Track and trace in transport
Track and trace is the ability to know — at any moment — where a shipment is and what its status is. It’s the most-asked customer question in transport, and the answer either lives in a system (good) or in someone’s head (bad).
What track and trace covers
- Location – where the cargo is right now.
- Status – picked up, in transit, at hub, out for delivery, delivered, exception.
- ETA – estimated time of arrival at the next stop.
- Events – timestamped milestones along the journey.
- Proof – POD, photos, signatures when relevant (see POD).
Where the data comes from
| Source | What it gives you | Caveat |
|---|---|---|
| Telematics / GPS | Live vehicle position, speed, fuel | Requires telematics integration |
| Driver mobile app | Manual status updates, photos, signatures | Depends on driver discipline |
| Carrier portal / EDI | Status from a subcontracted carrier | Quality varies by carrier |
| TMS events | Planned vs actual times, exceptions | Only as good as the operational data |
| Customer scan / signature | Final POD | End-of-chain only |
A serious track-and-trace setup combines at least the first two.
Active vs passive tracking
- Passive tracking – status updates entered by humans (driver app, dispatch). Cheap, works without telematics, but gaps appear when drivers are busy.
- Active tracking – telematics streams position automatically. No human action needed, but requires hardware in every vehicle (or a smartphone-based replacement).
Most operators run a hybrid: telematics for own fleet, mobile app for subcontracted carriers.
ETA calculation
A meaningful ETA needs:
- Current vehicle position (telematics or last reported stop).
- Remaining route with distances and average speeds.
- Driver hours — if rest is due, ETA shifts.
- Time windows at upcoming stops — arrival before opening doesn’t count.
- Traffic data (optional but more accurate).
Without (1)–(4), an “ETA” is just a guess.
What customers actually want
In practice, the customer wants three things:
- A link they can open without logging in.
- A truthful status — “delayed by 1 hour” beats silence.
- A proactive notification when something goes wrong.
A TMS-driven track-and-trace setup delivers all three automatically. A spreadsheet-driven one delivers none.
Privacy and GDPR
Tracking generates location data tied to drivers. That’s personal data under GDPR. Best practice:
- Disclose tracking in driver contracts and consent forms.
- Limit retention to operational needs.
- Separate driver identity from raw GPS logs where possible.
How Routix supports it
- Driver mobile app captures status, photos and signature at every stop.
- Telematics integration via API for live vehicle position.
- Shipment status flows automatically to the shipment record.
- Customer notifications prepared and sent from the operational record, not from a parallel tool.
Related concepts
See this in Routix
To turn visibility into an operational process, start on www.routix.com and then inspect the driver mobile app, Shipments and the API. In Routix those pieces connect live updates, ETA changes and customer-facing status in one record.
