Ably Asset Tracking is a real-time asset tracking SDK suite jointly launched by Ably and Mapbox. It includes Publisher SDK (delivery side) and Subscriber SDK (consumer side). It provides AI/ML enhanced positioning capabilities such as GPS noise reduction, dead reckoning, and map matching through the Mapbox Enhanced Location Engine. It is suitable for last-mile logistics, takeout delivery, urban travel and other scenarios. It has officially ceased operations in September 2025.

In-depth review of Ably Asset Tracking: a discontinued high-water mark real-time tracking SDK

Core parameters and statistics

Ably Asset Tracking (hereinafter referred to as AAT) is not an independent application software, but a multi-platform SDK suite for developers, aiming to provide "end-to-end" real-time asset tracking capabilities for last-mile logistics, takeout delivery and travel services. It is jointly built by Ably (real-time communication layer) and Mapbox (location enhancement layer). The core deliverables are two sets of complementary SDKs - Publisher SDK (delivery end device) and Subscriber SDK (consumer observation end) - plus an optional UI toolkit (Location Animator).

Projects	Public Information
Official positioning	Real-time asset tracking SDK, combined with Mapbox Navigation SDK to enhance positioning
Delivery form	Android SDK (Kotlin/Java), iOS Swift SDK, JavaScript SDK (Web)
SDK Group	Publisher SDK (publisher), Subscriber SDK (subscriber), UI SDK (animation tool)
Underlying location engine	Mapbox Navigation SDK Enhanced Location Engine
Real-time communication layer	Ably Pub/Sub global edge network (11+ regions 700+ PoPs)
Open Source License	Apache-2.0
Android SDK Stars	~14 stars, 5 forks (archived)
iOS SDK Stars	~10 stars, 5 forks (archived)
JS SDK Stars	~10 stars, 7 forks (archived)
Android latest version	1.7.0 (2023-04-27)
iOS latest version	1.0.0-alpha.1
JS latest version	1.0.0-beta.5
Downtime	Archived on September 29, 2025, no longer maintained

Brief review in one sentence: AAT is a set of asset tracking SDK that is "very strong in theory but dead in practice" - it has almost achieved the best practices in this field in terms of architectural design, but the product life cycle has failed to outperform the pace of market demand.

Note on "AI/ML Prediction": AAT does not directly provide independent AI models. Its "AI enhancement" is reflected in Mapbox Enhanced Location Engine's built-in map-matching, GPS signal noise reduction (filtering) and dead reckoning algorithms. When the GPS signal is lost (such as in tunnels or under elevated roads), the engine extrapolates the current position through the vehicle motion model and historical trajectories, which is a typical "rules + ML hybrid" enhanced positioning solution.

User and market recognition

The market recognition of AAT needs to be viewed separately from two dimensions: the recognition of the underlying technology platform and the adoption of the SDK itself.

Ably platform-level trust endorsement: As a real-time infrastructure layer, Ably serves leading companies such as Bloomberg, HubSpot, and Verizon, processing an average of 2 trillion+ API operations per month, and claims to have 100% uptime for more than 7 years. These data provide strong endorsement for AAT's communication reliability - at least in terms of real-time data and global distribution, AAT has no shortcomings.

Adoption of AAT itself: The three GitHub repositories have a combined star count of less than 40, which is a fairly low number in the asset tracking world. For comparison, similar open source solutions such as OpenGTS have 1.5k+ Stars, and commercial competitor Mapbox's own Navigation SDK has 5k+ Stars. The low community popularity confirms that AAT has failed to form large-scale adoption in the market.

Industry Cooperation Endorsement: The official blog of Mapbox and the official blog of Ably jointly issued a post to promote AAT in 2021, indicating that the two companies have conducted in-depth integration testing at the product level. However, the cooperation did not translate into a broad developer ecosystem - all three SDKs stopped substantial iteration after 2023, and were archived simultaneously in September 2025, marking the actual end of this joint project.

