PC*MILER lets you define geofences on the map. A geofence is a geographic area that will either generate an alert in reports when a route enters it, will be avoided altogether by the route, or both. We will create a circular geofence around Cleveland, OH, and edit its properties. (To be sure, Cleveland does, in fact, rock.)


1. Press <Ctrl+N> to open a new route window.


2. Enter “cleveland oh” as a stop (any ZIP code), then double-click it on the stop list to zoom to this Midwestern city.


3. Use your mouse scroll wheel or right click on the map to zoom out to level 10. REMEMBER: The zoom level is shown in the title bar of the map window.


4. Select the Tools tab > Create Geofence > Create Circle.


5. In the map window, place the cursor over the Cleveland stop icon, hold down the mouse button, drag a circle around a portion of the city, then let go. The new geofence will look something like this on the map.



TIP: If you aren’t satisfied with the area your geofence covers on the first attempt, click Tools tab > Geofences group > Delete and click on the geofenced area to delete it.  You could also try using the Create Geofence > Create Polygon option for more precision.


6. Select the Tools tab > Geofence Options > Manage.


7. Using this dialog, you can name a geofence and assign it to a geofence set that has customized properties. You’ll see the default name assigned to the new geofence, for example “Geofence_1”, under Available Geofences. 


8. Click the default name to highlight it, then click Rename, type “Cleveland” and click Save.


9. Now we will create a set for this geofence to belong to, so that we can edit its colors and properties. Under Geofence Sets, click Create then type “Ohio” and click Save. 


10. To add the Cleveland geofence to the Ohio set, click on it and then click Add To Set. As part of the set, its properties can now be edited. 



11. Under Customization, Ohio should be selected in the Applied To section.


12: Next, select Avoid+Warning as the Behavior to identify the alert level of this set. At this level, routes will avoid the geofenced area whenever possible, but if they must enter the area (for example, if a stop is within that area) an alert will appear in reports at the point where the route begins to travel on the road segment that crosses the geofence.


13. Next, select the characteristics of the geofence’s Appearance – change the border width: under Border Weight select 4 px from the drop-down and leave the border red.


14. To change the fill color of this set, click the down arrow under Fill Color and choose a color.  We’ll choose yellow.

Click Apply Changes to apply the fill color and border edits then close the Geofence Manager.  You’ll see that the appearance of the geofence has changed on the map.


15. Click Apply Changes to apply the fill color and border edits then close the Geofence Manager. You’ll see that the appearance of the geofence has changed on the map.



16. Once a geofence has been established, you can do a search to determine if a specified address falls within the geofenced area.  Select the Tools tab > Geofence Options > Identify.


17. In the Geofence Identifier, enter Big Italy, OH in the City field.


18. Under Search within, select A specific geofence set.


19. In the drop-down list, select Ohio then click Search. The correct geofence will appear under Matching Geofences.



20. Close the Geofence Identifier window then close the Route 2 window to continue.


Next Stop: View and Print a Map