Skip to main content
Sign in

Areas

Marisa Potgieter
  • Updated

Areas module manual

FCPlus Areas module

The Areas module allows you to define areas of interest in the map and track the interaction of your vehicles with those Areas.

The defined areas/Home Areas/Home Locations can be used to have Journal entries automatically distinguish between business and private trips.

How the Areas module can be useful

  • Supplements the map and allows you to add functional details to the map, for example, private and business locations.
  • To create searchable areas in the module.
  • Create an area where vehicles cannot enter/drive out and set an event if a vehicle enters it / drives out.
  • If you have areas defined, many reports in the Reports module become helpful.
  • Create an area at a specific location to see how much time a vehicle spent in the selected location.

The main view

The Areas module screen consists of three sections:

  1. The "Areas List" on the left-hand side,
  2. The "Map Area" on the right-hand side and
  3. The "Vehicle List" (optional) on the extreme right-hand side

The Area list displays the list of all the created Areas in an organization. The Map Area displays the exact geographical location of the area on the map with customizable colours. The vehicle list displays the list of all the vehicles in an organization.

The area list

The left-hand side section of the Areas module displays a list of all the defined areas.

At the top of this section are the areas of Search fields. In addition, you can use the search field to find the desired location as necessary.

Below the search fields, You can display the following columns  for each area in the Area's List:

  • ID: Displays the ID of the Area.
  • Name: Displays the name of the Area.
  • Group: Displays the Area group.
  • Postal Code: Displays the Postal Code of the Area.
  • Adr: Displays the address of the Area.
  • Last Update Timestamp: Displays the time the Area was last updated.
  • Last Update Person: Displays the name of the user who last updated the area.

Note: Generally, you will have only some columns visible. However, you can click on the column names to add columns in the Areas module.

Below the areas list, several tracking related options are displayed, including: 

  • Fit to screen: The fit to screen button resizes the map to display all the areas on the map area.
  • Info:  The info button displays a pop-up screen with the area details.
  • Areas collapsed list: When you click on the areas collapsed list, a dropdown menu displays two options:
  1. Export to Excel: Download an Excel sheet of all the areas on your computer.
  2. Delete selected areas: Delete the designated areas from the Areas Module.

The map area

The Map area of the Areas modules displays all selected areas from the Area's List.

You must Zoom in and out of the map to view Areas on the map. You can click on any area to view more information regarding the area.

The vehicle list

On the extreme right-hand side in the Areas module, you can find the list of the vehicles. The vehicle List is available to all users with a Booking module enabled. You can assign vehicles to Home Areas from the Vehicles List section of the Areas module. You can also assign departments to the Home Areas. This makes it easier for customers with multiple booking vehicles and home areas to manage  Areas, Vehicles and Department access. 

The following searchable columns can be displayed for each vehicle in the Vehicle's List:

  • Id: It shows the Id of the vehicle.
  • Name: It displays the name of the vehicle.
  • Home Location: It displays the name of the Home location associated with the vehicle.
  • Group: It displays the vehicle group.
  • Department: It displays the department of the vehicle.
  • Booking Enabled: It displays if the Booking is enabled for the selected vehicle or not.

Follow the steps below to assign Home Areas to Vehicles and Set/Restrict Department access: 

  1. In the Areas module, select a Home Area from the left-hand side panel
  2. From the Vehicles listed on the right-hand side of the screen, select and assign preferred Vehicles to the Home Area
  3. To Set/Restrict Department access, click the Set Department or Restrict Department tabs, as necessary on the bottom
  4. Click the Savebutton to save the changes.

Create an area

The Areas module allows you to define areas of interest in the map and track the interaction of your vehicles with those Areas.

The area shapes

There are Four different area shapes possible in the Areas Module:

  • Polygon
  • Line
  • Circle
  • Route

  • Circle and line shapes are the fastest to create. So these should be your default choice when you don't need to be too exact.
  • Polygons are more exact but also take more time to create.

It is an excellent choice to use polygons in any urban area, where there are plenty of addresses already but where you may want to have your designations for areas.

Another good choice is to use polygons when breaking down an address with ample acreage into smaller sections.

  • Route shape should be chosen for any major routes your vehicles may be travelling.

Note: Please note that it can only be edited as a line after creating a route shape.

Create an area: Polygon

You can create any of the four areas shaped discussed from the Areas Module. To create a new area, you must click on one of the buttons on the top of the Area's List.

