Getting Started with GeoTracker & Smart Fencing: From Installation to Live Tracking

GeoTracker & Smart Fencing lets you attach geofences to your monday.com tasks and track field workers in real time while they work. This guide covers every step, from installing the app and importing your boards to creating geofences, assigning them to tasks, and receiving alerts when a worker leaves the job boundary.

Step 1: Install and Authorize the App

1. Go to the monday.com Apps Marketplace and search for GeoTracker & Smart Fencing.
2. Click Install.
3. monday.com will open an authorization page listing the permissions the app needs, such as reading your boards data, reading user profile information, and sending notifications on your behalf. You can click Show 3 more permissions to view the full list.
4. Click Authorize to grant access and complete the installation.

Why these permissions are needed: The app reads your boards so you can import tasks and attach geofences to them, reads user profiles so you can assign and track team members, and sends notifications so managers are alerted when a worker leaves a job boundary.

Step 2: Complete the Onboarding Setup

After installation, GeoTracker & Smart Fencing opens a short 4-step onboarding wizard that connects your boards and team so you can start tracking right away.

2.1 Start the setup

On the welcome screen, click Set up my boards to begin.

2.2 Select the boards to import

You’ll see a list of all your monday.com boards along with the number of items on each. Select the boards that contain the tasks you want to geofence and track. You can use the search bar to find a specific board, or click Select all to import every board. The selected boards and their items will be imported from monday.com into the app, and the counter at the bottom shows how many boards and items will sync.

Once you’ve made your selection, click Next: Map your team.

Tip: You can add or remove boards anytime later from Settings.

2.3 Choose the team members to track

The app lists the people assigned to items on your selected boards. Select the team members you want to track and assign geofenced tasks to. To add someone who isn’t listed, use the Search to add other workspace members field.

Keep the Send mobile app invite now toggle turned on to automatically send each selected member an invite with the mobile app download link and setup instructions. Workers need the mobile app installed for their location to be tracked.

Note: The number of members you select sets your billed seat count, which is shown at the bottom right of this screen.

Click Next to continue.

2.4 Finish onboarding

The final screen confirms your setup with a summary of your connected boards and selected workers, a preview of the live map, and a setup checklist. Click Go to dashboard to complete onboarding and open the app.

Step 3: Explore the Dashboard

After onboarding, you’ll land on the Dashboard, your home base for monitoring field operations. It shows a summary of activity for the selected date range, which you can change using the date picker at the top right.

Get started checklist

At the top of the Dashboard, the Get started with GeoTracker & Smart Fencing card guides you through the four steps needed to start monitoring your team:

1. Import Boards – Import the monday.com boards you want to use. This is marked Completed if you selected boards during onboarding.
2. Import Team Members – Import team members from monday.com and select the workers to track. This is marked Completed if you selected members during onboarding.
3. Create Geofences – Create one or more geofences around your job sites.
4. Assign Tasks to Members – Assign monday.com tasks to team members and link them with geofences.

Each step has a button that takes you directly to the right page, and the progress bar shows how many steps you’ve completed. Once all four steps are done, your team is ready to be tracked.

Activity overview

Below the checklist, summary cards show your Active Sessions, In Progress Tasks, Tasks Done, and Violations for the selected period, with a comparison to the previous period. The Location Map further down shows your active workers in real time and updates every 15 seconds.

Top bar

Use Import from Monday to import additional boards at any time, and Sync to pull the latest changes from your monday.com boards.

Navigation menu

The left menu gives you access to every part of the app:

• Dashboard – Overview of your field operations and setup progress.
• Monday Boards – View all boards imported from monday.com.
• Team Management – View imported team members and manage their access and permissions.
• Task Management – View all tasks and assign them to team members.
• Geo Fences – View all geofences and create new ones.
• GPS Tracking – View live and recent tracking sessions for your team members.
• Violations – Review geofence violations by task and team member.

Each of these pages is covered in detail in its own guide.

Step 4: Create a Geofence

A geofence is a virtual boundary around a job site. When a worker starts a task linked to a geofence, the app tracks whether they stay inside that boundary.

To create one, click Create Geofence in the Get started checklist on the Dashboard, or go to Geo Fences in the left menu and click + Create Geofence. The Create New Geofence window opens with three ways to create a geofence.

Option 1: Template-Based

Use this option to quickly create a circular geofence from a predefined template.

