Locating a Device

You can track the current location of a device, as well as configure tracking for a time period. The service uses the different positioning techniques enabled in the device, usually either phone network or GPS, whichever is enabled and more accurate. GPS is usually the most accurate one, so it should be enabled (you can view the status in device diagnostics in the Location providers section). The phone must be on and connected to Internet to be able to position itself and report the positions. It is possible to follow the device continuously.

Location updates can be configured in two basic ways. The quick and easy way is described below. The other way is to schedule it in device settings, in the Location→Location monitoring policy section (whether you can make those settings depends on the user restrictions in your organisation).

Requesting Location Updates

Clicking on the Locate device task in the My Devices view (see My Devices) opens the setup window for location reporting:

1. Choose to locate either for a number of times or for a time period.
   1. Locate count
      Set the number of location reports to be made. Locating will be done using the default interval, which you can change in the More options, as described below. The actual time will be lead + interval × count seconds.
   2. Locate for
      Set to locate for a given time period. The requests will be made at the default interval, or as configured in More options.
2. Click Start to start location
3. The Map view dialog pops up
   
4. Select either:
   
   1. Open map to track the reported locations on a map immediately, as described below in Viewing Reported Locations.
   2. Select Close to exit to the main view. Tracking will be done in the background and you can select the View reported locations task to view the results, also while they are being collected.

Additional Settings

Clicking More options shows the additional settings:

They are as follows:

Locationing interval (s)

Interval of location reports in seconds.

GPS lead time (s)

Time in seconds to wait before making the first location report. GPS positioning is usually very inaccurate when it is first activated and becomes more accurate over time. Hence giving some lead time improves the accuracy of the first location.

Viewing Reported Locations

The View reported locations task allows viewing previously reported locations. If you have requested location updates as configured above or scheduled location tracking in the device settings, the data will be collected in the background. If new updates arrive while the window is open, they will be updated either automatically if the Auto-update is enabled or manually by clicking Update view.

The service stores a number of most recent updates, such as 100, depending on how it is configured in the service.

The list shows the last reported locations. Selecting an item in the list selects and centers it on the map. You can use the + button to zoom in to the location.

The map shows the reported locations with lines between the consecutive locations. Location accuracy is illustrated with a bigger circle.

The controls are as follows:

Accuracy

Minimum accuracy to display – only locations with better accuracy (smaller number) than the number are reported. The accuracy is defined in meters. You can leave the field empty to view all locations regardless of accuracy.

From

Start date and time for viewing reported locations.

To

End date and time for viewing reported locations.

Update view

Manually updates the view to show more recently reported locations.

Close

Closes the location report view. Closing the view does not affect requested or scheduled positioning, which will continue in the background.

Auto-update

When enabled, the view is continuously updated to show locations reported in the background.