# Node IDs not unique? **URL:** \ **Category:** End Devices (Nodes)\ **Created:** [October 31, 2019, 2:36pm UTC](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/node-ids-not-unique/31343 "2019-10-31T14:36:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![adyb](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/user_avatar/www.thethingsnetwork.org/adyb/32/35697_2.png) [@adyb](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/u/adyb)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 2:36pm UTC](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/node-ids-not-unique/31343/1 "2019-10-31T14:36:16Z")
Hi, I have recently added a few T Beam devices to my ttn mapping application. To my surprise, when I view the advanced map and specify a device name I see mapping in another continent, along side the mapping that device has done. I was of the thought that device ID’s should be unique - is this not the case or is something broken? Cheers, Adrian ---
**Author:** ![kersing](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/user_avatar/www.thethingsnetwork.org/kersing/32/44777_2.png) [@kersing](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/u/kersing)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 4:19pm UTC](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/node-ids-not-unique/31343/2 "2019-10-31T16:19:37Z")
Application IDs are globally unique. Devices IDs within an application. Requiring globally unique device names (which is what the IDs are used for most of the time) would create a headache as there are many thousands of devices. ---
**Author:** ![cslorabox](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/user_avatar/www.thethingsnetwork.org/cslorabox/32/35697_2.png) [@cslorabox](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/u/cslorabox)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 5:35pm UTC](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/node-ids-not-unique/31343/3 "2019-10-31T17:35:20Z")
That all makes sense - but what doesn’t, is how, even with id/name/address re-use, a user could see information from someone else’s node. They shouldn’t (directly or by aid of TTN servers) have access to the keys needed to validate or decode it, and it doesn’t seem to make sense that the network would even offer them raw encrypted data for a node that isn’t theirs. The only logical way I can think of to get the raw feed for other people’s nodes is when that flows through or is also picked up by one’s own gateway, which shouldn’t happen for a node on another continent. Is there some other piece of the puzzle that explains this? ---
**Author:** ![kersing](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/user_avatar/www.thethingsnetwork.org/kersing/32/44777_2.png) [@kersing](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/u/kersing)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 6:18pm UTC](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/node-ids-not-unique/31343/4 "2019-10-31T18:18:33Z")
> [@cslorabox](#): > > a user could see information from someone else’s node That could be an issue with TTNmapper. Have you checked the TTNmapper service agreement on the subject? @jpmeijers The TTN back-end does not allow access to any of the information you mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![cslorabox](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/user_avatar/www.thethingsnetwork.org/cslorabox/32/35697_2.png) [@cslorabox](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/u/cslorabox)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 6:20pm UTC](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/node-ids-not-unique/31343/5 "2019-10-31T18:20:27Z")
Sounds like what you are saying is that users have configured TTN to push their mapping node data to an additional non-core (and perhaps even 3rd party?) service that’s perhaps not keeping it distinct by user. If the goal is crowdsourcing a community map of coverage that may not be entirely inappropriate as an idea, though seems like it can generate confusion. ---
**Author:** ![kersing](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/user_avatar/www.thethingsnetwork.org/kersing/32/44777_2.png) [@kersing](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/u/kersing)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 6:45pm UTC](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/node-ids-not-unique/31343/6 "2019-10-31T18:45:50Z")
That is right, TTNmapper is a third party service and data from a node is only forwarded to it if the application owner adds TTNmapper integration to the application or if the user runs an app on a smartphone to map. So sending data to the service is a deliberate decision made by the application owner. ---
**Author:** ![UdLoRa](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/user_avatar/www.thethingsnetwork.org/udlora/32/45330_2.png) [@UdLoRa](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/u/UdLoRa)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 10:22pm UTC](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/node-ids-not-unique/31343/7 "2019-10-31T22:22:30Z")
This issue has already been mentioned in the past - it’s TTN Mapper filtering by name and not by hw Id, thus with some mixed data when you want to look to your own tracker only.