How to Use Location Management with Devices

Asset Vision allows normalized locations added to asset vision to be mapped to IP Ranges. This IP Range to Location mapping allows the user to make use of the Google Maps component in Asset Vision Registry. This lesson provides detail on information in the Location Management menu.

Location management in a basic form has existed in Asset Vision for some time. It has been possible to calculate the location of a device based on its IP address, assuming IP address ranges had been linked to pre-defined locations. It is now possible to take pre-existing locations data, sourced from any number of places, Active Directory, HR systems etc. and normalize the information to obtain a precise GPS location reference. Asset Vision does this using new features added to interact with Google’s GeoCoding APIs. These locations are instantly visible on a map control from the location data view.

In addition, this normalized data can be shown on a new map widget in a dashboard. Crucially, this dashboard widget inherits the widget cross-filtering introduced in a previous version of Asset Vision to enable geographical drill down that updates other widgets on the dashboard.

These new mapping widgets integrate with Google’s Fusion tables https://support.google.com/fusiontables/answer/2571232?hl=en .

If an organization makes use of Fusion tables to store their own geographic data, this information can be shown alongside Asset Vision geographic data to add real organizational context to the dashboards.

Location Management Menu Overview

Location Management Menu Overview

The Device Location Overview dashboard is displayed when the user clicks the Location Management menu item located at Registry > Asset Tracking > Location Managment.

This dashboard contains three widgets:

  • Device Locations: A Google Maps component that uses Asset Vision location IP to location mapping data to show icons for each IP range location on the map.
  • Device Status: Devices by status as determined by Status Management.
  • Device by Class: Device class as determined by discovery algorithms.

Location List

Location List

The Location List data view located at Registry > Asset Tracking > Location Management > Location List contains a list of locations imported into Asset Vision. The user can add new location records by selecting the New button at the bottom. The user can normalize the locations by selecting the Normalize button at the bottom.

IP Mapping

IP Mapping

The IP Mapping data view located at Registry > Asset Vision > Location Management > IP Mapping contains the existing mappings from IP Ranges to Locations.

Creating an IP Mapping

Creating an IP Mapping

If the user wants to create a new IP Mapping they should:

  1. Navigate to Registry > Asset Tracking > Location Management > IP Mapping.
  2. Click the New button at the bottom of the data view to create a new mapping.

Fill out IP to Location Mapping Form

Fill out IP to Location Mapping Form
  1. Fill out the form for the mapping by entering information for the IP range and the physical location.
  2. Click Save to save this mapping. The mapping will then be added to the IP Mapping data view.

Drilling Down into Status

Drilling Down into Status

If the user wants to drill down into a value, then that filter will also be applied to the other linked widgets, including the map.

  1. Navigate to the Location Management data view.
  2. Select a value to filter on. For this example, Received is selected from the Device Status widget.

View Filtered Results

View Filtered Results

The data is now filtered in all three widgets and reflects the change in returned data. The Google Maps component will automatically be zoomed in and out to display all results. The user can click the filter icon in the top right of the widget where the filter was originally applied to remove the filter and automatically return data without that filter applied.