B-side landing prerequisites: For AAT to truly work, the team needs to have experience in using the Ably platform, the integration capabilities of the Mapbox SDK, and engineering reserves for native mobile development (Android/iOS). This threshold is significantly higher than the single-vendor scenario.

Cost advantage

AAT's cost structure needs to be split into the SDK itself and the underlying Ably platform. The SDK itself is completely open source and free (Apache-2.0), but the real cost is the Ably real-time network service it relies on.

Ably Platform Pricing (as of 2026)

Package	Monthly fee	Concurrent connections	Message rate	Monthly message volume	Applicable stages
Free	$0	200	500/sec	6 million	Proof of concept
Standard	$29 + usage fee	10,000	2,500/second	Pay-as-you-go	Production online
Pro	$399 + usage fee	50,000	10,000/sec	Pay-as-you-go	High load
Enterprise	Custom Quote	Unlimited	Unlimited	Pay-as-you-go	Large Scale

Excess message rate: $2.50/million; connection minutes: $1.00/million minutes; channel minutes: $1.00/million minutes.

Cost analysis (C-side/developer/enterprise three-tier)

• C-side/individual developers: The 6 million/month message volume of the Free package is basically sufficient for small-scale prototype verification. However, AAT needs to maintain the Ably connection and Mapbox service at the same time. The Mapbox Navigation SDK itself also has independent usage billing (additional Mapbox account and Token are required), and the combined cost is much higher than the single SDK solution.
• Developer/self-built team: There is no subscription fee for the open source SDK, but you need to set up an Ably application Mapbox account yourself and handle two sets of certification systems. After the SDK is out of service, you still need to bear the risk cost of maintaining the Fork yourself.
• Enterprise Grade: Ably Enterprise plans offer 99.999% SLA, SSO, dedicated clusters, and more, but annual contract amounts typically start in the five-figure range. Coupled with the enterprise licensing fee for Mapbox Navigation SDK, the actual implementation cost may exceed the budget of most small and medium-sized teams.

Hidden Cost Tip: AAT’s pricing page will no longer prominently display billing information related to asset tracking after it is discontinued in 2025 (asset tracking is no longer listed as an independent product), which means that new users can hardly obtain AAT’s pricing directly through Ably’s official channels. Existing users can only estimate their own costs based on Ably Pub/Sub's basic usage.

Main functions

1. Publisher SDK (distribution side publishing SDK)

Embedded in the mobile device where the delivery person or mobile asset is located, it is responsible for collecting GPS location data and performing real-time enhancement processing through the Mapbox Enhanced Location Engine, and then publishing it to the cloud through the Ably real-time network.

2. Subscriber SDK (consumer subscription SDK)

Observer applications embedded in consumers or monitoring centers subscribe to enhanced location updates for specified assets through the Ably real-time channel. Supports location monitoring, online status monitoring, and dynamic resolution adjustment requests.

3. Resolution Policy Engine (Resolution Policy)

Core innovation. Allows developers to dynamically balance "positioning accuracy", "update frequency" and "device power" by configuring parameters. Built-in default policy factory (DefaultResolutionPolicyFactory) supports custom policy implementation. Key parameters include:

• accuracy: positioning accuracy (BALANCED / MAXIMUM, etc.)
• desiredInterval: Desired update interval (milliseconds)
• minimumDisplacement: minimum displacement threshold (meters)
• proximityThreshold: close to the threshold (triggers high-precision mode)
• batteryLevelThreshold + lowBatteryMultiplier: automatic frequency reduction when the battery is low

4. UI SDK / Location Animator (positioning animation tool)

Provides smooth map annotation animation interpolation for subscriber applications to avoid location jumps. Although it is only an auxiliary component, it significantly affects the consumer user experience.

5. Real-time online status awareness

Publisher online/offline detection is implemented through the Ably Presence API, allowing the subscriber to understand the connection status of the delivery end in real time and avoid experience blind spots caused by network interruptions.

