In this post I will describe how to quickly create an online Dashboard with the Ubidots service.

Their free plan is quite capable and allows you to push more than 16,600 data points per day (0.5 million per month). In comparison the Beebotte online serivc offers just 5000 data points per day. The dashboard configuration is also much better and quicker than Beebotte. Also featuring a Gauge widget that can be configured with min/max values (compared to 0-100% @Beebotte). Another great feature is the fact that all of the data and dashboards are live and dynamic, so no need to manually update.

1. Create Account

Start by visiting Ubidots and creating a new account there

2. Create Data Source

Data Sources in Ubidots are the endpoints which collect data. Create one and give it a name (e.g. CO2 Monitor)

3. Add Variables

Each Data Source can provide values to multiple Variables (e.g. CO2, Temperature, Humidity, Dust, etc…). Create one and give it a name (e.g. co2)

4. Configure vThing device

The values that you need to configure the device are the Data Source Label, Variable Name(s) and a Token

The first two you can take from the Data Source Screen – see the locations on the picture.

To get the Token – go to  “My Profile -> API Keys”. And then click the [Create Token] button. You will see the new token there. Generated tokens can also be accessed from the top-right menu under [API Credentials]

Open the Chrome app vThings – Device Configuration Tool, go to [Online Services -> UbiDots] and enter the details.

Click [Save] to store the configuration to the device.

Then you can test by clicking the [Test] button.

You should see the Variable Header @Ubidots update automatically.

5. Create Dashboard

Head to the [Dashboards] tab to add your widgets. Adding Widgets is straight-forward. So for the example I have included 3 Widgets Metric, Indicator->Gauge, Chart->Line Chart

6. Sharing Widgets

Unlike Beebotte, where you can create multiple dashboards and share them, with Ubidots you can share your widgets. You can get the links by clicking the [Right Arrow] icon in the top right of each widget.

Then you can open them anywhere. Here is an example how they look like on my mobile