Setting Device Locations

AMM 2.16.2+ allows you to manually set the locations of ALEOS and MG devices so that they appear on the map even if the device does not have GPS, or does not have the ability to receive a GPS signal (i.e. devices with a location that has been manually set will always be displayed on the map).

Once a location is manually set, it’s displayed for the device(s) on the map, Dashboard (as GPS coordinates), and the Admin->Gateways page. For example, in the figure below shows the address for a device where GPS coordinates were entered to set its location:

Note: the location is not displayed in Tracker.

When displayed on the map, the information popup displays the time when the location was manually set:

When a device receives new GPS coordinate events, the new GPS coordinates will be displayed on the map and Dashboard from the new GPS data. However, the location that was manually saved will still appear for the device(s) on the Gateway Admin page.

Since the map has time range filtering (which defaults to “today”), only gateways which have corresponding stats within the map’s time threshold are displayed. A manually-set location will override the latest GPS stat with the timestamp from when it was saved, but the latest GPS stat will be restored by later GPS events if a device is equipped to report them.

If the map’s time range is adjusted such that no stats are returned for a device (i.e. the device doesn’t have a location the satisfies that time range), the device’s manually set location will be displayed on the map. In this case, the popup window for the device will display Manually set location under the location. This indicates that the AMM did not find any corresponding stats for the device to show on the map, however, a manually-set location was found and used as the location to display on the map.

Requirements and Configuration

This feature requires access to Google Maps Geocoding services for resolving a location to a geographical address. If an AMM deployment restricts such access, you can disable it as follows:

1. Edit the web.xml configuration using a text editor.
2. Set inmotion.allowMapServiceAccess=false. This will prevent the location input field from querying the Google Maps Geocoding services. Note that this access is enabled by default.

Backwards Compatibility

The Location input field existed as a standard text edit box prior to AMM 2.16.2, allowing for location entry that was not resolved by a mapping system. If you already have saved locations in this field when upgrading to AMM 2.16.2, AMM will try to geocode the existing location string for display on the Gateway Admin page and map. If the location is incorrectly resolved, you can correct it by manually reassigning a location using the new location input widget as described below, otherwise the existing location data saved in the field remains untouched.

Setting a Location

To manually set a location for one or more devices:

1. Navigate to Admin -> Gateways in the AMM.
2. Select the gateway(s) to set the location for and click Edit.
3. Hover the mouse over the Location field and click on it:

   

   A popup will appear allowing entry of a location.
4. Enter an address or the latitude/longitude (e.g. 49.1725, -123.0710) of a location into the edit field . When entering GPS coordinates, the map will attempt to find an address at that location. The location corresponding to the address or GPS coordinates will be shown on the map:

   

5. Click Set to set the location and close the popup.
6. Click Save to save the location to the device(s).

Clearing a Location

To clear a location that has been manually set for one or more devices:

1. Navigate to Admin -> Gateways in the AMM.
2. Select the gateway(s) to clear the location for and click Edit.
3. Hover the mouse over the Location field and click on it. A popup will appear allowing entry of a location.
4. Click the “X” button next to the right of the location:

   

5. Click Set to close the popup.
6. Click Save to update the device(s).

Importing Locations with Devices

The Location field in a Multiple Device Import CSV can be used to specify a latitude and longitude when importing a device. For information on the import process see: Adding Multiple Gateways to an AMM.