Geofencing Artifact
Definition
A record generated when a device enters or exits a defined geographic boundary. Fitness apps, delivery apps, and smart-home apps create these records. A geofence event log contains a timestamp, the boundary crossed, and the location technology used to detect the crossing.
- Source apps
- Fitness, delivery, and smart-home apps
- Record contents
- Timestamp, boundary crossed, location technology
- Event types
- Entry and exit
- Forensic use
- Digital location-history reconstruction
Common questions
What location technologies commonly generate geofence events?+
GPS, Wi-Fi positioning, and Bluetooth beacon detection are the common technologies apps use to detect when a device crosses a defined virtual boundary.
Why are geofencing artifacts useful alongside other location data?+
They provide discrete, app-defined boundary-crossing events that can corroborate or fill gaps in continuous location logs like GPS tracks, especially when continuous tracking was disabled.
Can a geofencing artifact be misleading about actual location?+
Yes, positioning error from Wi-Fi or Bluetooth based detection can register a crossing when the device was actually some distance from the drawn boundary.
Related terms
- Cell Site Location Information (CSLI)
- Records held by a mobile network operator showing which cell towers a device registered with and when. Historical CSLI covers past registrations....
- GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System)
- The family of satellite-based positioning systems including US GPS, Russian GLONASS, European Galileo, and Chinese BeiDou. Mobile chipsets typically support multiple constellations...
- Significant Locations
- An iOS feature that records frequently visited places using a combination of GPS, Wi-Fi, and cell data. Stored in an encrypted SQLite...
- Tower Dump
- A legal demand directed to a mobile network operator for records of all devices that registered with one or more specific cell...
- Wi-Fi Probe Request
- A broadcast management frame that a Wi-Fi radio sends when scanning for known networks. The frame advertises the SSIDs stored in the...