Hi !
I just played around with the MKRFOX1200 and send some messages. They appeared in the SigFox Backend - but the location accuracy if really bad: I can see the location of my device only within +/- 100 kilometers.
I thought that the accuracy would be more like +/- 200 meters.
Did anybody get a location information within +/- 200 meters or so ?
I tried to set the device type to "geolocation" (in the SigFox backend). But after sending some more messages no change: accuracy still +/- 100 kilometers.
Are my expectations wrong ?
Can you point me to some documentation how to get better accuracy ?
I presume you went to the sigfox backend, menu device and then selected the location link?
The map shows the coverage of SigFox antenna (darker blue). This gives location for +/- 10 Km (depending on the antenna coverage).
I don't get any better location as that (so no 200 m).
I also checked for other SigFox devices I have and they have the same general location information.
Sigfox says they can provide more detailled location information for non-GPS devices but for now that doesn't seem to work or isn't activated for our devices. I would be surprised if they can get that going for resolutions of 200m
Not sure if your expectations are wrong, I expected better - device location currently shows a large 'coarse' square and then within that the 'refined' scattering of points across a 20-40km area.
What you see in the backend is the default "coarse" location. To access the geolocation service, you need to create a new callback "Service -> Geoloc". Your application server needs to reply with a HTTP 200 OK to the callback. You can find an example here:
If your callback is defined correctly, you will see a refined red circle instead of the scattering of points on the map.
There is quite an easy way to see the higher accuracy geolocation data. Basically you have to configure a callback with GEOLOC Service and have the callback send an eMail to you.
Here you can find my test results. Useless, but I don't get any reaction from Sigfox or from my Belgian Network provider. So I don't know what the expected accuracy should be in Belgium.
There is obviously a lack of documentation of our Geolocation service, which leads to frustration as you seem to expect GPS-grade precision from it.
The purpose of this network-based geolocation is to offer a macro-geolocalisation (kilometers), without the extra hw cost & consumption of a GNSS module.
The service gives you back a lat/lng position + a confidence radius (should be < 10 km unless area in the early stage of deployment). This radius is pretty conservative, which is why initially the values were very high.
Offering higher precision (100m or less) across the network would need a crazy density of basestations.
Especially
Technically OK, but would not fit with the whole cost model.
Long story short :
It's not precise enough if you need to know in which street is your device.
If you need high precision, I'd recommend to use a GPS if outdoor or a Wifi hotspots database if indoor or in cities
It's precise enough if you need to know if which city / are is your device. Especially devices moving across Europe from one city to another
It's even better in a Point-of-Interest context (you already have a shortlist of potential locations) : is the device in your warehouse W1, at customer site C1 or warehouse W2 or somewhere along the way ?
Also, keep in mind that when using Sigfox geolocation, your device is not aware of its location (unless you tell it using downlink communication).
I did some extra tests in The Netherlands, France and Belgium. This gave some interesting results.
Here you see the result of a test in The Netherlands. The tracker (MKRFOX1200) is on a fixed location (Hoenderloo). It sends its position every 3 hours. After some days this resulted in a strange triangular pattern. I added the results as pins on Google maps. The second picture is a map with the antennas in the neighborhood (I found it here).
I did the "Tour de Bougonge" in France by Bike. I had the Sigfox tracker (MKRFOX1200) with me. It sends its position every 3 hours. In the next picture you see a rough route mapping (in orange). The pins are the results I got from Sigfox.
Here you find a tracking result with an error of 86 km!
It also seems there is not a lot of triangulation done. If you zoom in on the results, most of the times it's easy to find the antenna.
The result at the Belgian coast was also very interesting. I had my tracker fixed at Koksijde-Bad. In the next picture you see the result:
DO I need to activate anything in the sent message from my MKR1200 board? I can see the "last seen" field in the sigfox backend us updated everytime I turn my board on, but the geolocation map in sigfox shows Im in the middle of the ocean SW of Africa, which is like 5000 miles from my real location...
Am I missing something? My board was supposedly bringing free 2 yr license and location too...
pietervannuffel:
I had the same problem. I got my position by adding a callback
...
You can also see it on the Sigfox interface by going to the device list and click on the ID of your module. If you go to location, this should work.
Ok good and bad news. The email method works, I get a position in my mail (I constructed the message with lat.lng etc...) and it links to google maps with a fairly decent accuracy (10km on avg)
BUT still the ID->Location screen on Sigfox backend shows I'm in the middle of the ocean by Africa...TBH I don't care much about checking the SF location window, once it looks like the location is received correctly by SF and it can be processed by a callback
