Looking to setup Geofencing

[Jamr]

Hi everyone.
Vera escapee and looking on how to setup geofencing for multiple people with a HS3Pi.
I have searched for over an hour now and keep running into very old posts that refer to add on's that I can even find in the Plug In section. With all the sub sections you have here, I can't find one for geofencing.
Can anyone steer me in the right direction or help me out here?
Thanks.

[simplextech]

There are many options.....

1. PHLocation2 plugin
   1. https://jphuddlestone.co.uk/phplugins/phlocation.html
   2. supports several different mobile apps and solutions as well as Traccar for hardware GPS tracking
   3. I've used the Traccar component and it works well.
   4. Many like the Geofency app support which also works very well (I use Geofency on my iphone now as well)
2. HS Buddy app
   1. supports geofencing in the app with companion HS plugin
3. Life360 plugin
   1. This is in the updater and store
   2. New (Beta) version supports push notification of place enter/exit
4. Direct geofencing and use virtual switches

There are many ways to do this.

[pcburcham]

[*]Life360 plugin

1. This is in the updater and store
2. New (Beta) version supports push notification of place enter/exit

I use it and swear by it. It just works. Life360 feeds a lot of information about each user and this plugin utilizes as much of that info as you want. Allows for some interesting triggers outside of geofencing as well. Apps for Android and iPhone. Great option for a big family.

[cc4005]

I use it and swear by it. It just works. Life360 feeds a lot of information about each user and this plugin utilizes as much of that info as you want. Allows for some interesting triggers outside of geofencing as well. Apps for Android and iPhone. Great option for a big family.

The Life360 phone app and Life360 plugin are a great combination, and John (simplextech) is continuing to develop the plugin's performance and feature set. I own the plugin. Keep in mind that the free version of the Life360 app only allows 2 defined "places" (geofenced locations, defined by a point and radius). If you want more places, a subscription is required. Subscriptions start at $2.99/mo and also provide other features.

A similar option is the Life360 phone app and PHLocation2 plugin. PHLocation2 uses the Life360 location data but places (called "known locations" in PHLocation2) are defined within the plugin rather than using those defined in the Life360 app. This allows the free app to be used with as many known locations as you care to define.

Both of these setups are subject to the combined latency of 1) the phone app updating Life360 servers, and 2) the plugin polling the server at a set frequency. Up to couple minutes delay is to be expected so it's useful for certain location related triggering but not when relatively instantaneous response is desired.

[pcburcham]

Good stuff Wade. Thanks for the information about PHLocation2. I'll definitely keep that in mind.

I am a subscriber to Life360. I subscribe to the 'Plus' plan you refer to, albeit a few dollars cheaper (at least paying annually) than the advertised price through Google Play. The limitations on places wasn't an issue before subscribing, and honestly, I don't utilize multiple locations now that I do. I've only used it for firing events when approaching/leaving home. The delay hasn't been an issue for me. My fence is set out just far enough that events have fired, or started firing, by the time I arrive. I'd say the only time I've noticed any issues is when the phone has gone into low power mode to conserve battery and GPS is lagging as a result. I've seen that happen on iPhone and Android. The iPhone has a slightly noticeable longer latency in general use, at least in my observations. That's comparing my former Galaxy S9 Plus and current S10 Plus to an iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 8. At the default polling interval set in the plugin, I see events fire within a 30 second window - slightly longer for iPhones. That all pans out with the fence I have set and the ~30 seconds it takes for me to drive up and exit a vehicle to walk inside. It was a trial and error task, but it suits our needs quite well.

I love your plugin. And give John a raise. That dude is killing it!

[cc4005]

Good stuff Wade. Thanks for the information about PHLocation2. I'll definitely keep that in mind.

I am a subscriber to Life360. I subscribe to the 'Plus' plan you refer to, albeit a few dollars cheaper (at least paying annually) than the advertised price through Google Play. The limitations on places wasn't an issue before subscribing, and honestly, I don't utilize multiple locations now that I do. I've only used it for firing events when approaching/leaving home. The delay hasn't been an issue for me. My fence is set out just far enough that events have fired, or started firing, by the time I arrive. I'd say the only time I've noticed any issues is when the phone has gone into low power mode to conserve battery and GPS is lagging as a result. I've seen that happen on iPhone and Android. The iPhone has a slightly noticeable longer latency in general use, at least in my observations. That's comparing my former Galaxy S9 Plus and current S10 Plus to an iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 8. At the default polling interval set in the plugin, I see events fire within a 30 second window - slightly longer for iPhones. That all pans out with the fence I have set and the ~30 seconds it takes for me to drive up and exit a vehicle to walk inside. It was a trial and error task, but it suits our needs quite well.

