# Platform Update - Meridian Integration, More Real-Time Blocks, Hash and Generate ID Nodes

Brandon Cannaday \| 03.29.18 \| 2 minute read

Today's release offers a variety of new capabilities for your Losant applications and solutions. This update provides a new integration, additional real-time dashboard blocks, and new nodes for both cloud and edge workflows.

## Meridian Integration

[Meridian](http://meridianapps.com/), which is part of [Aruba Networks](http://www.arubanetworks.com/), provides a suite of beacon-based indoor mapping and location services. Customers utilizing Meridian's Indoor Asset Tracking solution can now stream real-time location updates with the new [Meridian integration](http://docs.losant.com/applications/integrations/index.html#meridian).

The Meridian integration subscribes to Meridian's [Websocket API endpoint](https://docs.meridianapps.com/hc/en-us/articles/360040165313-Tag-Tracking-API), which receives all updates in real-time. You can then optionally filter this to include only Zone or Asset updates, and filter those updates to one or more individual map IDs.

If you're already a customer of Meridian, this provides a powerful way to use Losant for further application development on top of your location information. If you're a Losant customer and interested in an indoor positioning solution, please check out [Meridian](http://meridianapps.com/).

## More Real-Time Dashboard Blocks

This release provides three additional real-time dashboard blocks: the [Pie Chart](http://docs.losant.com/dashboards/pie-chart/), the [Bar Chart](http://docs.losant.com/dashboards/bar-chart/), and the [Indicator Block](http://docs.losant.com/dashboards/indicator/). Each of these blocks work on both historical and real-time data.

Historical mode allows you to view aggregated data over a time period, for example "the average temperature over the last 30 days". Real-time shows only the most up-to-date information as it's received by Losant.

## Hash and Generate ID Workflow Nodes

This release provides two new nodes for both edge and cloud workflows: the [Hash](http://docs.losant.com/workflows/logic/hash/) and [Generate ID](http://docs.losant.com/workflows/logic/generate-id/) nodes.

The Hash Node makes it easy to hash data using a variety of common hashing algorithms like SHA256 or MD5. The Generate ID Node is a quick way to create unique IDs using standards like [UUID](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universally_unique_identifier) or MongoDB's [ObjectID](https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/reference/method/ObjectId/) specifications.

## Other Updates

- [Device attribute](http://docs.losant.com/devices/state/#state-attributes) limit increased to 256.
- The [Validate Payload Node](http://docs.losant.com/workflows/logic/validate-payload/) schema can now come from a payload path or be a template.
- [Application Globals](http://docs.losant.com/applications/overview/#application-globals) can now be configured as "cloud only", which means their values will not be sent to Edge Compute devices.
- Changing dashboard [context variables](http://docs.losant.com/dashboards/context-variables/) is now a much more seamless visual experience.

## What's Next?

With every new release, we really listen to your feedback. By combining your suggestions with our roadmap, we can continue to make the platform easy for you. Let us know what you think in the [Losant Forums](https://forums.losant.com/).