Consent first: tracking a team fairly

Part 30 of 39 of Building TradeYoke, the story of how the platform was built, from January 2024 to today. Previous: November 2025: where is everybody? Live monitoring begins. Next: January 2026: trails and replay, and what a day's route can tell you. See every part on the build timeline.

Quick answer

Quick answer: In TradeYoke's live monitoring, everyone who shares their location sees a disclosure first and agrees to it, and sharing can be switched off per device. The map shows only people who are sharing. Being open with your team about what is tracked, and why, matters as much as the software.

Key takeaways

Everyone sees a disclosure and agrees before they are tracked.
Sharing can be switched off per device.
The map only shows people who are sharing.
Tell your team why you track, and what you do not do with it.

Technology is the easy half

Putting people on a map is a few lines of code. Doing it fairly is the work. In December 2025 we spent the month on the part of live monitoring that decides whether a team trusts it.

What we built

A clear disclosure. Before location sharing starts, the person sees what will be shared and agrees to it. It is written in plain English, not tucked into a long document.
A switch on the device. Sharing is controlled per device, and a person can turn it off.
Only those sharing are shown. The map is not a list of everyone; it is a list of people who have agreed.

Why we did it this way round

An employer has a legitimate interest in knowing where a van is. An employee has a legitimate interest in not being watched when they are off the clock. Both are fair. The answer is not to hide the tracking, which is both unfair and, in the UK, legally risky for the business. It is to be open about it. If you track your team, they should know, and know why. You can read more in keeping a lone-working tradesperson safe.

Some practical advice, even without any software

Say what you track and when. Working hours only, for example.
Say why. Customer arrival times, safety, working out the nearest person for an urgent job.
Say what you will not do. If you will not use it to time toilet breaks, say so.
Write it down and give everyone a copy.

What it means for the product

The same idea runs through the rest of TradeYoke: the person using it should know what it does. It is why the privacy policy spells out what is collected, and why the tracking switch is a real switch.

January: trails and replay, and what a day's route can tell you.

Questions people ask

Do people have to agree before TradeYoke tracks them?

Yes. Anyone sharing their location sees a disclosure and agrees first, and sharing can be switched off per device.

Is it legal to track employees' location in the UK?

It can be, but it needs to be proportionate, and your team should be told what you track and why. This is general information, not legal advice; check the Information Commissioner's Office guidance for your own situation.