Since the dawn of time, people have been looking at the stars for directions, then came maps, and now we have GPS. With the advent of modern technology, we now have the apps, where we can integrate GPS data, couple it with some sophisticated programming, and create some fascinating applications and use cases.
For this read, we will be focused on Radar which is a location platform for mobile apps. Just with a few lines of codes, developers can add location context and track within their apps. In fact, it is one of the most developer friendlies and privacy-focused location platform in the market. It also supports cross-platform compatibility, and you will be able to send your data to other tools without a problem.
In a broader overview, Radar can be used as a geofencing platform, provide location-based insights, and is also integrated with Facebook Places. Here is a brief overview of all its features and a little insight on using them.
Radar.io: Features
The core concept of Radar.io can be categories into these three location context types – Geofences, Insights, and Places.
Geofencing
Just to brush up your knowledge, Geofencing is a virtual geographic boundary created by GPS or RFID tech which can be used to added events and actions into software which triggers based on location.
Now, as you already know, iOS and Android platforms, both provide a basic form of geofencing functionalities, but Radar.io goes beyond that. You get cross-platform support for unlimited geofences, polygon geofencing, and stop detection, all of which can better your apps immensely.
How to use:
Using the geofencing feature with radar.io is very simple. All you need to do is use these two codes appropriately:
- entered_geofence
- exited_geofence
And that’s it. Of course, you need to setup those geofences prior hand.
Insights
With frequent usage, Radar.io can detect a user’s home and work locations. Once, it has accumulated such data; now you can know when the user is at home, at work, or is traveling, and use this knowledge, to trigger beneficial functions for your users.
How to Use:
Using Insights is also much like using geofences. You get some basic codes which you need to associate with some event to trigger them.
- entered_home
- exited_home
- entered_office
- exited_office
- started_traveling
- stopped_traveling
Places
Did you know that Facebook and Instagram both boast a place database that consists of over 140M places worldwide? So even if your user is not within a specified geofence, or not currently at their work or home, you can still know the specifics of their location, albeit, Facebook has it stored.
How to Use:
To use this function, you will have to turn on Places, and then you will receive the following events:
- entered_place
- exited_place
Radar.io: Developer Tools
Here are some insights on all the developer tools that you get with radar.io.
SDKs
Remember when we said radar.io gives you the cross-platform liberty to set up your location contexts. Well, this is done using SDKs. Once these software development kits have been integrated into your Android or iOS app, you will be able to add all the location context and location tracking features without worrying about platform based difference. In fact, all such features would also be easily applied by a few lines of code, as we showed above.
APIs
The rich collection of APIs makes it easier for you to access data involving your users, events, geofences, and places, that you have setup in Radar. The APIs also help you to coordinate specific geofences to individuals, to program geofences, and much more.
Integrations
With Radar, you are granted seamless integration with technologies such as webhooks, mParticle, Segment, Braze, Urban Airship and many more server-side integrations. This will help you to send events from your Radar-enabled mobile app to other systems. You can even synchronize geofences with other compatible systems.
Radar.io: Quick Start
If you like its features, then you will be even more overwhelmed hearing how simple it is to set up. Here is a set-wise flow chart on how to get started with Radar.io.
- Integrated the SDK with your apps. This will enable user tracking.
- Create some contextual events by using Geofences, Insights, or Places.
- Integrate if necessary, server-side or client-side events.
- Use the provided toolkit apps to check your app for performance bugs and errors.
And this how Radar.io can amazingly and simply improve your apps and integrate Location Based features.
