If you have your own GPS tracking device, then in certain circumstances you can set it up to communicate with the Okappy platform.

First you will need to get the unique IMEI number for your unit, this is generally a long number of about 15 digits.

Log into your Okappy account, click on your profile icon at the top right of the screen (you will need administrator access rights) and click Add Trackers(s).

Choose Add your own device in the drop down box, then enter the following details:

• A name for your device – your devices name will be displayed on the device icon on the radar screen
• The telephone number of the SIM card in the device
• The unique IMEI number for the device so the system can recognise it
• The device type
• Set up your GPS tracking device to communicate with the Okappy server at our IP address of 34.250.185.30 and port 5911.

Start your device tracking.

If your device is working and it is sending its location in the correct format, then you should see your device icon appear on the main radar screen in the correct location.

If your device’s location is not shown, you can check the device details report to see what details you device has been set up with. Alternatively, check the activity report to see whether any information has been received from your device.

If you cannot see any information in the activity report, then check your device’s configuration to make sure it is transmitting correctly.

In order for Okappy to recognise the information that your units sends, your unit will need to send its location information in one of the following standard formats:

$GPRMC$IMEI=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX$$POS $DST 549*GSM23*4B^M
$GPRMC,154813.531,A,5143.4777,N,00010.8866,E,0.00,119.50,250314,,*02^M
$^M

In this case, XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX is the unique IMEI number of your unit.

Alternatively, the following format can be used:

240325154156,447970000000,GPRMC,154156.471,A,5044.3212,N,00151.4889,W,2.50,102.70,250314,,,A*71,F,, imei:YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY,F:4.32V,1,139,60336

In this case, YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY is the unique IMEI number of your unit.

With Okappy, there are various ways you can get GPS tracking information from your devices in order to better allocate work, reduce mileage and provide lone worker protection to your employees.

Read on to find out about the various tracking options which are available and how to configure them.

There are 4 ways to track the location of your devices using Okappy.

1. Always track
2. Track for a period of time
3. Save the location and time stamp when updating jobs
4. Turn off tracking altogether

Which option you choose will be down to your specific business requirements.

Note: Due to Apple and Android’s privacy controls, the ultimate control over when a device transmits its data lies within the device.  Consequently, we feel it is better to be transparent and show when the device is tracking rather than hiding it.  Otherwise you risk creating anxiety amongst your employees which could ultimately lead to them turning the device off altogether.

GPS Tracking can be turned on by default from within the app and also from the web portal.

To turn GPS tracking on by default from within the app.

• Click the Okappy icon
• Click More
• Click Tracking settings
• Ensure that Always track is checked

You can also turn tracking on by default for each of your employees from the web portal.

To turn tracking on or off from the web portal

• Go to Reports
• Select Vehicles / devices
• Select Vehicle / device details
• Click the Tracking checkbox for the relevant device

GPS Tracking can be enabled from a period of time from within the app.

If the device is sending its locations, then the Okappy icon will be orange, otherwise it will be grey.

From any of the screens in both the iOS and Android apps,

• Click the Okappy icon
• If the tracking is off, click Start sending locations

If you do not want your devices to be sending their locations all the time (sending locations uses power) then you can get your devices to send their location with each job update.

To enable each device to send its location on job updates, from within the web portal

• Go to the Connections screen
• Select Employees
• Find your employee
• Click Settings
• Check Save location with timestamp when jobs are updated

Some companies do not want to track the location of their engineers at all. In this case simply ensure all the options highlighted above are turned off.

If you don’t want to track employees devices, but would like to track vehicles.  Okappy has a range of GPS tracking devices.

These can be purchased from within the web portal by clicking the profile icon, and then selecting Add tracker(s)