1. Select Template-Based.
2. Choose a Template Type, such as Office, Warehouse, or Job Site. Each template comes with a default radius, grace period, and violation threshold, which are shown below the selection.
3. Enter a descriptive Name for the geofence.
4. Under Select Location, search for an address or place, or click directly on the map to set the center of the geofence.
5. Adjust the radius if needed. You can also save your settings as a reusable template for future geofences.
6. Save the geofence.

Option 2: Custom Drawing

Use this option when a job site has an irregular shape that a circle can’t cover accurately.

1. Select Custom Drawing.
2. Enter a Name and, optionally, a Description.
3. Under Custom Boundary, click Open Map Editor. A larger map opens where you can search for a city, address, or landmark.
4. Choose a drawing tool:
   • Click Points – Click on the map to place boundary points. You need at least 3 points to create a boundary. Double-click a point to remove it.
   • Free Draw – Draw the boundary freely on the map.
   • View Only – Pan and zoom the map without adding points.
5. Use Undo to remove the last change or Clear All to start over.
6. Click Save Boundary to return to the geofence form.
7. Set the Violation Threshold (1–10) and the Grace Period (in seconds), then save the geofence.

Option 3: Auto-Smart

Use this option to have the app create geofences automatically, without picking a location manually.

1. Select Auto-Smart.
2. Enter a Name for the smart fence.
3. Set the Default Radius in meters.
4. Under Auto-fence Triggers, choose where the geofence should be placed. By default, Task Start Location is selected, which places the geofence around the worker’s location when they start the task.
5. Choose a Violation Sensitivity level, which sets the number of violations and grace time allowed.
6. Click Create Smart Fence.

Understanding grace period and violation threshold

The Grace Period is how long a worker can be outside the geofence before it counts as a violation, giving them time to return. The Violation Threshold is the number of violations allowed before the manager is alerted.

Once created, your geofence appears in the Geofences list, and the counters at the top of the page show your total geofences, active geofences, violations, and templates.

Step 5: Assign Tasks to Team Members

Once you have a geofence, the next step is to link it to a task and assign the workers who will complete that task. Tracking starts when an assigned worker begins the task.

To get started, click Assign Tasks in the Get started checklist on the Dashboard, or go to Task Management in the left menu.

The Task Management page lists all tasks from your imported boards, along with counters for total assignments, active tasks, completed tasks, and tasks with GPS enabled. Use the search bar to find a task by name, or filter the list by status or board.

Setting up a task takes two parts: first enable tracking, then assign the team.

5.1 Enable tracking for a task

1. Find the task and click Enable Tracking. The Configure GPS Tracking window opens.
2. Check Enable Geofencing to set a location boundary for the task.
3. Choose a Geofence Type:
   • Template-Based – Create a geofence from a predefined template, such as Office or Warehouse, just like in the geofence creation window.
   • Use Existing Geofence – Link a geofence you’ve already created. Select it from the Select Existing Geofence list.
   • Auto-create at Task Location – Automatically create a circular geofence around the task’s job site.
4. Click Enable GPS Tracking to save.

5.2 Assign team members

The Assign Team button becomes available once tracking is enabled for the task.

1. Click Assign Team on the task. The Task Assignment window opens, showing who is currently assigned.
2. Under Add Team Member, click Show Available Members to see your team.
3. Click Assign next to each team member you want to assign to the task.

The assigned members will appear under Assigned Team Members. When they start the task in the mobile app, their location will be tracked against the task’s geofence, and managers will be alerted if they leave the job boundary.

Step 6: Install the Mobile App (Field Workers)

Field workers use the GeoTracker & Smart Fencing mobile app to start their tasks and share their location while working. The mobile app is currently available for Android only.

6.1 Send the invitation

Team members receive an email invitation in one of two ways:

• During onboarding – If the Send mobile app invite now toggle was turned on when you selected team members, invitations were sent automatically.
• From Team Management – Go to Team Management in the left menu and click the envelope icon next to a team member to send or resend their invitation. Members who haven’t completed setup yet show the Invitation Sent status, while members who have finished setup show Setup Complete.

6.2 Download and install the app

The invitation email contains a Download for Android button and setup instructions. On their Android device, the team member should:

1. Open the invitation email and tap Download for Android. If the button doesn’t work, they can copy and paste the download link shown at the bottom of the email into their browser.
2. Open the downloaded file and tap Install.
3. If the device blocks the installation, tap Settings when prompted, turn on Install unknown apps for the browser being used, then return to the downloaded file and tap Install again.

6.3 Sign in

Once installed, the team member opens the app and signs in with their monday.com account email. After signing in, they can see their assigned tasks and start tracking.