Set Up Access Point Auto Location

Access point auto location

Access point auto location is a Cisco Spaces capability that:

  • combines Fine Timing Measurement (FTM) ranging and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data, when available, to determine AP positions in global coordinates

  • uses APs with known locations as anchors to estimate the positions of other APs and automatically place them on a floor’s Rich Map, and

  • lets administrators review and manually adjust AP positions.

When GNSS is unavailable, an administrator places APs with known locations as manual anchors on the floor. Location accuracy depends on the building type and the distances between APs.

Supported platforms for AP auto location

The AP Auto Location feature is supported on these platforms and versions:

Table 1. Supported platforms and versions
Product Platform Releases

Cisco Catalyst 9100 family of Access Points

  • Cisco Catalyst 9130, 9136, 9164, and 9166 Series Access Points

Cisco IOS XE 17.12.1 minimum; 17.15.1 preferred

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers

Cisco IOS XE 17.12.1 minimum; 17.15.1 preferred
Cisco Spaces

Cisco Spaces: Connector 3 and Location Service

Version 3.1.0.94 or later

Note

The account also requires Cisco Spaces Cloud access.

Prerequisites for AP auto location

Before you generate ranging data or place APs, ensure that:

  • A Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller is connected to Cisco Spaces through the Cisco Spaces Connector, and both are available in the Cisco Spaces account. For more information, refer to Connect Connector to Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers in the Cisco Spaces: Connector 3 Configuration Guide.

  • Each floor has a rich map. Use the Locations & Maps feature to add rich maps. For more information, refer to Setting up Locations and Maps.

  • APs are associated with configured site tags. Cisco Spaces does not support ranging data generation for the default site tag. For more information about configuring site tags, refer to Configuring a Site Tag in the Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller Software Configuration Guide.

  • The controller and APs meet the platform and software requirements in Supported platforms for AP auto location.

  • AP density is adequate for neighboring APs to communicate at maximum power for ranging.

  • AnyLocate measurement data is available for the APs before you place them.

Generate AnyLocate measurement data

Generate or schedule AP-to-AP ranging data for AP placement.

Before starting the AP Auto Location process, you must generate the AnyLocate measurement data for the APs to automatically place the APs in Cisco Spaces. The ranging measurement process changes the AP channel in the selected area to a common channel and uses FTM to determine the distance between the APs. You need to run this process once, or when APs are moved or added to another environment.

Use Cisco Spaces to generate Fine Time Measurement (FTM) ranging data for APs to place them on the floor map. FTM ranging data is more resilient than RSSI and has better accuracy. Select a site tag and generate the ranging data for all APs associated with that site tag.

Before you begin

Use the Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller GUI to achieve these:


Note

  • The AnyLocate measurement data process is not supported for a default site tag.

  • We recommend that you schedule the ranging process when the network is less busy as this process is disruptive. This process takes approximately 10 minutes to complete.

  • The AnyLocate measurement ranging process can be triggered per site tag basis and is not supported for a default site tag.

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco Spaces.

Step 2

In the Cisco Spaces dashboard, open Setup > Device Placement and open the AnyLocate measurement data workflow.

Step 3

Select the APs for ranging. Select a site tag to include its associated APs, or select individual APs if the controller and APs support that option. Use the available controller filters to find APs.

The default site tag is not supported for ranging.

Individual AP selection requires a wireless controller running Cisco IOS XE 17.15.1 or later.

Step 4

Review the prerequisite or eligibility results. Resolve any reported issue, such as an AP without a supported site tag or an AP that does not support ranging, before continuing.

Step 5

Choose to generate the data now or schedule the operation for later.

To schedule the operation, specify the date and time, then submit the schedule.

To generate the data now, continue to the impact confirmation.

Place Devices

Use the Device Placement feature to place the APs on the floor maps. Cisco Spaces uses various ranging technologies and algorithms to place the APs as per the global geographic coordinates. A site tag must be configured for each floor to place the APs successfully on the map.

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco Spaces.

Step 2

In the Cisco Spaces dashboard, click the Menu icon () and choose Setup > Device Placement.

Step 3

In the Device Placement window, from the Floor drop-down list, select the floor where you need to place the devices.

  • Rich Maps are mandatory to place the APs. If rich maps are not available for a location, you cannot place the APs.

  • Check the Show Locations without Map check box to filter and display locations without rich maps.

Step 4

In a Day 0 configuration scenario, a message is displayed indicating that no APs are placed on the floor. Click Place APs to place the devices.

The Place APs window is displayed with three sections: Choose APs, Place APs and Review & Publish.

Step 5

In the Choose APs section, check the check box corresponding to the cluster with APs to be placed in the specific floor.


Note

  • By default, the Automatically group neighbor APs check box is checked and the APs are automatically grouped. Uncheck this check box to ungroup the APs and view them as a single list.

  • All available AP clusters and the total AP count are displayed.

  • For each cluster, you can view the controller, switch and site tag information.

  • You can select multiple clusters to assign to a floor.

  • APs with default-site-tag is excluded from the AP grouping.

  • The AP grouping feature is available in the Connector May 2023 release. We recommend that you upgrade your Connector to the latest version to enable the AP grouping feature.

  1. (Optional) Click and expand the AP cluster to view the APs available under the group neighbor.

    The right panel displays the selected AP names and count. You can view the following AP information:

    • Name

    • AP Model

    • MAC Address

    • Controller

    • Site Tag

    • Switch Name

    • IP Address

  2. (Optional) To search APs, enter the AP name in the Search field and click Enter.

  3. (Optional) Click Filter to enter the filtering parameters to display the available APs.

Step 6

Click Next.

