Build a Real-Time Shipment Tracking Tool using a Telegram Bot 🚚

Design a Telegram Bot that will interact with truck drivers to track your shipments and provide real-time visibility of your transportation performance

Youtube Video

Find in the link below a short animated explained video to understand the concept behind this solution

Article

In this Article, we will implement a simple, cheap and easy-to-implement solution to track your shipments that

• Does not require additional IT development for your carriers
• Easily integrates into the current transportation processes
• Reduces admin workload for your logistics team
• Does not impact drivers’ productivity
• Does not require additional equipment
• Provides visibility, real-time tracking and transparency

How does it work?

Scenario Your shipment has been unloaded in your store. DRIVER wants to send delivery confirmation before leaving for his next destination.\

Step 1: DRIVER opens telegram and starts a discussion with BOT

Step2: DRIVER shares it’s GPS Location (= Store Location)

Step 3: DRIVER shares a delivery number

Step 4: DRIVER shares a picture of the shipment

Step 5: Your logistics teams receive a shipment confirmation

Code

This repository code is ready to be deployed on Heroku:

1. Copy Github repository in your local folder and create a local python environment

2. Download libraries listed in requirements.txt

  pip3 install -r requirements.txt

1. Create your bot with another bot :)

@ BotFather is a Telegram bot that will help you create your own bot
Search @ BotFather on Telegram and send him ‘/start’
Answer ‘/newbot’ message and follow instructions to set up a name and a username
Your bot is now ready, with an API token created — please keep a copy of this token!

2. Take your token and Telegram API keys

TOKEN: shared by @ BotFather when you created your bot
APP_NAME: address of your Heroku application (see steps below)

3. Deploy the code on the cloud

Heroku is a cloud-based service where you can host your web application; the free formula of hosting provides enough resources to run your app.

Procfile
requirements.txt

4. Test it :)

About me 🤓

Senior Supply Chain Engineer with an international experience working on Logistics and Transportation operations.
Have a look at my portfolio: Data Science for Supply Chain Portfolio
Data Science for Warehousing📦, Transportation 🚚 and Demand Forecasting 📈