Trailer Tracking Software and Systems: Reports, Alerts and Integrations

Trailer tracking software is the layer of a trailer tracking system that turns the positions a trailer device sends into a map, geofence alerts, dwell reports and detention records; the other two layers are the device on the trailer and the connection it reports over. For trailer fleets in Canada and the United States, High Point GPS supplies and installs the trailer trackers and sets up the geofences, dwell reports and alerts in the High Point GPS platform. The device comes in three kinds. A battery-powered tracker, such as the next-gen GO Anywhere, has its own GPS and LTE modem and reports on a schedule for years on one battery, which suits non-powered trailers such as dry vans. A hybrid tracker, such as the GO Anywhere Plus, wires to trailer power and keeps a backup battery. A Bluetooth tag is a small beacon with no GPS of its own, heard by a GO10 through its built-in Bluetooth or by a GO9 with the IOX-BT module; Geotab positions tags for tools and small assets rather than the trailer itself. Temperature and door sensors can add to a tracker, and deeper reefer data comes through partner integrations such as Thermo King TracKing. Pick by the trailer: battery trackers for non-powered trailers, hybrid trackers for powered ones, tags for the tools that ride inside.

A tag reports through the cellular connection of the nearest GO10, which has Bluetooth built in, or GO9 fitted with the IOX-BT module. It costs almost nothing to run, and it only shows up when a tracked vehicle is nearby. A standalone tracker, such as the High Point GPS tracker for trailers, has its own modem and plan, reports from anywhere with signal, and stores positions when out of coverage. The reporting interval trades battery life against freshness. A trailer that sits at a customer for three weeks does not need a position every minute, and a tracker set to report every few hours while parked lasts years.

Software turns trackers into a system. In the High Point GPS platform a trailer sits on the same map as the tractors, with its last position and time, and the platform does the work no device can. Geofenced arrival and departure at customers give you the detention billing record. Dwell reports show which trailers have not moved in a month, the record you size the pool from. Proximity pairing tells dispatch which trailer is behind which truck, and alerts flag a trailer leaving a yard after hours or a reefer temperature drifting out of range. A fleet with six trailers can manage with the device's own portal. A fleet with sixty needs the software, and the software needs trailers and trucks on one platform.

Most freight fleets end up with a mix: battery trackers on non-powered trailers, hybrid trackers on powered ones, temperature sensing and partner reefer data on refrigerated units, and Bluetooth tags on the tools that travel with them, all reporting into the platform that already tracks the tractors. High Point GPS supplies and installs the full range and configures the geofences, dwell reports and alerts for fleets across Canada and the United States.

A few questions about the trailer's life settle the choice.

Start from how your trailers live, then check that the software and the support fit the fleet. The device follows from a few facts about each trailer: whether it has power, how long it sits, and where it goes. The software follows from what the office does with the data: billing detention, sizing the pool and dispatching empties.

Run each trailer group through the questions below before you compare vendors. Most fleets find they need two device types and one platform, and the answers also tell you which reports and alerts to set up on the first day.

Yes, through an API. The positions, geofence visits and dwell times the High Point GPS platform records can be read by other software, so your transportation management system (TMS), dispatch board or billing tool shows the same trailer status as the map. Geotab publishes the MyGeotab software development kit (SDK), with APIs, client libraries and examples for building on the platform, and High Point GPS builds API integrations and custom add-ins on it.

Decide which events your other systems need before you connect anything. Detention billing needs arrival and departure at customer geofences. The pool review needs a list of trailers idle past a set number of days. Dispatch needs to know which trailer is behind which tractor. Sending those events keeps a TMS readable; sending every raw position from every trailer buries the ones that matter.

Partner data follows the same path. Geotab brings trailer data into MyGeotab beside the tractor data, and deeper reefer, tire and cargo data comes from Marketplace partners such as Thermo King TracKing and FleetPulse, so one connection carries both.