Position Estimation
New in 4.9.3
Position Estimation now lives in Global Settings (it was previously tucked into a per-source Automation tab), and gained a Maximum acceptable accuracy cutoff. On the map, the uncertainty circles are now controlled by the Show Accuracy toggle.
MeshMonitor can estimate a location for nodes that never report GPS, by pooling the geometry already present in your mesh data — traceroutes and NeighborInfo — into a single best-guess position per node.
How it works
Estimation is a global, cross-source batch job. It runs on a schedule (not in realtime) and pools observations from every Meshtastic source, including the embedded MQTT broker and MQTT bridges. MeshCore sources are excluded.
Two kinds of geometric constraint feed the solver:
- Traceroutes — each
A → X → Bsegment anchors the intermediate nodeXtoward its positioned path-neighbors, biased by per-hop SNR. - NeighborInfo — each direct-RF-range pair anchors the unpositioned side to the positioned side.
The solver computes an SNR- and time-weighted centroid of the anchor observations, plus an uncertainty radius (in km):
- A node seen from a single anchor can only be placed "within radio range", so it gets a conservative default radius (~5 km).
- A node seen from multiple converging anchors gets a much smaller radius (weighted RMS distance ÷ √effective-sample-size).
Estimates are written to a global table — one row per physical node — so every source shows the same estimate. A node that later reports a real position is dropped from the estimate set automatically.
Configuring estimation
Open Global Settings (the ⚙️ gear in the dashboard sidebar) → Position Estimation. The controls are global and require settings:write.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enable | Turns the scheduled estimator on/off. On by default. |
| Calculation frequency | How often the batch job runs (3 / 6 / 12 / 24 hours). Default 6h. |
| Lookback window | How far back observations are pooled (1 / 3 / 7 / 14 / 30 days). Default 7 days. |
| Maximum acceptable accuracy (km) | Estimates whose uncertainty radius is larger than this are discarded instead of stored — so low-confidence guesses don't litter the map with huge circles. 0 = no limit. |
| Recalculate now | Runs the job immediately. The last-run summary shows how many nodes were estimated, how many observations were pooled, and how many were discarded by the accuracy cutoff. |
Choosing a maximum accuracy
The single biggest source of oversized circles is the ~5 km single-anchor default. If your map is cluttered with large dashed circles, set Maximum acceptable accuracy to roughly 2–3 km: nodes that can only be placed "somewhere within radio range" are dropped, while well-triangulated nodes (seen from several directions) are kept. Already-stored estimates that no longer qualify are cleared on the next run.
Viewing estimates on the map
Two independent per-user map toggles live in the Map Features panel (Nodes map / dashboard map):
- Show Estimated Positions — shows the estimated node markers.
- Show Accuracy — shows the uncertainty circle around each estimated node (and the precision-bits accuracy regions for GPS nodes). Turning it off declutters the map while keeping the markers.
An estimated node's uncertainty circle is drawn only when both toggles are on, so a circle never appears without its marker. The circle radius is the node's computed uncertaintyKm — a small circle means a confident, multi-anchor estimate; a large one means the node could only be placed loosely.
Permissions & API
The estimator's status and controls map to the global settings resource:
GET /api/settings/position-estimation/status—settings:readPOST /api/settings/position-estimation/run-now—settings:write- Settings are saved through
POST /api/settings—settings:write