This is one of the best triggers available in MS Flow. I am not sure how many times I have heard the requirement to perform some actions based on location and now this can be achieved easily by a combination of new Location-Based trigger and other sets of actions based on our requirements.
All of this without code. 😎
What is Geofencing?
Geofencing simply means defining an area or a fence around a location. The feature allows users to create a location range that triggers a flow when a mobile device enters or leaves the location range. This enables certain flows to automatically run, without manual activation from the user, further adding to the mobile application’s efficiency.
Prerequisites for using Geofencing in Mobile Devices
As Geofencing is based on MS Flow’s Location-based trigger, we need to ensure that we allow location access to MS Flow app on our mobile devices and smartwatches.
Using Location Trigger: When I enter or Exit an Area
To begin, search Location trigger and select “When I enter or exit an area“.
Click on Create Tigger Region button. Select the location and set a radius around which we want to create a Geofence.
We can zoom in or out to define the size of Geofence. You can also move the location in the map to set a more precise location instead of relying on Address or Pincode.
Use case scenarios
There are many use-cases for Geofencing which could be to as simple as replacing punching a time clock or as complex as building a playbook for a Sales representative as soon as he reaches near his customer’s location. Some of the other use cases are:
- Check-in/Check-out of a location and record time spent
- Push notification or trigger other API’s based on location
- Inform customer or manager when a Sales representative enter/exit customer’s location
I hope I was able to spark the interest to look into this feature and I hope it helps your client. I am sure we all can find out lot’s of use cases for this feature and if not I think our customers will find some for us.
Till next time, Cheers 😉
Hey Manish,
Great post. I tried this today and the scenario is to send a mail when I leave or enter into my home. But I got the mail multiple times after I left my house in the morning (I turned off the flow to stop receiving mails). What could be the reason? and can we distinguish the leave and enter actions?
Hi Raj,
Sorry for the late reply. Firstly, last time I checked, it was still in preview and they haven’t released an article on how we can set the leave or entry for a geofence. Secondly, I guess you need to check your flow runs for why you got multiple emails or why it triggered multiple times.
I know it might now help much, but that’s all I got at this point.