This article is for administrators and dispatchers reviewing a tablet's GPS history in the routing site — not for drivers using the tablet itself.
If a tablet's recorded path on the map looks wrong even though the driver completed the trip normally, this article walks through the most common patterns and what causes each one.
Symptoms
- A straight diagonal ("crow-fly") line appears in the middle of an otherwise normal route
- Dense, overlapping "parallel line" or zigzag patterns that don't resemble a driving path
- Many short lines radiating out from a single point on the map
The behavior is almost always one of three causes:
1. A Straight ("Crow-Fly") Line Mid-Route
SafeDriver360 can only record location while the app is open and actively in use. If a driver navigates to the tablet's home screen, opens another app, or the screen times out during a trip, location tracking pauses — even though navigation may still be technically running. When the app becomes active again, the map draws a straight line between the last recorded point and the new one, since no GPS data exists in between.
Fix: Remind drivers to keep SafeDriver360 open and the screen on for the full duration of a trip, rather than switching away or letting the tablet lock.
2. Zigzagging or Overlapping "Parallel Line" Patterns
This pattern typically means two tablets were running the same trip at the same time — for example, a spare or backup tablet was left signed in and active alongside the primary one.
Fix: Confirm only one tablet is actively running a given trip at any time. If a spare tablet is kept on a vehicle, make sure any previous trip is fully ended on it before a new trip starts on the primary tablet.
3. Scattered "Burst" Lines Radiating From One Point
This usually means GPS data from two different trips overlapped — for example, the AM trip's navigation was never manually ended and a PM trip started on top of it, or navigation ran overnight from the previous day's PM trip and wasn't ended before the next AM trip began.
Fix: Make sure drivers fully end navigation at the completion of every trip — both AM and PM — rather than simply closing the app or powering off the tablet.
Prevention
- Train drivers to always tap End Navigation at the end of a trip, not just close the app
- Avoid leaving a spare tablet signed in and running the same trip as the primary tablet
- Keep SafeDriver360 open and the tablet screen on while a trip is actively running