform that provides applications or dashboards that offer a broad overview on information and services, with the option to produce more complex reports as needed.

Map layering and geofencing

Being able to track location requires a visual representation on where an interest point is located. In the same way that LBS technology has an expansive range of uses, maps also have a range of possibilities for map renderings.

A good platform will provide the option for map views with more details, such as street view. Having the option to switch between street view and a general map view will allow location detection to be more accurate and can address specific needs more directly, especially when it comes to tracking a route or setting a geofence.

In addition to multiple map views, having the option to layer maps is helpful for providing context and adjusting data points that you want to see. Map layering essentially combines location and data and can be presented on a map depending on the function you need it for. Map layering can also help detect changes quicker by using colors and shapes to indicate valuable information, such as using red dots to indicate locations that are reporting higher activity versus dots of other colors or smaller sizes.

While map view and map layering are visual representations of location-based data, geofencing is yet another function that can be configured as a proactive location-tracking method. Geofencing allows users to create virtual parameters around a specific area and then create notifications on activity within that location, such as entry and exit alerts.

For example, creating a geofence around a truck yard can let you know when assets have left the yard. Likewise, it’s possible to create a geofence around a specific delivery route, so that fleet managers can receive an alert if a vehicle leaves that route.

Privacy and consent management

Because LBS technology can track and report on sensitive information, a good platform will make sure that privacy and consent management are a core aspect of its services. This means that the platform has done all of the heavy lifting to ensure that services are in accordance with any state and federal regulations.

Finding a platform that applies best practices in privacy and consent management will help you properly manage collected information and uphold industry guidelines for your employees and end consumers. As location-based services continue to rise in popularity and become more commonplace, staying up to date with privacy and consent management is a key indicator that a platform is doing their due diligence, which will in turn allow you to use services without having to manage compliance and privacy concerns on the backend.

Take your company to the next step in business and technology

As a technology of the present and of the future, location-based services offer companies a wide range of possibilities for operating smarter, not harder. These key aspects of a good platform can serve as a foundation when searching amongst a wide range of options for a platform that fits your company size and budget. For more in-depth information on what makes a good LBS platform, see our e-book.

Position Logic’s comprehensive and adaptable LBS platform offers solutions for organizations of all sizes and budgets. Position Logic’s platform provides LBS services to meet your needs, with feature sets that are designed to meet the needs of fleets both large and small.