I love your plugin. And give John a raise. That dude is killing it!

My wife's phone goes in and out of power saving mode a lot, so we have issues with that lag some as well.

I think I wasn't clear when I said I own the plugin. Maybe should've said I purchased a license to use it. I don't have anything to do with it other than being a customer...simplextech is all John.

[pcburcham]

I think I wasn't clear when I said I own the plugin. Maybe should've said I purchased a license to use it. I don't have anything to do with it other than being a customer...simplextech is all John.

LOL

[Jamr]

Thanks for the info. As I mentioned before, I am using a HS3 with a Pi. I remember reading that PHLocation2 works on Windows and Linux.
Will it and Life360 work on Pi hardware?

[tome10]

If you have cameras, the Blue Iris plugin supports GeoFencing. My phone tends to drop out occasionally, so I redacted control of the garage door upon arrival. It still closes it when I leave as I’m always forgetting to close it.

[Fellhahn]

I'm seconding the use of Traccar + PHLocation2. I use this and love it, it's completely independent of any cloud-based geofence APIs.

Run the traccar server yourself for free, RPi should be more than capable. In your router you will need to publish a couple of inbound ports to the internet.

The Traccar app on your phone (or a configurable OBD2 GPS device in your car) feeds raw GPS location data to the Traccar server. The Traccar server performs the determination about whether or not a geofence has been crossed. When a geofence event occurs, it fires off a JSON payload which is interpreted by the PHLocation2 plugin, which updates a HS3 virtual device as appropriate.

Most geofencing apps rely on google APIs to provide the notification that a geofence event has occurred. This is what results in the "lag" when crossing fences, because the cloud will process your request if and when it feels like it. This doesn't happen when you run the Traccar server yourself.

[cc4005]

Fellhahn, I love everything about the Traccar/PHLocation2 setup, except

In your router you will need to publish a couple of inbound ports to the internet.

Would really like to us Traccar but I don't know enough about network security to be confident I can adequately secure the exposed ports. Care to hum a few bars of general instructions and cautions, either here or in a separate thread? Is a separate, DMZ'd server the best approach?

[simplextech]

Fellhahn, I love everything about the Traccar/PHLocation2 setup, except
Would really like to us Traccar but I don't know enough about network security to be confident I can adequately secure the exposed ports. Care to hum a few bars of general instructions and cautions, either here or in a separate thread? Is a separate, DMZ'd server the best approach?

I use Traccar now as well but I run my instance in AWS. Yeah it costs a little (about $10 a month) but I don't have the option of doing a port forward with a double NAT LTE internet connection.

[Fellhahn]

Fellhahn, I love everything about the Traccar/PHLocation2 setup, except
Would really like to us Traccar but I don't know enough about network security to be confident I can adequately secure the exposed ports. Care to hum a few bars of general instructions and cautions, either here or in a separate thread? Is a separate, DMZ'd server the best approach?

First of all:

- WhatWhat are you planning on tracking? Just phones, or vehicle hardware devices as well?

- What is your router running?

If you're only doing phones, and if you're using something like OpenWRT or pfsense, you might consider using an openVPN client on your phone connected back to your home router. This way you can access any port you want without publishing. Useful for other services too like HSMobile and IP cameras. Pfsense has a wizard that steps you through the setup.

[cc4005]

First of all:

- WhatWhat are you planning on tracking? Just phones, or vehicle hardware devices as well?

- What is your router running?

If you're only doing phones, and if you're using something like OpenWRT or pfsense, you might consider using an openVPN client on your phone connected back to your home router. This way you can access any port you want without publishing. Useful for other services too like HSMobile and IP cameras. Pfsense has a wizard that steps you through the setup.

Just phones. Unifi USG Pro 4 router. Have remote user vpn configured but always hesitant to keep phone connected since it gives full network access. Maybe a second remote user vpn and limit access to just the Traccar server and keep that connected? Can that be done?

[rmohsen]

I use Traccar now as well but I run my instance in AWS. Yeah it costs a little (about $10 a month) but I don't have the option of doing a port forward with a double NAT LTE internet connection.

Hello

Any idea how to integrate traccar with homeseer or PHL2 , i have traccar server up and running but i can't figure out how to connect it to the plugin