Expert point of view - functional synergy: The real value of AAT does not lie in a single function, but in the combination of "resolution strategy ↔ enhanced positioning engine ↔ real-time network" - the resolution strategy dynamically adjusts the positioning collection frequency according to battery, distance and other conditions; the enhanced positioning engine can still maintain position continuity through dead reckoning during low-frequency sampling periods; the real-time network ensures that policy changes and position updates take effect at the millisecond level across the entire link. This trinity of designs is ahead of its time in the 2021 market, but it is also one of the reasons why its complexity ultimately exceeds maintenance capabilities.

Model and version evolution

The evolution of AAT's version shows a typical "open high and go low" trajectory. It made a high-profile debut in Public Beta in April 2021, and the joint marketing with Mapbox has been huge. Entering a slow iteration period in 2023, the Android SDK finally stayed at 1.7.0, the JS SDK stayed at Beta 5, and the iOS SDK only reached Alpha. The three warehouses will be archived simultaneously in September 2025, bringing the product life cycle to an end.

Platform	Final Version	Release Date	Status
Android (Kotlin/Java)	1.7.0	2023-04-27	Archived
iOS (Swift)	1.0.0-alpha.1	~2023-03	Archived
JavaScript (TypeScript)	1.0.0-beta.5	2023-03-28	Archived

Core version node:

• 2021-04-29: AAT Public Beta is released, supporting Android, iOS, and Web. The core functions include enhanced positioning and real-time subscription.
• ~2023-03: iOS Swift SDK Alpha released, adding Location Animator UI component.
• 2023-03-28: JS SDK 1.0.0-beta.5 released, including the full functionality of Subscriber SDK.
• 2023-04-27: Android SDK 1.7.0 was released, which is the only platform version that has reached "Beta or above maturity".
• 2025-09-29: Three GitHub repositories are archived simultaneously, and the README adds an outage announcement.

Technical advantages

Architecture link

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Publisher Device │
│ ┌──────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ │
│ │ GPS Sensor │───▶│ Enhanced Location │ │
│ │ (raw location data) │ │ Engine (Mapbox) │ │
│ └──────────────┘ │ - Map matching noise reduction │ │
│ │ - Dead Reckoning │ │
│ │ - Signal filtering │ │
│ └────────┬─────────┘ │
│ │ Enhanced location data │
│ ┌─────────▼─────────┐ │
│ │ Publisher SDK │ │
│ │ - Resolution Strategy Decision │ │
│ │ - real-time publishing │ │
│ └────────┬─────────┘ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
                                │Ably Pub/Sub Live Channel
                                │ (Presence +

location stream)
┌──────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┐
│ Subscriber Device │
│ ┌─────────▼─────────┐ │
│ │ Subscriber SDK │ │
│ │ - Location Subscription │ │
│ │ - Online status monitoring │ │
│ │ - Resolution Request │ │
│ └────────┬─────────┘ │
│ ┌─────────▼─────────┐ │
│ │ Location Animator│ │
│ │ (UI SDK) │ │
│ │ - Smooth annotation animation │ │
│ └───────────────────┘ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Control flow: Publisher-side GPS data → Mapbox engine enhancement → Publisher SDK publishes through Ably channel → Subscriber SDK receives in real time → Location Animator renders to the map. Data reflow: The Subscriber side can request to change the collection resolution of the Publisher side through resolutionPreference.

Core technology interpretation

Enhanced Location Engine (Mapbox Navigation SDK): This is the most critical AI/ML component in the AAT technology chain. It is not a simple GPS forwarding, but uses a machine learning model to process the original GPS signal in three layers - the first layer: real-time filtering to remove multipath noise caused by urban canyons; the second layer: map matching to constrain positioning points to the road network and eliminate offsets; the third layer: dead reckoning to extrapolate the current position through vehicle motion vectors (velocity, direction, acceleration) when the GPS signal is lost. This engine optimizes positioning accuracy and power consumption at the same time, and can still maintain position continuity under low-frequency sampling.

The differentiated value of Ably's real-time network: AAT chose Ably instead of building its own WebSocket cluster, and gained more than "saving operation and maintenance." Ably's global edge network (700+ PoPs) achieves message transmission delays as low as 6.5ms at the median level; its Presence API provides out-of-the-box online status management without the need for additional heartbeat mechanism development; message persistence and historical playback capabilities make it possible to "restore location continuity after being offline."

