Geographical data Overview

The Geographical data node includes the configuration elements necessary to configure the behavior of a geolocation client apps such as SnapVue.
It supports geolocation, micro-geolocation and tracking features of PcVue.

Geographical data includes:

• Zones - A zone usually represents a real world location such as a room in a building or the area where a specific piece of equipment is installed. Zones can be organized in a hierarchy with parent and child zones. For example Building1.Floor1.Room1.Chiller1. Zones can also be configured to represent the functional breakdown of a large piece of equipment.
• Geo-tags - A geo-tag is a beacon, the detection of which determines a corresponding geographical zone. The main property of a geo-tag is its unique ID. By associating a geo-tag with a zone, the PcVue server can determine the location of the connected user. The following geo-tag types are supported.
  • NFC tags (Near Field Communication),
  • QR codes,
  • Bluetooth Low Energy beacons (BLE),
  • Wi-Fi access points,
  • GPS location. Not strictly speaking a geo-tag but may be used if geo-tags are found.
• Actions - An action, for example display a Mimic, that the user of a SnapVue client can execute. Actions are added to zones thereby determining what a user can visualize and execute when they have been determined to be in a particular zone. Actions can be cascaded from the parent zone by all child zones.

Using zones to represent the real world

A zone and the hierarchy of zones can be used in a variety of ways to support operational needs in different types of systems. The table below describes the 3 main drivers for designing the hierarchy of zones.

Type of system	Operational need	What a zone represents
Infrastructure monitoring and other geographically distributed systems	Outdoor locations to identify remote sites. Lone workers tracking. Locate users while on site.	The root part of the hierarchy includes zones corresponding to the different sites, with their GPS coordinates. Children zones matches a geographical and/or functional breakdown of sites, including associated geo-tags for the micro-geolocation of users by proximity to a given piece of equipment.
Building management systems	Indoor locations to identify areas on a site and within buildings. Locate users while on site or within buildings.	Zones matches a physical and logical breakdown of buildings, including associated geo-tags for the micro-geolocation of users by proximity to a given piece of equipment or room (building, floors, zones or rooms).
Industrial equipment monitoring, manufacturing, factory automation	Indoor locations to identify areas on a site and within a factory. Locate users while on site or within the factory.	Zones matches a physical and logical breakdown of the industrial site (factory), including associated geo-tags for the micro-geolocation of users by proximity to a given piece of manufacturing. The functional breakdown can go further with zones used to represent equipment pieces such as a control panel, an electrical panel, the front or rear part of a machine, a motor control panel...

In a system comprising several geographically distributed sites, the root part of the hierarchy is usually a set of zones corresponding to the different sites, with their GPS coordinates.

How the SnapVue client and the geolocation server operate together

• The SnapVue client app runs on a mobile device such as an Android or iOS tablet or smart phone.
• The PcVue server software runs on a computer under Microsoft Windows.
• SnapVue and the server communicate using the IIS web server and deployed using the Web Deployment Console.
• SnapVue sends information to the server about the context of the connected user, detected geo-tags, and its GPS position (if available).
• The server determines the zone where the user is located using the geo-tags and sends the corresponding actions (for that zone and for any parent zone) to SnapVue.
• The SnapVue user is then able to visualize data and execute the actions appropriate to the zone context.