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A place is a circle you draw on the map. Someone standing inside it counts as being at work. This is the check for phones and field work.
A place can be faked. The location comes from the person’s own device. TimeTracker says so on the rule page: “A place comes from the person’s own device and can be faked. Office networks are much harder to work around, so treat places as a nudge rather than proof.”

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What a place is

Three things: a name, a point, and a radius. The person’s device reports where it thinks it is. If that point is inside your circle, they pass.

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When to use it

  • Site work, warehouses, shops – anywhere people are not on your network.
  • Teams who clock in from phones.
  • Alongside an office network rule, so desks and field work are both covered.

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When not to use it

  • Alone, for a desk-based team. A laptop works out its location from nearby Wi-Fi and is routinely hundreds of metres to kilometres out. It will fail an office-sized circle.
  • As proof of attendance. It is a nudge, not evidence.

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Adding a place

Open a rule and find the Places card: “Named locations someone can be standing in.” Click Add a place. The dialog says: “Stand in the building and use your device, or paste a maps link for somewhere you are not.”

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Area options

The Save place button becomes available once you have a name and a point.

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What you can paste into “Where is it”

If nothing usable is found: “We couldn’t find a location in that. Paste a maps link or a latitude and longitude.”

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Checking your work

Two buttons make this concrete before you commit:
Walk to the far corner of your site and click Check this place. If it says outside, your circle is too small. This is the fastest way to size a place correctly.

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Accuracy is a gate, not a bonus

This is the part that surprises people. Every position comes with an accuracy figure – how confident the device is. If that figure is worse than 100 metres, the position is thrown away. The result is “Couldn’t check”, not “outside” and not “inside”.
This is why a place rule alone will not work for people at desks. Use an office network for them, or set the rule to Either the network or the place.

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What the person’s browser is asked

Denied or unavailable still records a check, so you can see it in the activity log rather than wondering why nothing appeared. If a rule is enforcing and the browser is blocking location, the person sees:
We can’t tell where you are Your browser is blocking location access… Turn on location for this site in your browser settings, then reload.
A Check again button sits beside it.

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What TimeTracker flags

Some reported positions get a warning badge in the activity log:
The fake-location flag catches casual spoofing on Android. A determined person on a modified device can hide it. And “Moved impossibly fast” fires for real flights too – treat it as something to ask about, not proof of anything.

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Example

Harbor Logistics work happens at a depot, not an office.
1

Tom stands in the depot yard

He opens the Depot rule and clicks Add a place.
2

He places it from his phone

Use my current location – “Placed from your device – accurate to about 8 m”.
3

He names and sizes it

Name Depot. Area 250 m – a city block, because the yard is large.
4

He walks to the far gate and checks

Check this place – “You’re 180 m from Depot – inside the circle.” Good.
5

He sets what counts

Someone counts as here when they are: Either the network or the place – so the office team passes on the network and the depot team passes on the place.
6

He watches for a week

Two “Couldn’t check” rows turn out to be a driver using a laptop in the cab. He adds a network range for the depot’s connection.

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Limits

Save errors name the exact problem:

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Editing and removing

Each saved place is a row showing its name and 51.507400, -0.127800 · 100 m – a building. Changes save with the rest of the rule, using Save changes at the bottom of the page.

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What GPS cannot prove

Treat places as a way to make casual “I’m at the site” claims visible, not as attendance evidence.

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Permissions

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Common questions

A laptop works its location out from nearby Wi-Fi, and is usually far worse than the 100 m accuracy ceiling. Anything less accurate than that is discarded. Use an office network rule for desk workers.
No, and the difference matters. “Couldn’t check” means there was not enough information. It never counts as being at work.
Only if they have already granted it, in which case nothing is asked again. TimeTracker never triggers a permission prompt on its own.
Yes. TimeTracker flags obvious Android spoofing, but a determined person on a modified device can hide it. Office networks are much harder to work around.
Big enough to cover every part of the site people work in, plus a margin. Stand at the far corner and use Check this place.
Yes. Set Someone counts as here when they are to Either the network or the place for a mixed team, or Both for the strictest possible rule.
Android can tell an app that a position came from a mock provider rather than a real sensor. When it does, the position is discarded and the check is flagged.

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Troubleshooting

Everyone at the site is being stopped. Your circle is too small, or the point is wrong. Stand there and use Check this place. Lots of “Couldn’t check” rows. Those people are on laptops or desktops. Add an office network range and set the rule to Either the network or the place. One person is always stopped. They have denied location for the site in their browser. They see a banner telling them how to turn it on. A place will not save. Every place needs a name and a valid point, and the radius must be between 25 m and 20 km. The error names which one failed.

Location rules overview

The concept and what it cannot see.

IP restrictions

The stronger check, for computers.

Create a location rule

The full end-to-end walkthrough.

Activity log

See exactly what each device reported.

Location permissions

What people are asked to allow.

Mobile app

Where place checks work best.