Design philosophy of resolution strategy: This is AAT’s most engineering value design in the “battery vs accuracy” game. By abstracting the decision logic into the ResolutionPolicy interface, developers can inject differentiated strategies for different asset types (walking delivery vs. vehicle delivery), different stages (increasing accuracy when approaching the destination), and different power states (automatic frequency reduction below 10%) without modifying the location collection code. This design could have become the most competitive technical barrier for AAT, but unfortunately it failed to win sufficient market validation.

How to use

⚠️ IMPORTANT NOTE BEFORE USE: AAT has officially ceased operations in September 2025. The following content is for technical reference and historical archiving only and is not recommended for new projects.

Comparison of SDK integration methods

Platform	Package Management	Dependency Statement	Remarks
Android (Kotlin)	Gradle / Maven Central	com.ably.tracking:publishing-sdk:1.7.0	High probability removed from Maven Central
Android (Java)	Gradle / Maven Central	com.ably.tracking:publishing-sdk-java:1.7.0	Requires Java 8+, API Level 24+
iOS (Swift)	Swift Package Manager	ably-asset-tracking-swift	GitHub SPM source, archived
Web (JavaScript)	npm/Yarn	@ably/asset-tracking	Contains Subscriber SDK only

Get started quickly (Android Publisher SDK example)

//Configure resolution strategy
val defaultResolution = Resolution(Accuracy.BALANCED, desiredInterval = 1000L, minimumDisplacement = 1.0)

//Initialize Publisher
val publisher = Publisher.publishers()
    .connection(ConnectionConfiguration(Authentication.basic(CLIENT_ID, ABLY_API_KEY)))
    .map(MapConfiguration(MAPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN))
    .androidContext(this)
    .resolutionPolicy(DefaultResolutionPolicyFactory(defaultResolution, this))
    .backgroundTrackingNotificationProvider(notificationProvider, NOTIFICATION_ID)
    .profile(RoutingProfile.DRIVING)
    .start()

// Start tracking the specified asset
publisher.track(Trackable(trackingId, constraints = exampleConstraints))

Get started quickly (JavaScript Subscriber SDK example)

import { Subscriber } from '@ably/asset-tracking';

const subscriber = new Subscriber({
  ablyOptions: { key: ABLY_API_KEY, clientId: CLIENT_ID },
});

const asset = subscriber.get('my_tracking_id');
asset.addLocationListener((locationUpdate) => {
  console.log(`Coordinates: ${locationUpdate.location.geometry.coordinates}`);
});
await asset.start();

Typical usage links

1. Create an application in Ably Dashboard and obtain API Key, and create an Access Token in Mapbox account.
2. Publisher-side integration: Embed Publisher SDK in the Delivery App, configure Ably credentials and Mapbox Token, and call publisher.track(trackableId) to start publishing the location.
3. Subscriber-side integration: Embed the Subscriber SDK in the consumer App, pass in the same trackingId, and listen for the addLocationListener callback.
4. Resolution Tuning: Adjust the accuracy, desiredInterval, minimumDisplacement parameters according to the business scenario (walking/driving/approaching the destination), or dynamically adjust it at runtime through subscriber.resolutionPreference().
5. UI Rendering: Optional integration of Location Animator to achieve smooth map annotation animation.

Product Pricing

Ably Asset Tracking SDK itself is completely open source and free (Apache-2.0 license), but running AAT requires paying for two sets of infrastructure at the same time.

Ably platform fee (required): Even though AAT is free, real-time transmission of location data must go through the Ably channel and consumes Ably's message quota. The Free package provides a free message quota of 6 million messages per month (200 concurrent connections), which is basically sufficient for small-scale delivery scenarios with an average of 1,000 orders per day; after reaching the Standard package ($29/month), the overage message rate is $2.50/million messages.

