The invention provides an approach for automatic and dynamic mapping of
zone boundaries for position-determination systems. The system of the
present invention utilizes beacons ("position determining devices") to
identify the boundaries and limits of device area coverage ("zone") for
tracking objects with a position-determination system. Beacons, used both
to identify zone boundaries and to tag assets to be tracked, are
distributed within the zone. The beacon locations are then detected and
displayed in the visualization application. Three or more beacons may be
linked together, either manually or automatically, to establish a
detection zone. Using beacons to establish detection zone boundaries
eliminates guesswork and its associated errors, and produces a zone
boundary that is actually valid. In an improvement over present systems,
greater accuracy is assured using zone-defining beacons, because if a
beacon is unintentionally placed in an area unavailable to the
position-determination system, that beacon will not appear in the
visualization application display, and thus will not be available to
create an incorrect zone representation.