Step 7

In the Place APs section, you can view the APs getting placed automatically.

Figure 1. Auto-Place APs

When the APs are placed successfully, the following message is displayed: The AP placement is complete for this floor. Please verify AP positions and make adjustments if needed or click “Next” to proceed.


Note

  • The APs highlighted in blue color are not suitable as anchors APs.

  • All GPS capable APs are automatically placed on the map based on their reported GPS measurements. Adjust the positions of any APs to establish them as anchors to provide more accurate positions for all APs on the floor.

  • If there are no GPS capable APs, the APs are placed based on the AP to AP relative positioning data.

  1. Select the required AP and adjust the position manually.


    Note

    The APs are color-coded as:

    • Auto-placed APs in blue

    • Manually adjusted APs in light green and dark green

    APs with an additional GPS module attached are in dark green color. Click an AP to view the additional information in the right panel.

  2. If you adjust the placement of 4 APs, a message is displayed to confirm the recalibration. Click Recalibrate to run the algorithm again to auto-place the APs.

    Click Skip to skip this step.

  3. (Optional) To adjust the AP placements, use the controls (available on the top of the Rich map ) to readjust the AP group position if required and click Confirm Position/Proceed.

    You can flip or rotate the whole AP group and adjust the group placement. After you confirm the new placement, the AP group ring is not longer available.

    Figure 2. Place APs Section

Step 8

Click Next.

Step 9

In the Review & Publish section, select an AP.

The Access Point Details slide-in window is displayed.

  1. Edit the default AP height, modify AP specific parameters if required.

    If you set the AP default height, all APs placed on the map inherit the same AP height parameter and the same is shared with the Cisco Spaces: Detect and Locate app.

  2. Click Save.

Step 10

click Publish.

A pop-up message is displayed and click Done. You can view the placed APs in the Cisco Spaces: Detect and Locate app.

Edit Device Placement

Use the Modify AP Placement option to update the placement of APs on the floor. This option is enabled in the Device Placement window only if the selected floor has APs already placed on the floor map.

If there were any changes to the AP positioning, the Device Placement window displays a message and click View to display the APs Notifications slide-in window. You can review the APs that are either removed or moved from one floor to another and take the necessary action.

View the following AP details:

  • AP Name

  • Mac Address

  • Reported Time

  • Details

  • Status

  • Controller IP Address

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco Spaces.

Step 2

In the Cisco Spaces dashboard, click the Menu icon () and choose Setup > Device Placement.

Step 3

In the Device Placement window, from the Floor drop-down list, select the floor where you need to edit the device placement.

Step 4

Click Modify AP Placement.

Step 5

In the Choose APs area, check or uncheck the check box against the required APs to update them.

The site tag associated with the floor is displayed along with the AP details such as the AP model, MAC address, controller, switch name, and so on.

The selected APs are displayed under the Selected APs section.

Step 6

Click Next.

Step 7

In the Place APs area, you can view the auto-placement of APs.

Cisco Spaces computes the AP location and places them on the floor map. View the rich map with the APs along with the calculated confidence percentage against each computed AP. You can manually adjust the AP placement if the calculated AP is not correctly placed.

Step 8

Click Next.

Step 9

In the Review and Publish area, verify the AP placement accuracy and click Publish.

View AnyLocate Measurement Data Status

AnyLocate Measurement data is required to process AP location. Generating measurement data might disrupt wireless connections for the APs participating in the ranging processes.

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco Spaces.

Step 2

In the Cisco Spaces dashboard, click the Menu icon () and choose Setup > Device Placement.

Step 3

In the Device Placement window, click View Details.

The AnyLocate Measurement Data Status window is displayed. You can view the following AnyLocate Measurement data status:

  • Ranging data generated for the number of APs and sites

  • Number of APs with no site tags

  • APs that do not support ranging data

  • Number of site tags with a schedule for generating ranging data

Step 4

(Optional) Click Manage / View History to view the history of ranging data generation.

The Ranging Data History window displays both the executed and scheduled history status. Click Cancel to cancel the ranging data generation schedule.

Step 5

In the AP to AP Ranging Data Status window, view the following options:

  • Site Tag: Displays the site tag. Default site tags are not supported for AP ranging data.

  • Ranging Capable APs: Displays the number of APs capable of generating ranging data from the total number of APs placed on the floor. Click the number to view the details in the slide-in window.

  • Controller: Displays the controller.

  • AP Model(s): Displays the AP models.

  • Status: Displays the status of whether ranging data is generated or not. If ranging data is not generated for a site tag, the status is displayed as Not Available. You can click Generate to generate the data and proceed. If ranging data is already generated, the status is displayed as Available. You can click Re-Generate to regenerate the data if required.

  • Last Generated: Displays the time stamp details of ranging data generation.

Figure 3. AnyLocate Measurement Data Status

Step 6

Click the Close () icon to close the window.

View APs

Enable you to review the list of discovered APs and their placement details before generating ranging data or making further placement decisions.

This task guides you through viewing the AP inventory for a floor in Cisco Spaces, allowing you to identify APs and see whether they have been placed automatically, manually, or designated as anchor APs. Follow these steps to view APs for a floor:

Procedure

Step 1

In Cisco Spaces, open Setup > Device Placement and select a floor.

Step 2

Open the AP view for the selected floor.

Step 3

Review the AP summary for the total number of APs and the number of automatically placed, manually placed, and anchor APs.

Step 4

Review the discovered AP list. The list includes:

  1. The AP name

  2. The AP model

  3. MAC address

  4. Controller

  5. Site tag

  6. Switch

  7. IP address

You can identify the APs discovered for the floor and see which APs Cisco Spaces has placed.