Industries

Winter Service Software with GPS Proof

When someone claims in March that a property was never cleared on 14 January, memory is not evidence. Crew Active records when your team was on site for every job, and exports it as a PDF.

  • GPS location at arrival and departure
  • Distance to the property in metres
  • Location record as PDF for clients and insurers
  • Plan fixed tours for the whole season
Start 1-Month Free Trial

from €69 net / month for up to 5 employeesNo credit card required

Book a Demo
GPS location record
Winter service · Property 14
Property
Hauptstraße 12, 20095 Hamburg
Date
Wed, 14 January 2026
Illustrative example
Arrival
06:12
18 m from property
Departure
06:41
22 m from property
Duration29 minutes

The call comes in March

Someone slipped on one of your properties back in January. The property manager now asks whether it was cleared and gritted that morning. Your driver remembers, but memory is not evidence, and a log book filled in at the office that evening convinces neither the client nor the insurer.

The duty to clear and grit

In Germany, the duty to clear and grit (Räum- und Streupflicht) follows from the general duty of care and is usually passed on to the winter service company by contract.

In Germany, the duty to clear and grit (Räum- und Streupflicht) follows from the general duty of care and is usually passed on to the winter service company by contract. No statute prescribes a particular form for documenting it, but whoever relies on having fulfilled the duty has to be able to show it, and a record created while the job is running carries far more weight than one written up afterwards.

Sound familiar?

The four situations where winter service companies regularly end up without evidence.

Problem
  • Job at 5 a.m., proof demanded in March
  • Log book filled in at the office in the evening
  • Subcontractors document nothing at all
  • The client disputes that the visit happened
Solution
  • Every job stored with a timestamp and a location
  • Recording happens at the property via app, not at a desk
  • External staff record their jobs in the same system
  • A PDF record with a map that you can hand straight over

Built for the season

What Crew Active actually does for winter service, with no features it does not have.

  • GPS at arrival and departure

    The location is captured when the job starts and when it stops, each with the distance to the stored property address.

  • Location record as PDF

    One document per job: map, times and distance. Made to be handed to a client or an insurer.

  • Plan the season ahead

    Set up recurring jobs once and roll them out across the season. Changes reach the team immediately.

  • Properties with addresses

    The stored property address is the anchor for every distance figure. Without one, the record shows only the measured points.

  • Fixed tours

    Properties in the order you set, with a team, weekdays and a start time. The tour schedules the jobs four weeks ahead, and your team sees them in the app as usual.

  • What happened on site

    Capture activities and notes per job: cleared, gritted, grit resupplied.

  • Evaluation per property

    Jobs and hours per property and month: the basis for invoicing and client reports.

Also included, in every package

No extra charge, in the same app.

  • Employees report “not available”

    In the app, no phone call. The office gets a push notification, and Crew Active warns you if you schedule them anyway.

  • The app speaks Turkish and Romanian

    Plus German, English and Italian. Every employee picks their own language in the app.

  • DATEV export for your payroll office

    At the end of the month, download a LODAS file with each employee's hours in the browser, with holiday and sick leave if you need them.

  • Bring overtime over from your old system

    A time account with target hours per weekday. Enter the balance from your previous system as the starting value.

  • Your own hourly price per customer

    The customer's price plus a surcharge per activity, or a fixed rate per job when you need one. It goes straight into the billing proposal.

  • Payslips straight to the phone

    Payslips, contracts and certificates are in the app, and new ones are marked. Employees send a sick note back as a photo.

  • Vacation requests in the app

    Request and approval in the app, and employees see their remaining vacation while they ask. Print any vacation request with signature lines.

What the record contains

The GPS location record is produced automatically while the job runs. These are the entries it carries.

  • Property and addressThe anchor every distance figure refers to.
  • ArrivalTime the job started and the GPS point belonging to it.
  • DepartureTime the job ended and the GPS point belonging to it.
  • DistanceStraight-line distance between the measured point and the property address, in metres.
  • MapBoth measured points, each with the radius of the reported accuracy.

  • What the record does not do

  • Crew Active captures the location at the start, at a pause and at the stop. The record names arrival and departure and counts any further measured points. It does not evidence continuous presence in between.
  • Without a stored property address there is no anchor. The record then shows the measured points but no distance.
  • GPS accuracy varies. Where it is unknown, it is reported as unknown and never shown as zero.
  • Capturing the location currently requires a data connection when clocking in and out. With no signal the job is still recorded, but the GPS point is missing.

Explore more industries

Frequently asked questions

  • Am I required to document winter service jobs?

    In Germany the duty to clear and grit follows from the general duty of care and is usually passed to the winter service company by contract. No statute prescribes a particular documentation format. If damage occurs, however, the party relying on having fulfilled the duty must be able to show it, and a record created at the time carries far more weight than one written up later.

  • Does the GPS record replace my log book?

    It provides what a log book usually contains (property, date, time and who carried out the work) and adds the location at arrival and departure. Whether your client additionally requires a specific format is a matter for your contract. With tours you also get a proof of work per tour: for a date range, which property was done on which day, with work time and photos, as a PDF for your client.

  • Can I plan fixed tours?

    Yes. A tour has a team, fixed weekdays, a start time and the properties in the order you set. From that it schedules the jobs four weeks ahead, and your team sees them in the app as usual. Existing weekly jobs become a tour with “Combine into a tour”. There is no automatic route optimisation. You switch tours on under Account > Workspace.

  • Is GPS tracking of my staff GDPR-compliant?

    Crew Active captures the location at the start, at a pause and at the stop of a job, not continuously and not outside working hours. To use it in your business you need a legal basis under GDPR and, where one exists, should involve the works council.

  • Does it work without mobile coverage?

    Capturing the location when clocking in and out currently requires a data connection. With no signal the job can still be recorded, but the GPS point will be missing from the record.

  • What does Crew Active cost for a winter service company?

    Crew Active starts at €69 net per month for up to 5 employees. The first month is free and non-binding. No credit card required.

The legal information on this page is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice.

Try Scheduling & Time Tracking Free for 1 Month

Try Crew Active free for 1 month. No credit card required.

Start 1-Month Free TrialBook a Demo
GDPR Compliant
Servers in the EU
Support in German, English and Italian

More

Resources
Account