🗺️ Zones — Bulk geofence catalogue

Classic geofences (RG and WP) are configured one at a time and top out at 32 of each kind. When you need to watch hundreds of customers, depots or restricted areas, that is not enough.

The zones module solves that case: geofences are defined once in a file, the device downloads it with a single command, and updating them is a matter of replacing the file.

It supports up to 4096 geometries grouped into up to 512 logical zones.

Concepts

Concept	What it is
Element	A geometry: a point with a radius, a polygon, or a route with a width
Logical zone	The “channel” rules see: `ZNA00`–`ZNA99` and `ZNB00`–`ZNB99`. The number is decimal: `ZNA42` is zone 42
Membership	Each element declares which zones it feeds. Several elements can feed the same zone, and one element can belong to several
Zones file	The compiled binary the device downloads and evaluates

Geometry types

Type	How it is detected	Typical use
Point	Distance to the centre within the radius	Depots, customers, fuel stations
Polygon	The position falls inside the outline	Urban areas, restricted zones
Route	Distance to the line within the width	Corridors, motorway stretches

Several elements can feed the same zone. The zone stays “inside” while the device is within any of them. Useful to group, say, all of a customer’s branches into a single zone.

The device evaluates the position against the whole catalogue once per second. The cost does not depend on the file size but on how many geometries are nearby: a large catalogue does not make it slower.

Getting started

Reserve memory

Zones share memory with the internal log, so a portion has to be set aside first:


>SZFRAC8<    reserves one eighth
>SZMODE1<    enables zone mode

The device restarts to apply it, and requires the log to be empty. See ZONES Command.

Download the catalogue


>SZONES"http://…/zones.bin"<

The device downloads the file, validates it and makes it live. A download is cancelled with >SZONESC< and the catalogue is erased with >SZONESD<.

Verify


>QZONES<   →   RZONES,LOADED,ver=…,crc=…,elem=…,size=…

elem tells you how many geometries were loaded: that is the confirmation the file came through complete.

Define what gets reported

Zones do not report on their own. You have to say what to do on entry or exit, using rules.

Reporting entries and exits

A zone is just another signal for the rules engine:


>SRL10E;TRG=ZNA00+;ACC={GCP01H}<

Edge	Fires on
`+`	entering the zone
`-`	leaving the zone
`*`	any change

Examples:


>SRL10E;TRG=ZNA00+;ACC={GCP01H}<
     on entering zone 0 → high-priority report

>SRL11E;TRG=ZNA00-;CND=GPS;ACC={GCP02H}<
     on leaving, only with a valid fix → report

>SRL12E;TRG=ZNB10*;ACC={GTX00L;@SM0;TXT=ZONE CHANGE}<
     any change in the zone → SMS alert

They combine with any other signal: ignition, inputs, speed, schedules.

Checking a zone’s state


>EVAL ZNA(0):%d<   →   1 = inside, 0 = outside
>QSSZNA00<        →   RSSZNA0011 = inside, RSSZNA0000 = outside

What to know beforehand

If the GPS fix is lost, every zone goes to “outside” and fires its exit edge. If an exit triggers something critical — cutting, alerting, blocking — guard it with CND=GPS so it only acts with a valid position.

Rules use zones 00 to 99 of each group, not all 512, and the number is decimal: ZNA42 is zone 42. That is also the only range you can query with >QSSZNA42<, which requires two digits.

The rule index is read with the same dual scheme as the RL slot, so the firmware also accepts A0–FF (zones 100 to 195, hex of the index plus 0x3C). It is a valid range but easy to misread —ZNAA0 is not zone 160, it is zone 100— and it cannot be queried by command, so it is best avoided.

The remaining zones still work as geofences and are read with EVAL ZNA(n), whose index is decimal from 0 to 255. When building a large catalogue, keep the zones that trigger rules within 0–99.

There is no automatic report: the module emits nothing by itself. Everything reported is defined through rules, which gives full control over which zones speak up and how.
Detection takes up to one second, which is the rate at which the catalogue is evaluated.

Limits


Geometries per file	4096
Logical zones	512 (`ZNA` 0–255 · `ZNB` 256–511)
Usable in rules and queries	0–99 of each group (decimal index)
Rest of the catalogue	Geofence and `EVAL ZNA(n)` / `ZNB(n)`, decimal index 0–255
Evaluation	Once per second