What is geofencing and what are the benefits? We explain it

Geofencing is one of those technology terms that are present in many fields, but whose exact meaning is hardly known to most people. Our guide therefore explains what it is all about.

Practical location determination: geofencing affects a wide variety of application areas.

The location can be determined more and more precisely. This opens up quite a few possibilities for new application purposes. Geofencing is the best example.

What is geofencing? What's behind it

"Fence" is the English word for "fence". Geofencing is therefore the delimitation of a geographical area.

• The basis for this is therefore the GPS tracking of a mobile device.
• Geofencing is used, for example, in marketing, such as mobile coupons that can be redeemed in stationary retail. For this, the location of the user is namely crucial. Thanks to geofencing, certain coupons can be displayed to match the current area.
• In the meantime, however, geofencing is also used in completely different areas, first and foremost for the automation of smart home devices.
• Furthermore, geofencing can be used as a security measure. The best-known example is shopping carts whose wheels lock as soon as they leave the defined area of the supermarket.

Geofencing has thus long since arrived in everyday life, even if the term is not even known to many people. Mit dem weiteren Vormarsch des Internets der Dinge wird auch die Bedeutung von Geofencing noch zunehmen.