What is the difference between polling and webhooks for location data?
Use webhooks to deliver Catena data faster than a legacy polling model.
The legacy platform used polling, meaning it repeatedly asked the TSP for new data on a fixed schedule. This introduced a lag between when data was available at the TSP and when it was visible in your platform.
The Catena platform uses webhooks for delivering data events to your system. When Catena ingests a new location record, it immediately fires a vehicle_location.added webhook to your endpoint, typically within 200 to 500 milliseconds. This means location data reaches your platform much faster than under a polling model.
Catena still polls the TSP APIs on your behalf. The difference is how Catena notifies your platform: push (webhooks) rather than pull (your platform polling Catena).