Technician location history
This is the honest version, written for both sides: the owner deciding whether to switch it on, and the tech who wants to know what's being kept.
By default, nothing is stored
DeweyIQ already shows live truck positions on the dispatch map while techs are on route, and uses position on the device to detect arrival and departure at each stop. None of that is saved as a location trail — the live position is delivered to the map and discarded, and what's kept from the geofence is arrival and departure times, not a path. Out of the box, there is no record of where anyone drove.
What the setting turns on
Settings → Time Tracking → Technician Location History. When the owner switches it on, DeweyIQ starts saving a sampled position record while a tech has today's route screen open: latitude and longitude roughly once every 10 seconds, the accuracy of each reading, speed, and heading. It saves the accuracy figure on purpose — a wifi-derived fix can be off by 2,000 meters, and without the accuracy number that's indistinguishable from a precise one.
When it records — and when it doesn't
Only while the tech has the current day's route screen open in the app. Not overnight. Not on days off. Not when the app is closed, and not when they're on some other screen. It doesn't record audio, use the camera, or see anything else on the phone. Looking at yesterday's or tomorrow's route records nothing.
Who can see it
A tech can see their own history and nobody else's — that's enforced in the database, not just in the UI. The owner and office staff can see it for their own company. Other techs cannot. No other DeweyIQ customer can. It is never sold, and never shared for advertising.
How long it's kept: 90 days
Every reading is deleted automatically 90 days after it was recorded. That window is fixed in the product — an owner can't extend it, and there's no setting to keep it longer. A nightly job does the deleting. If the feature is switched off, existing history still ages out on the same 90-day schedule.
What it's actually for: routes, not people
The point is measuring how long roads really take to drive in your service area at each hour of each day, so route optimization plans around real traffic instead of a flat estimate, and so drive time on your profitability reports is observed rather than guessed. Reporting built on this data describes routes — 'this corridor runs 40% slow at 4pm.' DeweyIQ does not build per-tech movement replays, off-route alerts, or idle-time monitoring on it. That's a deliberate decision about what this product is, not a feature we haven't gotten to.
Your techs are told
Whenever the setting is on, every tech sees a notice on their Routes screen saying location history is being recorded, what's kept, who can see it, and for how long. That notice can't be switched off separately — recording and disclosure ship together. Several US states require employers to give notice before monitoring employee location, so check what your own state requires; DeweyIQ showing the notice is a help, not legal advice, and it doesn't discharge your obligations as the employer.
Turning it off
Same switch, Settings → Time Tracking → Technician Location History. Only the owner can change it. Switching it off stops new recording immediately — including for techs already out on a route — and the field notice disappears. History already recorded isn't deleted on the spot; it ages out on the normal 90-day schedule. If you need it gone sooner than that, email legal@DeweyIQ.com.
If you're a tech and want to know what's recorded about you
Ask your employer first — they're the ones who own the data and switched the setting on, and they can see the same records you can. You can also contact legal@DeweyIQ.com. Our full write-up of how this data is handled is in the Employee location data section of the privacy policy.
We're here.
Ask Dewey in plain English, or tell us what feature you wish existed.
Still stuck?
Ask Dewey — it knows the whole platform. Or send us a message and we'll reply within a business day.
