# Track & trace > Track & trace is the capability to follow a shipment's location and status in real time and to review its full movement history from pickup to delivery. "Tracking" is the live view of where a shipment is now; "tracing" is the historical record of where it has been. Together they give customers and operators confidence, enable accurate ETAs, and surface exceptions early. In a TMS, track & trace is fed by GPS from a driver app and telematics integrations, and is often shared with customers through secure public tracking links that require no login. ## Track vs trace: what is the difference? Tracking shows where a shipment is now; tracing reconstructs where it has been. Tracking is live and forward-looking: the current position on a map, the latest status and the [ETA](https://transportial.com/en-us/glossary/eta) for the next stop. Tracing is historical: the time-stamped chain of events from pickup to delivery — loaded, departed, border crossed, delayed, delivered — used to prove what happened. They answer different questions for different people. A customer asking "when will my goods arrive?" needs tracking. A claims handler asking "where was the pallet damaged?", or an auditor checking a delivery time, needs tracing — together with the [proof of delivery](https://transportial.com/en-us/glossary/proof-of-delivery). Whether you say track and trace or trace and track makes no difference: both describe one capability built on the same GPS positions and status events. In short: tracking is the present position and the expected arrival; tracing is the past route and the event history. A system that only tracks loses the evidence once the truck moves on; a system that only traces tells you nothing until it is too late to act. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is the difference between track and trace? Tracking shows where a shipment is now and when it will arrive; tracing reconstructs where it has been. Tracking is the live, forward-looking view for monitoring and customer updates; tracing is the backward-looking event history used for proof, audits and dispute resolution. A track & trace system provides both from the same data. ### How does real-time tracking work in a TMS? Location data comes from the driver app's GPS and from telematics/board-computer integrations. The TMS combines this with the planned route to show live position, status, and predicted ETA, which can be shared with customers via tracking links. ### Can customers track a shipment without an account? Yes. A TMS typically generates a secure public tracking link per shipment that a customer can open without logging in. It shows the current status, live map position, and ETA, and often the proof of delivery once completed — which cuts inbound "where is my order?" calls to support. ### What is the difference between track & trace and telematics? Telematics is the underlying vehicle technology — GPS, sensors, and board computers that report a vehicle's position and status. Track & trace is the shipment-level capability built on top of that data (plus the driver app and planned route) to show where a specific consignment is and when it will arrive. --- Canonical page: https://transportial.com/en-us/glossary/track-and-trace