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Building a delivery tracker app with live location and ETAs

In this tutorial, we show you how to use the Radar iOS SDK, geofences, forward geocode API, and trip tracking to build a delivery tracker app with live location and ETAs.

Languages used#

  • Swift

Features used#

Steps#

Step 1: Sign up for Radar#

If you haven't already, sign up for Radar to get your API key. You can create up to 1,000 geofences and make up to 100,000 API requests per month for free.

Get API keys

Step 2: Create geofences#

When a delivery is placed, call the geofence upsert API to create a geofence for the delivery. In this case, use delivery for the geofence tag and the delivery ID for the geofence externalId.

Optionally, set disableAfter to disable geofence entry events after the delivery time, and set userId to the user ID of the delivery driver to enable geofence entry events only for that delivery driver.

curl "https://api.radar.io/v1/geofences/delivery/123" \  -H "Authorization: prj_live_sk_..." \  -X PUT \  -d "description=Delivery #123" \  -d "type=circle" \  -d "coordinates=[-73.97536,40.78382]" \  -d "radius=50" \  -d "disableAfter=2021-01-01T00:00:00.000Z" \  -d "userId=456"

If you do not already have the coordinates for the delivery address, you can call the forward geocode API to convert the delivery address to coordinates.

curl "https://api.radar.io/v1/geocode/forward?query=20+jay+st+brooklyn+ny" \  -H "Authorization: prj_live_sk_..."

Step 3: Install the Radar iOS SDK#

Install the Radar SDK in the app used by delivery drivers.

Initialize the SDK in your AppDelegate class with your publishable API key, then request location permissions.

import UIKitimport CoreLocationimport RadarSDK
@UIApplicationMainclass AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {
    let locationManager = CLLocationManager()
    func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {        Radar.initialize(publishableKey: "prj_test_pk_...")
        self.locationManager.requestWhenInUseAuthorization()
        return true    }
}

Step 4: Start tracking and start a trip#

When the delivery starts, start tracking to start live location tracking, start a trip to the destination geofence. Use the delivery ID, in this case 123, for the trip externalId.

If you set userId when creating delivery geofences, identify the user by calling Radar.setUserId().

Radar.setUserId("456")
let tripOptions = RadarTripOptions(externalId: "123")tripOptions.destinationGeofenceTag = "delivery"tripOptions.destinationGeofenceExternalId = "123"tripOptions.mode = .carRadar.startTrip(options: tripOptions)Radar.startTracking(trackingOptions: .presetContinuous)

Optionally, instead of calling Radar.startTracking(), we can simulate a sequence of location updates from an origin to a destination with Radar.mockTracking(). For example, to simulate a sequence of 10 location updates every 3 seconds by car from an origin to a destination, we can call:

Radar.mockTracking(  origin: CLLocation(latitude: 40.714708, longitude: -74.035807),  destination: CLLocation(latitude: 40.717410, longitude: -74.053334),  mode: .car,  steps: 10,  interval: 3) { (status, location, events, user) in
}

Step 5: Send delivery updates to the customer#

Radar generates events when trips are updated, including user.started_trip, user.approaching_trip_destination, user.arrived_at_trip_destination, and user.stopped_trip.

You can receive events server-side via event integrations, including webhooks.

Listen for trip events and send text messages or push notifications to the customer with delivery updates:

  • user.started_trip: "Your delivery is on the way! ETA {x} minutes."
  • user.approaching_trip_destination: "Your delivery is almost here! Please meet your delivery driver soon."
  • user.arrived_at_trip_destination: "Your delivery is here! Please meet your delivery driver now."
  • user.stopped_trip: "Your delivery is complete!"

Or, poll the get trip API to show a live ETA and location in the customer app.

curl "https://api.radar.io/v1/trips/123" \  -H "Authorization: prj_live_sk_..."

Step 6: Stop tracking and stop the trip#

When the delivery is complete, complete the trip and stop tracking.

Radar.completeTrip()Radar.stopTracking()

Support#

Have questions or feedback on this documentation? Let us know! Contact us at radar.com/support.