Geofencing

Geofencing is a type of digital electric fence and creates boundaries around properties and defines spaces. This fence is the basis of precision agriculture. Through geofencing, equipment and machinery as well as animals can be monitored remotely. In addition, livestock can be tracked and the collection and delivery of products can be managed.

Should an animal leave the digitally set up area, for example, a sound that is unpleasant for the animal can be played on the animal's collar so that the animals are conditioned not to leave the digitally fenced areas. About three to five days are needed to condition the animals. By mapping water use, crops and their growing areas, productivity and competence can be increased over time. However, the special potential of geofencing will only be exploited when Big Data technologies and GPS trackers are used.

Prerequisite for use

• A digital fence has no function without determining the position of machines or animals within the fence. Thus, the use of transmitters is necessary. These are available for as little as about 100 euros.
• Since the GPS data is sent via the mobile phone network, good network coverage is desirable.
• If not only the current position of the objects in the area is to be displayed, but also further analyses of the data are to be carried out, for example to optimise production processes, the use of further technologies from the areas of Big Data or Internet of Things is required.