Features & Limitations

Features

The IoT Devices are located by using the cell id of the current tower when creating a new PDP Context or Session used for data transmission. In case the location cannot be determined, the update is skipped and a retry will be done in the next PDP Context/Session.
Using the API, device location and cell tower activity can be queried. The DeviceId is equal to the ICCID.
- The resolved locations of a device can be queried using the Get Device Positions endpoint.
- The cell tower location resolution history (including unresolved records) can be queried using the Get Device Activity endpoint.
Cell tower Plus location mode provides a metadata parameter with accuracy data for resolved locations and tower metadata for unresolved locations.

Using Geofencing functionality it is possible to set virtual boundaries to detect geofence crossing event and receive a notification about it via the Cloud integrator.
Users can create up to 10 global geofences across all devices as well as 1 device-specific geofence per-device.
Geofences supports two area types: polygon and circle.
It is possible to define Geofence event types, which control if geofence events will be triggered on device entering or exiting specified area or on both, if not specified then default is to use both.
It is possible to define Geofence event sources, which control if geofence events will be triggered on GPS or Cell Tower location changes or on both, if not specified then default is to use both.
For the circle Geofence which is attached to the device, system will try to retrieve circle center using latest device location in case if user does not pass center during Geofence creation request.

Cell tower Plus can be configured on a per-device basis using CUSTOM mode, allowing selective enabling or disabling of Plus location resolution for individual devices.
Each device can have a configurable location resolution frequency between 60 and 1440 minutes.
See the Per-device Cell tower Plus guide for step-by-step instructions.

Cell tower Basic and Plus location modes use different data sources. Currently, Basic mode resolves approximately 30% of locations, while Plus mode resolves around 90%. However, location data can be inaccurate, especially for 3G, 4G, LTE-M, and NB-IoT devices.
If Plus resolver mode is enabled, then Device Location credits will be consumed.
NB-IoT locations are not being resolved with Plus resolver.
After activating the cell tower location setting it can take a few minutes before the first location will be available.
Cell tower location data is resolved no more frequently than once an hour.
For customers in Brazil and China, current service limitations may impact our ability to accurately determine device cell-tower location and maintain a complete location history. This may result in less accurate or incomplete location information.
To view the location history of specific device on the map you have to switch to the Device Inspector in the 1NCE OS Portal.
The Cell tower events tab displays data for a single device selected in the filter.

Polygon geofences support a maximum of 50 coordinate points (including the closing point).
Circle geofence radius must be between 50 m (minimum) and 30,000 m (maximum).
User can update only Geofence name, event types and event sources, coordinates and Geofence type cannot be changed to prevent possible confusion with the previous exit or enter events.
Geofence creation and enter/exit events require active Geofence credits.

Per-device Cell tower Plus requires the customer to have purchased Device Location credits.
Per-device Cell tower Plus requires the ADVANCED_CELL_TOWER_LOCATION setting to be enabled with mode set to CUSTOM.
A maximum of 100 device IDs can be enabled or disabled in a single API request.
Switching back from CUSTOM to DEFAULT mode requires a support ticket.
New SIMs activated in CUSTOM mode default to basic resolution until explicitly enabled via the API.
Per-device Cell tower Plus consumes Device Location credits, when credits are exhausted, resolutions stop but per-device configurations are preserved.