Cell Location is a feature that provides the approximate geographic location of a device using a Soracom IoT SIM based on the known location of the base station that it is connected to, even if the device does not have its own GPS receiver.

The database of base station location information used by this feature and its corresponding getCellLocation and batchGetCellLocations APIs has been provided by the Mozilla Location Service (MLS). However, due to the sunset of MLS, Soracom will be changing the reference database to OpenCelliD.

We would like to advise customers using the Cell Location feature of the following impact of this update:

New license requirements

Once the reference database has been changed, all data obtained through the Cell Location feature, including the getCellLocation and batchGetCellLocations APIs, will be subject to the CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.

Action Required: If you are using data from the Cell Location feature (including its APIs), you will be required to comply with the above license. Please review the terms of the license and make any necessary adjustments to ensure compliance.

Updated location information

As the reference database of base station location information will change, some of the location information may be different. For example:

• Location information that was previously not available may now be available
• Location information that was previously available may no longer be available
• Other aspects of location information, such as geographic position or accuracy, may change

No changes will be made to the method of using the Cell Locations feature or its APIs. However, if your application relies on this data, please be advised that the data returned may include these or other changes.

Effective date

This update is scheduled to take effect on June 3, 2024.

Please note that the effective date may change without prior notice.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact the Soracom Support team.