Working with geofences

To use geofences to help monitor the location of your devices, the Geolocation Tracking policy needs to be activated in one or more policy groups.

To create and manage geofences, your user role needs to be granted the Manage permission for Geofences. To view geofences, the View permission is required.

To delete a geofence that is used by a rule, the Manage permission for Rules is also required.

All default Administrator user roles are granted these permissions.

To access the Geofences area, on the navigation bar, click Settings > Geofences.

The Geofences page opens to show the location geofences, custom geofences, and super fences associated with your account.

A location geofence is created by specifying the name of a city, state, province, or country. The geofence's boundary is defined by the official administrative boundary of the location.

Note that location geofences don't show a boundary, so you can't view or customize it. To control the size and position of a geofence's boundary, create a custom geofence.

To create a location geofence:

1. On the Geofences page, click Create geofence.

2. Click the field and begin entering a location name. You can enter the name of a city, state, province, or country.

   If you want to create a rule to ensure that your devices comply with International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), begin entering ITAR Prohibited Countries and then select it.

3. Select the location from the search results. The location is added to the page as a new geofence.

   The name and description of a location geofence can't be edited. The description defaults to City, State/Province, or Country, as applicable.

4. To create more location geofences, repeat steps 2 and 3.

5. To remove a geofence, click its icon.

6. Click Save,

The new geofences are added to the Geofences page and a Geofence created event is logged to Event History for each geofence.

You can also create a location geofence while you're creating a location-based rule. The new geofence will be added to the Geofences area.

Create a custom geofence if you want to more tightly control the area defined by the geofence. The geofence's boundary can be either a circle or a polygon and you can customize its size and shape (polygon only). Each geofence can contain only one boundary.

To create a custom geofence:

1. On the Geofences page, click Create geofence.
2. Click the search field and begin entering a street address, building name, or neighborhood. Note that the list of supported building names is somewhat limited.
3. Do one of the following:
   • If the correct street address, building name, or neighborhood shows in the list, click it. A map of the specified location opens to show a circle boundary and its default radius.

   • If the correct street address or building name is not shown in the list:

     1. Click Draw a geofence at the bottom of the dialog. A map opens, defaulted to your region.

     2. In the map's Search for a location... field, begin entering the city, county, state, province, or country name. You can also search by exact street address, building , or neighborhood. From the list of options that shows, select the applicable location. The map refreshes to show the specified location and a circle boundary with its default radius.

4. Click the Geofence name field and edit the name for this geofence.
5. [Optional] Click the Add description field and add a description for this geofence.

6. If you want to customize the map, do one or more of the following:

   To …	Then …
   Zoom in	Do one of the following: Rotate the wheel button upward on your mouse. Double-click the map location that you want to zoom in to. Click the icon in the bottom left of the map. To view a different area of the map after you've zoomed in, drag the map until the desired area is in view.
   Zoom out	Do one of the following: Rotate the wheel button downward on your mouse. Double right-click the map. Click the icon in the bottom left of the map.
   View a different area of the map	Click and drag the map to move it and bring the desired area into view.
   Switch to full-screen view	Click the icon in the bottom right of the map. To exit full-screen view, click or press Esc on your keyboard.
   Switch to satellite view	Click the icon and under Map Base, click Satellite. Click the map to close the dialog.
   Show devices	Click the icon and under Overlay, select the Devices checkbox. Click the map to close the dialog.

7. Define the geofence's boundary by doing one of the following:

   • To use the circle boundary that shows on the map, optionally do one or more of the following:

     • To resize the circle, do one of the following:
       • In the Radius field, enter a new value in feet (or meters, depending on your user preferences). The default (and minimum) radius for the circle boundary is 164 feet (50 meters).
       • Click a white marker on the boundary and drag it to reduce or enlarge the size of the circle.
     • To move the circle, click it and drag it to its new location.
     • To undo your most recent change, click . Click to restore it. Note that you can click either icon repeatedly to undo/restore prior changes.

   • To replace the circle with a polygon-shaped boundary:

     1. Click . A four-sided polygon shows on the map.
     2. Optionally do one or more of the following:
   • To move the boundary, click it and drag it to a new location.
   • To reshape or resize the boundary, click a white marker on the boundary and drag it to the desired location. Markers are available at the corners and in the middle of each line. To add another side to the polygon, drag a marker in the middle of a line.
   • Click to undo your most recent change. Click to restore it. Note that you can click either icon repeatedly to undo/restore prior changes.

8. When you're done, click Add to save your changes and close the dialog.

   The custom geofence is added to the Geofences page and a Geofence created event is logged to Event History.

You can also create a custom geofence while you're creating a location-based rule. The new geofence will be added to Settings > Geofences.

You can create a super fence and add location geofences and custom geofences to it. A super fence can contain up to 5000 geofences, but for reporting purposes its best practice to limit it to no more than 100 geofences.

When a super fence is added to a location-based rule, the rule is triggered when a device exits (or enters) all geofences in the super fence. If the device moves between geofences in the super fence, the rule is not triggered.

To create a super fence:

1. On the Geofences page, select the checkbox next to each geofence you want to add to a super fence.
2. Click Add to super fence > Create new super fence.
3. Edit the super fence's title.
4. The super fence's description defaults to Contains: followed by the list of included geofences. Edit the description, if desired.
5. To add an additional geofence, click Add geofence and select it from the displayed list.

6. To remove a geofence, click its icon.

7. Click Save.

The super fence is added to the Geofences page and a Geofence created event is logged to Event History.

You can't create a new super fence while you're creating a location-based rule.

