Articles on: Using the eShepherd Web App

Description of Icons on the Map

There are a bunch of different icons on the eShepherd Web App. Here is a description of their meaning.

Animal icons

Symbol	Type	Description
	Neckband - Unfitted	The green triangle shows a Neckband that is not associated with an animal. In this state, the Neckband cannot do any virtual fencing.
	Animal - Fitted, but not in Mob	A Neckband that has been assigned to an animal is a circle/dot icon. When the Animal icon has a single solid black line around it. It indicates that the animal is within an active virtual paddock. The default colour of the icon is green.
	Animal - Fitted, in a Mob and with an active VP	When the Animal is part of a Mob, then the icon will adopt the colour that has been chosen for that Mob. All animal icons that belong to that mob will display the same colour. The default (initial) colour for Mobs is orange - unless the user has chosen a different colour.
	Animal - Fitted, but no active virtual fence	When the Animal icon has a dashed border around it (that makes it look like a gear), it indicates that there is no active virtual paddock on that animal. The default for an animal that has not been assigned a mob and has no active virtual paddock on it is as green dot with a dashed border.
	Animal - Selected by user	When the Animal icon has a pink or purple boundary around it, it indicates that it has been selected by the user. It may be the only selection, or one of many.

No Communication Icons

Symbol	Type	Description
	Animal/Neckband - No comms in last 24hrs	A black cross on the Animal icon means the neckband hasn’t communicated with the eShepherd platform for over 24 hours. This may be due to the animal moving out of coverage or a potential hardware fault. After 24 hours without communication, the neckband disables virtual fencing and will only resume boundary enforcement once communication is restored.
	Neckband - Unfitted and No comms in last 24hrs	A green triangle with a cross through it means that the Neckband is no longer associated with an animal, and that is has not communicated in the last 24 period (or longer). If a Neckband has stopped working for whatever reason, then its last known location will be displayed on the map.

⚠️ Note that for some properties the 24hr No Comms Virtual Fencing Safety Timeout may be set to a different time period either longer or shorter.

If you see an icon with a cross through it on your map, and this neckband has not communicated in 2 or more days, then it is likely that the neckband has failed. The best thing to do in such situations is to remove the association of that neckband from the animal. This can be done in two ways:

1) In the Animal menu, select that animal, then click on Edit -> Edit Single Animal. At the top, click on the drop-down menu for Neckbands and select Unfit.

2) If you do not need a record of the Animal, then you can simply select the faulty Animal / Neckband icon, and then press Delete in the bottom menu.

Tracking feature icons

Symbol	Type	Description
	Animal Tracking	The yellow lines have little arrows indication the direction of movement, while the yellow diamonds show the location of the animal at the time when a status message was sent to the cloud (typically every 10 minutes but may be longer depending on communication cadence
	Animal Tracking Audio	The green audio icon indicates where and when the audio alert was delivered.
	Animal Tracking Pulse	The orange pulse icon indicates that BOTH an audio warning AND a pulse was delivered. I.e. the audio warning was delivered for 5 seconds - the animal had not responded by moving away from the virtual fence, and then the Neckband delivered one pulse. This is all shown from one pulse icon.

For more information on the tracking feature, click here.

Infrastructure icons

Symbol	Type	Description
	Water	This indicates the location of watering points.
	Gate	This is to indicate the location of an exit or entry into a paddock.
	Warning	This indicates the location of any hazards on the property.
	Weigh Scale	This is usually used to indicate where the cattle yards/corrals are located on the property.
	House	This is used to indicate the location of home or where houses are on the property.
	Communication Tower	This is to indicate the location of a base station or cell tower.

The colours of all icons can be edited, with the exception of the watering point. For more information on infrastructure, see this article.

Updated on: 19/11/2025

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