FAQs for Carriers

Descartes MacroPoint is a global, real-time freight visibility platform. We provide load location information to customers so they can see all their in-transit freight in real time, at one time, in one portal. Real- time updates and dynamic ETAs enable your customers to monitor the timeliness of their loads and shipments and adjust delivery windows when necessary.

Becoming Descartes MacroPoint enabled is a requirement of your customer. Real time visibility is important to your customer and is a value-added industry standard service. We are happy to work out any issues or concerns you may have about getting connected and we automate the process to make you and your customers’ jobs easier.

You reserve the right to choose not to participate. However, not participating may impact your ability to do business with your customer as the reason we are contacting you is because your customer has indicated that they require real-time freight visibility for the loads you move for them.

We value our carrier partners and do not charge for any of our carrier integration methods, whether it be ELD/GPS, TMS or mobile app.

By choosing to participate with MacroPoint, you are eliminating the need to make manual check calls with your drivers and provide your customers with location updates. This translates to less interruptions in your workflow and safer driving conditions. It gives your customers an estimate of your time of arrival, enabling dynamic scheduling so that adjustments can be made to delivery windows when necessary whether you’re ahead of schedule or running late. This improves workflow efficiency for both you and your customer, allowing you to avoid detention and interruptions in your productivity.

With a TMS integration, location data is pushed from your transportation management system back to MacroPoint via API or CSV. This option also automates all load order changes and tracking request requirements. When using an ELD/GPS provider as a tracking method, MacroPoint pulls location data directly from your ELD system. We have NDAs in place with all ELD partners to guarantee the security of your data and information. For more information on privacy, see our Data Privacy Page.

If you are becoming a MacroPoint enabled carrier, you will coordinate with the Descartes MacroPoint Carrier Activations team. If you do not know your Carrier Activations Consultant, please contact us at [email protected].

By becoming MacroPoint enabled, you are providing your customers with the tools they need to track their freight in real time all on the same portal. Rather than having to navigate multiple websites and platforms from various logistics service providers to ascertain data location, MacroPoint aggregates all this data into a single control tower portal to give your customers a comprehensive view of all in-transit freight across their entire logistics network.

Descartes MacroPoint was built as a 3rd party visibility solution so we can provide the same level of visibility for 3rd party assets as we can for companies with their own trucks. MacroPoint does have APIs that automate the tracking process if you have the capability of capturing the driver’s cell phone in your broker system.

If you do not have any type of technology currently, meaning no TMS, no dispatch system, no ELD’s, and no GPS trailer units, or if you’re a broker and do not know your carrier’s in cab technology, don’t sweat it. You still can comply with your customer’s mandate. MacroPoint offers cell phone tracking via the MacroPoint for Truckers mobile app – however, this option may require manual work on your side to upload information into the MacroPoint portal. For brokers, MacroPoint does offer an API to automate this process if you have the capability of adding to your system.

Our industry leading mobile application is a great way to provide location data to your customer. ELD/GPS tracking, however, can be more reliable since it eliminates the need for the driver to download and configure the app. This makes life easier for the driver and our mutual customers.

Descartes MacroPoint currently has the largest ELD/GPS network in the industry. You can check to see if your provider is integrated on our Telematics connection page.

The credentials, tokens and/or API keys needed to integrate with your ELD/GPS system are used solely to acquire latitude/longitude locations as requested by our mutual customers. Integrating via ELD/GPS eliminates the need for your drivers to download the Descartes MacroPoint app and increases adoption for our mutual customers. For more information on privacy and data security, see our Data Privacy Page.

When a customer requests visibility they send that request to MacroPoint. Whether they provide the truck or trailer number needed for ELD/GPS tracking or you do, we are calling out to your ELD integration with that specific number and only returning data to the customer for that specific number. For more information on privacy and data security, see our Data Privacy Page.

Each provider has a different set of instructions for connecting with Descartes MacroPoint. We have all instructions documented on our Telematics page. If you are ready to connect just reach out to your Descartes MacroPoint activations consultant. If you don’t have one, just shoot us a note at [email protected].

Yes! We have prebuilt solutions with certain TMS providers, but our standard API documentation can be deployed from any TMS. We can ingest location data via API or CSV. Ready to get in the weeds? Check out our TMS connection page.

You can push customer-specific location data to Descartes MacroPoint via API or CSV. This transmission includes a customer account code (we call it a MPID) that specifies the mutual customer that the data is for, and a customer load ID that specifies which particular load the data applies to. Ready to learn more? Check out our TMS connection page.

No, because EDI does not typically provide real time data. The industry as a whole is trending away from milestone-based tracking and moving toward exclusively relying on real time location data.

If you are using Descartes MacroPoint to generate location data you will need to push that data back to us through a carrier integration if you want to share data with other Descartes MacroPoint customers. We can help you get this set up! Please visit our TMS connection page to learn more.

We place tremendous value on our relationships with our carrier partners and go to great lengths to ensure your data is secure. Please check out our Data Privacy Page to learn more.

Absolutely not. The location data we acquire via our mobile app, an ELD/GPS integration or TMS integration allows Descartes MacroPoint to provide location updates to our mutual customers in real time and empowering them to eliminate manual check calls and streamline their operations. For more information on privacy and data security, please see our Data Privacy Page.

Yes. You can find this and more information on data security and privacy in our Data Privacy Page.

There is no cost to download or utilize our mobile app.

Selecting Always Allow on your iPhone does NOT mean we are always acquiring your location. If you select that location access only be allowed while using the app, it literally means that we will only be able to acquire a location while you are actively engaged with our app on your mobile device. Choosing Always Allow simply means that we can acquire a location while your mobile device is closed when you are driving; we only gather and post location data for the duration of the specified tracking session.

We love drivers and, to thank you for the work you do and for downloading our industry-leading mobile app, MacroPoint for Truckers, we award 10 drivers $500 every month! An entry is automatically generated anytime you track a load via our mobile app. You can find more information on our driver sweepstakes page.