A nodal seismic unit for acquiring seismic information includes an enclosure, a GPS receiver disposed in the enclosure; a motion sensor disposed in the enclosure; a LPWAN radio transceiver disposed in the enclosure; and a control unit disposed in the enclosure. The control unit is configured to transmit an unplanned movement signal to a remote operator using the LPWAN radio transceiver if the control unit receives a signal from the motion sensor indicative of an acceleration greater than a preset level. Additionally, the control unit may be configured to change an operating state of the nodal seismic unit in response to detecting a predetermined pattern of motion using the motion sensor.