A method of determining a rotative position of an industrial roll includes: (a) providing a rotating industrial roll having a longitudinal axis, the industrial roll having mounted on one end thereof an accelerometer, the industrial roll further including a plurality of sensors; (b) determining a pre-trigger angular position of the roll based on a first gravity vector provided by the accelerometer; then (c) determining a trigger angular position of the roll based on a second gravity vector provided by the accelerometer, the magnitude of the second gravity vector differing from the magnitude of the first gravity vector by more than the magnitude of a typical noise signal; and (d) gathering data from the sensors after the roll has passed the trigger angular position; and (e) matching the data gathered in step (d) with a respective sensor of the plurality of sensors based on the determination of the trigger angular position.