Device Maps

Device map is a widget used to represent dynamically updated status of several Devices and any additional information on a graphical map. Here are some examples illustrating the use of device maps:

• Static Maps (facility/floor maps, datacenter rack plans, etc.) for IT management, datacenters, access control, security, and video surveillance solutions. A map like this would provide quick access to industrial equipment status, control panels, time/attendance terminals, cameras, and other building security/automation devices.
• Geographical Maps (region/city/area maps) for mapping geographically distributed device networks and managing fleets of moving vehicles. Such a map would show the geographical location of any devices being monitored on a Google/Bing/OpenStreet map.
• Network Topology Maps for network management solutions. Such a map would show device topology and status/availability of servers, workstations, routers, switches, and other network equipment. It's common to visualize Layer 1, Layer 2 and Layer 3 of OSI network model using network topology maps.

All kinds of maps can display device-to-device relations in addition to devices themselves.

A static device map is a regular widget consisting of:

• Root panel component with Background Image property set to a raster image containing static map of a region/area/facility/floor.
• Several device components that represent monitored hardware. Every device component is colored depending on device status and supplemented with labels showing device status.
• Buttons and links opening detailed maps.
• Any other components showing overall statistics and any additional data: tables, charts, labels, etc.

To use a vector image (e.g. an SVG image) as static map background, make a Layered Panel the base of your widget, add a Vector Drawing image to the lower layer and put the rest of components (devices, labels, links, etc.) to the higher layer.

Device maps can be created using Create Device Map action of Widgets context. Once the map widget is created, it can be edited in GUI Builder like any other widget.

New devices are added to the map by dragging a Device Context from Entity Selector and dropping it to any container in the Work Form (see details here).

To create a geographical map:

• Set Latitude Expression and Longitude Expression properties of your device accounts to either static latitude/longitude values (such as 12.033234) or expressions that extract latitude/longitude from device-provided data.
• Create a new widget and add a Map component to it. Configure Map Source, Auto-detect Zoom Level, Type of location, and Geolocation of map center or its latitude/longitude (if not using Automatic map center location Type).
• Set Tracked Devices to users.*.devices.* or any context mask matching a set of devices you'd like to display on the map.
• Configure Google Client ID/API Key or Bing API Key if necessary.

To create a device topology map:

• Discover network topology of your network or add custom links to topology database if your map will be based on L1/L2/L3 network topology. Skip this step if you'll be using Custom topology Provider.

• Create a new widget and add a Graph component to it.
• Set Provider property of the graph to the type of topology provider you'd like to use.
• Set Vertex Mask to match a set of devices you'd like to display on the map.
• Configure other Topology Visualization properties.

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