To create a copy:

1. On the Geofences page, find the item you want to duplicate. You can use the View by field to filter the page by geofence Type. You can also Search for the item.
2. Hover over the geofence or super fence and click .

   If the icon is not available, the geofence is a location geofence.You can't create a copy of a location geofence.

3. Edit the item's title and description by clicking each field and editing the text.
4. Edit other attributes of the item as required. For details, see the applicable Creating... section in this topic.
5. If you creating a copy of a geofence, you can add it to one or more super fences. Click the field under Super fences and select each super fence. When you're done, click outside the list to close it. The super fences are added to the field. To remove a super fence, click its icon.

6. Click Save.

The custom geofence or super fence is updated and a Geofence created event is logged to Event History.

To view more information about a geofence or super fence, click anywhere on the row background on the Geofences page. The rule overview opens to the right of the work area.

The following information about the geofence or super fence is available:

• Name
• Description (if provided)

• One of the following:

  • Geofence configurations:

    • Super fences that the geofence is a member of

    • Map (showing the boundary, if applicable)

    • Radius (circle custom geofences only)

    • Associated rules

  • Super fence configurations:

    • Map showing a marker for each member geofence

    • The list of geofences

    • Associated rules

  Optionally, click Edit to edit the geofence or super fence.

You can switch the view of the Geofences page to show the rules that are using geofences and super fences.

To switch the view:

1. On the Geofences page, click the View by field and select Policy. The page updates to show each rule name followed by the geofences and super fences assigned to the rule.
2. To view or edit a rule, click View rule to open the rule's configuration dialog.

You can view the location of all geofences configured for your account by going to map view.

To view all geofences:

1. Log in to the Secure Endpoint Console as a user with View permissions for Geolocation.
2. Open a page or report that shows devices in a grid. For example, open the All Devices page in the Devices area or open the Makes and Models report.
3. Click to switch from grid view to map view.

4. Next to the Search field, click and select the Geofences checkbox. A marker shows on the map for each geofence configured in your account. Learn more

You can add filters to a device report to show the devices that are inside (or outside) one or more geofences.

To filter by geofence name:

1. Log in to the Secure Endpoint Console as a user with the View permission for Geofences and the Address-level view permission for Geolocation.
2. Open a page or report that shows devices in a grid. For example, open the All Devices page in the Devices area or open the Makes and Models report.
3. [Optional] Click and add the three Device location columns to the report.

4. Add one of the following filters to the report:

   • Last known location inside <geofence name>

   • Last known location outside <geofence name>

   where <geofence name> is the name of the geofence that you want to filter the report by. You can select multiple geofences.

5. Click Apply. The report is updated.

You can add up 5000 geofences to a super fence, but for reporting purposes its best practice to limit it to no more than 100 geofences.

To change the geofences in a super fence:

1. On the Geofences page, find the super fence you want to update. You can use the View by field to filter the page by Policy (rule) or geofence Type . You can also Search for the super fence.
2. Click the geofence to view its details in a pane on the right.
3. Hover over the super fence and click .

4. If a warning dialog shows, the super fence is currently used by the listed rule or rules, and editing it may impact each rule. If you want to proceed, click Continue.

   To review the rule before proceeding, go to the Rules area and view the rule details.

5. Click Add geofence and select a geofence from the displayed list.
6. To add additional geofences, repeat step 5.

7. To remove a geofence, click its icon.

8. Click Save.

The super fence is updated and a Geofence updated event is logged to Event History.

To edit a geofence or super fence:

1. On the Geofences page, find the item you want to update. You can use the View by field to filter the page by Policy (rule) or geofence Type . You can also Search for the item.
2. Hover over the geofence or super fence and click .

3. If a warning dialog shows, the item is currently used by the listed rule or rules, and editing it may impact each rule. If you want to proceed, click Continue.

   To review the rule before proceeding, go to the Rules area and view the rule details.

4. To edit the item's title or description, click the field and edit the text.
5. Edit other attributes of the item as required. For details, see the applicable Creating... section in this topic.

6. If you are editing a geofence, you can change which super fences it belongs to.

   1. To add it to one of super fences, click the field under Super fences and select each super fence. When you're done, click outside the list to close it. The super fences are added to the field.
   2. To remove a super fence, click its icon.

7. Click Save.

The geofence or super fence is updated and a Geofence updated event is logged to Event History.

If you are not using a geofence, or it was created in error, you can delete it.

To delete a geofence that is used by a rule, the Manage permission for Rules is required.

Note the following:

• You can't delete a geofence that is the only member of a super fence. Delete the super fence before deleting the geofence.

• A super fence's autogenerated, default description is not updated when one of its geofences is deleted. If desired, update it after the geofence is deleted.

• Deleting a geofence that is the only geofence in a rule deactivates the rule. In the Rules area , the rule shows a icon on the Rules page and Deleted geofence in the rule overview pane.

• Deleting a geofence that is used to filter a report removes the filter, which may impact the report results.

  You can filter a report by geofence name by adding one of the following filters to a device report:

  • Last known location inside <geofence or super fence name>

  • Last known location outside <geofence or super fence name>

To delete a geofence:

1. On the Geofences page, find the item you want to update. You can use the View by field to filter the page by Policy (rule) or geofence Type . You can also Search for the item.

2. Hover over the geofence or super fence and click .

   If the geofence is the only member of a super fence, the icon is grayed out. Delete the super fence first.

3. In the confirmation dialog, click Delete.

The geofence or super fence is deleted and a Geofence deleted event is logged to Event History. If a rule was disabled, a Rule updated event is logged.