Mapbox Navigation SDK License Fee (required): Mapbox Navigation SDK's location enhancement engine is not free to use. Mapbox is billed on a per-MAU (monthly active user) or per-request basis, depending on the plan chosen. In 2026, Mapbox has shifted to multi-tier pricing with Navigation SDK as the core, and AAT integrators need an independent Mapbox paid account.

Combined cost deduction: Taking a medium-sized delivery platform with an average of 5,000 orders per day and continuous tracking of each order for 30 minutes as an example - the monthly Ably message volume is about 90 million (positioning frequency 1 message/second × 30 minutes × 5,000 orders × 30 days), which exceeds the Free package by 84 million, and the overage fee is about $210/month; the Mapbox Navigation SDK fee is based on MAU The price is about $500-1,500/month (depending on the specific package). Total about $710-1,710/month. This does not include the map rendering costs of Mapbox Maps SDK, cloud infrastructure (servers, databases) costs and operation and maintenance labor costs.

Application scenarios

Scenario 1: Last mile logistics distribution tracking

Task Type and Benefit: The Delivery Person App integrates the Publisher SDK to publish the location in real time, and the Consumer App uses the Subscriber SDK to view the delivery person's real-time location and ETA. The benefits are reflected in: reducing delivery anomalies caused by "the deliveryman has arrived but the customer has not responded" and reducing the number of customer service orders asking "where is my order?"

Adaptation Judgment: AAT's Resolution Policy can exert the greatest value in this scenario - when the delivery person is far away from the destination, it uses low-frequency and low-precision positioning to save power, and automatically switches to high-precision and high-frequency positioning when approaching the destination, allowing customers to see approaching animations accurate to the meter level.

Scenario 2: Shared travel and urban mobility services

Task Type and Benefit: Real-time positioning and availability display of shared bicycles/electric scooters. Subscriber SDK can be integrated into the client App to view nearby available vehicles. The benefits are reflected in improved vehicle dispatching efficiency and improved user experience.

Adaptation Judgment: The challenge in this scenario lies in device-side battery management - shared vehicles usually use low-power IoT modules instead of mobile phones. AAT's Android SDK is assumed to run on a complete Android system and cannot be directly adapted to RTOS or embedded Linux environments.

Scenario 3: On-site service and field staff management

Task Types and Benefits: Location tracking and task assignment of field maintenance technicians. The dispatch center monitors technician locations through Subscriber SDK and dynamically dispatches orders based on real-time ETA. The benefits are reflected in shortened customer waiting time and improved technician time utilization.

Adaptation Judgment: This is the most underestimated scenario of AAT - compared with the highly homogeneous takeout scenario, the diversified asset management of on-site services (vehicles, tools, spare parts) can better reflect the architectural advantages of multiple Trackable simultaneous tracking. However, since AAT has been discontinued, implementation can only rely on self-built forks or migration solutions.

Applicable people

Adapt to the crowd

• Logistics and Delivery Platform Engineering Team: A medium-sized team that had hoped to quickly go live with real-time delivery tracking capabilities within 3-6 months. The combination of AAT's open source SDK + Ably infrastructure saves a lot of engineering investment compared to building a self-built real-time data pipeline.
• Existing Ably customers: For teams that are already using Ably Pub/Sub, there is almost zero additional learning cost to try AAT - reusing the same Ably certification system and channel model.
• Teams that require a unified interface for cross-platform SDKs: The three sets of Android/iOS/Web SDKs follow the same Publisher/Subscriber abstract model to reduce cognitive switching costs during multi-terminal development.

Not suitable/dissuade people

• New Project Selection Team (most important!): AAT has been fully decommissioned in September 2025, and any new projects should not introduce AAT as a formal dependency. The official repository has been archived read-only and will no longer receive bug fixes or security updates.
• Teams that need to deeply customize positioning logic: Although AAT's policy engine provides a custom ResolutionPolicy interface, its bottom layer relies on the positioning pipeline of Mapbox Navigation SDK. If the team needs to replace the positioning engine or connect to a domestic positioning service provider, the coupling of AAT will become an obstacle.
• Lightweight or low-frequency tracking scenario: If the business only needs the inspection requirement of "reporting the location every 5 minutes", the complexity introduced by the AAT full link is much higher than a simple HTTP POST + timer solution.
• Low-power IoT scenario: AAT's SDK is designed for mobile phone-level computing resources and cannot run on battery-powered NB-IoT, Cat-M or LoRa modules.