The first way to create an area is by a Polygon. Let us review the steps below to do the same:

  1. Click on the + Add polygon button on top of the areas list.
  2. Move the mouse cursor to the map area, a pointer with a cross icon will be displayed.
  3. Left-click on the map area to start the area. 4. Click any number of points to mark the perimeter of the area. 5. Close the Polygon by clicking one of the white anchors a second time. 6. The application connects the dots to a polygonal area and opens an input window for the area. 7. In the Input Screen, enter all the required information in all the fields. 8. Click the Save button.

The input box includes the following fields:

  • Name: This allows you to assign a name to the area or edit one already entered.
  • Colour selection box: The area will be marked in colour selected. Useful to distinguish overlapping or adjacent areas.
  • Group: This allows you to form area groups, for example, "Client offices", "Warehouses", etc.

Note: You can assign the area to an area group, like "Offices" or "Parking lots", when creating or editing an area. This allows you to:

  • Create Events that apply for area groups, such as having an event of "Leaving office" to apply for any organization's offices.
  • Get the Areas group report that could give an overview of visits to clients, stores, etc., if the appropriate areas have been created.
  • Description:  A freeform description of the area.
  • Postal code: The application will show the postal code if such data is available in the mapping software.
  • Radius (not displayed when creating polygon shape): This insertion box can change how far from the centre the area extends. It can be helpful to make a bit more exact areas.
  • Area: FCPlus will calculate how many square meters the area covers.
  • Sets address checkbox: Allows the area to override the address given by mapping software for purposes of all FCPlus modules. It has to be checked to use as private zones.

Note: By default, FCPlus uses the addresses found in mapping software.

When creating an area, users can create an area to override the default information in mapping software. To do so, check the Sets address checkbox when creating a new area. When checked, instead of the name's address, the area will be displayed in FCPlus.

This can be used to mark any frequently visited locations with a more easily understood name.

For example, you could create a circular area called "Company headquarters" encompassing the headquarters, the surrounding streets and parking lots. Or, where the physical address spot is large, you could mark various parking lots, warehouses on the business premises with multiple areas, each setting its address.

Create an area: Line

The second way to create an area is by a Line.

Let us review the steps below to do the same:

  1. Click on the + Add Line button on top of the areas list.
  2. Move the mouse cursor to the map area, a pointer with a cross icon will be displayed.
  3. Left-click on the map area to start the area.
  4. Click any number of points to mark the line area.
  5. Finish the line by double-clicking left with your mouse.
  6. The input window for the area will be displayed.
  7. In the Input Screen, enter all the required information in all the fields.
  8. Click the Save button.

Create an area: Circle

The third way to create an area is by a Circle.

Let us review the steps below to do the same:

  1. Click on the  + ­Add Circle button on top of the areas list.
  2. Move the mouse cursor to the map area, a pointer with a cross icon will be displayed.
  3. Click and drag on the centre of the circle to move the circle.
  4. Click and drag one of the four points on the circle to make the circle bigger or smaller.
  5. The input window for the area will be displayed.
  6. In the Input Screen, enter all the required information in all the fields.
  7. Click the Save button.

Note: Another way to mark a circle-shaped area is to right-click on the map, then select Create area on the input window that opens.

Create an area: Route

The last way to create an area is by a Route.

Let us review the steps below to do the same:

1. Click on the Distance calculator icon above the map area. 2. The "Route planner" window will be displayed, and you can mark waypoints on the map with the cross-shaped pointer. 3. Click on the thumbtack icon at the bottom in the Route planning window to create the area.

  1. Once marking territory is complete, an input box will be displayed.
  2. In the Input Screen, enter all the required information in all the fields.
  3. Click the Save button.

Examples of using the Areas module

Here are some examples of how you can use the Areas module depending on your business needs:

  • Track Time with Customers: Areas allow us to mark a client’s location and see exactly how much time a employee spends with them. Simply marking a customer's address on a map doesn't guarantee that the vehicle will be parked there, so using Areas provides more accuracy.
  • Monitor Driving Zones: You can define specific areas where employees should be driving during work hours. If an employee leaves these areas, you’ll receive a notification, helping you ensure they stay within the designated zones.
  • Control Vehicle Use After Hours: Set up working hours and designate a parking area. If a vehicle leaves the parking area outside of these hours, you’ll receive a notification. This helps prevent unauthorized use of the vehicle during non-working hours.
  • Track Timely Visits: Some organisations require drivers to visit during a specific time slot to complete their tasks. To monitor if the driver arrives on time and how long they stay, you can create an Area in the client’s zone. This data can later be used to generate reports showing how much time was spent in a particular area and how often it was visited.

Value of Areas for Rental Companies:

  • Enforce Usage Boundaries: Rental companies can use Areas to mark country borders or other restricted zones. If a customer drives a rental car outside the allowed area, the company will receive a notification, helping to ensure vehicles are used within authorized regions.
Powered by Zendesk