Telematics Guru Third Party Device API: Overview
What the Third Party Device API is and when to use it
Written by Matthew Clark-Massera
Updated at October 22nd, 2026
Table of Contents
Telematics Guru Third Party Device API: Overview
The Telematics Guru Third Party Device API lets you send telemetry into Telematics Guru from non-Digital Matter hardware using an HTTP POST with a JSON payload. Once data arrives in the expected format, the sending device appears and behaves like a normal Telematics Guru-tracked asset. This article explains the concept, where it fits, its benefits and trade-offs, common use cases, and answers to frequent questions.
This Overview is the first article in a three-part set. A Detailed Setup guide covers the prerequisites, regional endpoint, authentication, and full payload field reference, and a step-by-step Tutorial walks through a worked integration. Both are linked again under Next Steps.
What This API Is
Telematics Guru already supports a number of third-party device types directly, such as Teltonika, CalAmp, and SPOT devices. Those devices are added as an asset, the device type is chosen from a dropdown, and Telematics Guru recognises and processes their native payloads automatically.
The Third Party Device API is different. It is a generic ingestion path: you reformat your device data into a defined JSON structure and push it to Telematics Guru over HTTP POST. This means a partner can integrate essentially any device by writing a small service that translates whatever the device sends into the Third Party Device API format.
Data Flows Into Telematics Guru
This API is for pushing telemetry into Telematics Guru from your hardware. It is not the flow for sending Digital Matter device data out to a third-party server. If you want Digital Matter device data delivered directly to an external system, see Direct to 3rd Party Server Integration - Considerations and Choosing an Integration Strategy, which cover that separate direct-to-third-party path.
Native Device Type or the API?
Before building an integration, check whether your device is one Telematics Guru can already ingest natively. If it is, selecting the built-in device type is simpler and requires no custom service. Use the Third Party Device API when your hardware is not natively supported, or when you already have a device fleet producing data you want to translate and send yourself.
Benefits
Integrate almost any hardware, including niche or legacy devices, without waiting for native support.
Reuse an existing device fleet by translating its output into one defined JSON format.
Ingested assets appear and behave like normal Telematics Guru-tracked assets, so your team uses the same maps, trips, and reporting.
A standard HTTP POST with JSON keeps the integration approachable for most development teams.
Drawbacks and Considerations
You are responsible for building and maintaining the translation service that reformats your device data into the API's JSON structure.
Your service handles delivery, retries, and error handling. If it stops sending, data stops arriving.
Behaviour such as trips and inputs depends on sending the right fields correctly; a native device type handles that mapping for you.
This is a generic path, so device-specific features handled automatically for natively supported hardware may need deliberate modelling in your payloads.
Common Use Cases
Bringing an existing fleet of non-Digital Matter trackers into Telematics Guru alongside Digital Matter assets.
Integrating a specialised or industrial device that produces telemetry Telematics Guru does not natively recognise.
Consolidating mixed hardware into a single platform for maps, trips, and reporting.
Building a custom mobile application that turns a phone into a tracker: the app reads the phone's location and status and POSTs it into Telematics Guru through this API, so the phone appears as a tracked asset.
Prototyping an integration from a system that can already emit position and status data.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my device need to be made by Digital Matter?
No. This API exists specifically so non-Digital Matter hardware can send telemetry into Telematics Guru.
Can I use a phone as a tracker?
Yes. A custom mobile application can read the phone's location and status and POST it into Telematics Guru through this API. The phone then appears and behaves like any other tracked asset.
Is this the same as sending Digital Matter data to a third party?
No. This API brings outside data into Telematics Guru. Forwarding Digital Matter device data out to an external server is a different integration; see Direct to 3rd Party Server Integration - Considerations.
How is data delivered?
Your service sends an HTTP POST with a JSON payload to a regional Telematics Guru endpoint, using Basic authentication. The full endpoint, authentication, and payload details are covered in the setup article.
Will my integrated devices work like normal Telematics Guru assets?
Yes. Once telemetry is ingested, those assets appear and behave like other Telematics Guru-tracked assets, including on maps, in trips, and in reporting, provided your payloads supply the right data.
Next Steps
When you are ready to build the integration, continue through the rest of the set:
Third Party Device API - Detailed Setup: prerequisites, the regional endpoint, authentication, and the full payload field reference.
Third Party Device API - Tutorial: a step-by-step walkthrough of a worked integration.
If you are still comparing options, review Third Party Device Support in Telematics Guru to confirm whether your hardware is already supported natively.