Summary and Outlook

Core Competency Review: AAT has reached the high level expected of a real-time asset tracking SDK at the technical architecture level - Mapbox's enhanced positioning engine provides industry-leading GPS noise reduction and dead reckoning capabilities; Ably's global real-time network ensures low latency and high reliability of data distribution; the resolution strategy engine demonstrates the engineering wisdom of making a quantitative trade-off between battery life and positioning accuracy. If the project can gain sufficient market traction and sustained investment in 2021-2022, it has the potential to become the "Twilio for Location" in the field of asset tracking.

Fatal Limitation: The outcome of AAT is a typical case of "applause but not success". Its core issues have three levels. The first layer is ambiguous market positioning - it is neither an "out-of-the-box SaaS tracking platform" (such as Project44, FourKites), nor a "pure open source tracking framework" - it is in the middle: it requires an Ably account, Mapbox authorization, and native development skills, but it ultimately delivers an SDK rather than a complete product. The second level is that the cost structure is opaque and relatively high - the combined cost of dual supplier authorization (Ably + Mapbox) is higher than any single competing product on the market, and the complexity of the pricing page makes it difficult for small and medium-sized teams to quickly evaluate TCO. The third layer is Insufficient willingness to maintain - As a real-time communications company, Ably's core revenue comes from the Pub/Sub messaging layer. For it, the asset tracking SDK is more like a "demonstration room showing complex use cases" rather than a core product line. After 2023, Ably's strategic focus will shift to Chat, AI Transport and LiveObjects, and it is almost inevitable that AAT will be marginalized until it is discontinued.

Procurement/Adoption Risk Assessment: The most honest advice to any organization that is evaluating AAT is – Don’t select AAT for a new project. It is already a dead SDK with no future version roadmap, no community maintenance, and no security patches. If your team is running an AAT-based production system, you should evaluate migration options immediately. Possible alternative paths include: switching to Mapbox's independent Navigation SDK + self-built WebSocket real-time pipeline; adopting open source OpenGTS or Traccar solutions; or evaluating commercial SaaS platforms such as Project44, ShipStation, etc. For projects still in the early stages, it may be more feasible to just use Ably Pub/Sub + custom targeting logic than to maintain a whole set of discontinued SDKs.

Follow-up observation points: Although AAT is dead, its technical design concepts are worth learning from the industry. Evolutionary directions worthy of attention include: whether Ably will re-enter the field of edge computing and asset tracking in different forms (for example, through the AI ​​Transport product line); whether Mapbox will independently launch a more lightweight tracking SDK; and whether the open source community will see a Fork version that inherits the design ideas of Resolution Policy. If some of AAT's core design elements, such as the resolution strategy abstraction, were incorporated into the main Ably platform or other competing products, its technical legacy would go further than its product life cycle.

Version Info

• Ably Asset Tracking Android SDK 1.7.0 ：The final release version of Android SDK, including stable functions of Publisher SDK, Subscriber SDK and UI SDK. Since then, the project has entered maintenance mode and will be officially archived and discontinued in September 2025. （2023-04-27）
• Ably Asset Tracking JavaScript SDK 1.0.0 Beta 5 ：The final version of JavaScript SDK preview includes only Subscriber SDK, which provides web-side asset subscription capabilities. （2023-03-28）
• Ably Asset Tracking Swift SDK 1.0.0 Alpha 1 ：iOS Swift SDK Alpha version supports Publisher SDK and Subscriber SDK, including Location Animator UI component. There is no official precise date yet. （~2023-03）
• Ably Asset Tracking Public Beta ：Jointly announced a public beta with Mapbox, supporting Android, iOS, and Web platforms. Its core functions include enhanced positioning engine, resolution strategy, and real-time subscription. （2021-04-29）