Geofence limitations

Indoor usage

Device location is determined by a combination of wifi triangulation and GPS and the reliability of this can reduce significantly when indoors. Depending on your venue, you will find that results can vary. We’d recommend setting up some geofences and testing them using the YourMapp Preview app for their accuracy. We’d recommend using a fairly large geofence radius, to increase the chances of it triggering.

Size

It’s a common question – “how big can a geofence be?” “how small can my geofence be?”. The simple answer is that your geofences can be as big as you like – you could map the entire world if you wanted but it’s worth thinking about whether you could achieve the same results with a global push notification to your users. How small your geofence can be is however influenced by a number of factors. Technology limitations across devices and operating systems, combined with local GPS/Wifi strength mean that the reliability of your geofence being triggered can vary. We tested the reliability of geofences extensively when building them into YourMapp and we have the following advice:

• A reliable minimum radius is 50m – we found that this performed the most consistently across platforms and locations
• Avoid overlapping or putting geofences too close together – your users might get confused by lots of geofences triggering as they walk around
• Don’t make your notifications too specific – don’t rely on the geofence having triggered in the perfect location. Instead of saying “You’re stood next to the doughnut cart – here’s an exclusive offer for you” perhaps say “Can you smell doughnuts?  Make your way to the doughnut cart with this exclusive offer!”
• Always test! Use our YourMapp Preview app to test your notifications before publishing them live to the app

How many?

We tested geofences across both iOS and Android and found that 20 geofences was the maximum number that ensured consistent behaviour across both platforms. We’re constantly reviewing this but 20 geofences should be plenty to engage your customers as they walk around. Don’t forget, you can always move, edit, remove or add geofences – they’re updated in the app when you publish your content.