PHLocation V2 Discussion

[sooty]

As a result of various personal circumstances, the release of PHLocation V2 has been delayed far longer than I would have liked

As the majority of recently reported issues with the plug-in appear to be related to Google API's, I have decided to make V2 available here as it should resolve most of those issues.

Although there are still some things to do before V2 can be considered a "release", for the most part it is functional and will allow users to use different API's which should solve (or at least reduce) the issues with failed reverse geocode lookups etc.

The big issue with making it available now (and the main reason V2 has not been released yet) is that I have not completed the user guide.
On the surface it has some similarities to V1, but underneath it is 95% new.

The main differences are:
Multiple API's can be specified for things like reverse geocode and distance lookups. Some require API keys and some are free to use.
Known places are now a single list shared between all position based users.
Life360 is supported as a location provider.

V2 is a complete new install (there is no upgrade from V1).
Any HS3 events will need modifying to use V2 devices
It can coexist on the same HS3 system as V1 and they can both be running at the same time.
If you are pushing data into the plug-in over the MyHS service, then the url's on any mobile devices will need changing from ..../phlapi to ..../phl2api
There is no built-in http server in V2. MyHS or posting directly to your HS3 machine are the only supported means of pushing data to the plug-in.

I'll sit back and await the inevitable barrage of support requests....
Only joking, fire away if there's something that you don't understand or something doesn't work.

Randy Prade has been running V2 for a while and has agreed to help with any support requests.

The plug-in can be downloaded in the PHLocation2 Release Notes thread


Paul..

[mikee123]

Great news Paul. I will install over the weekend and see how I get on.

[skarragallagher]

Im so happy to see this post. I will install it this weekend as well. Thanks so much for the all hard work on this

[randy]

I've been running it for a couple of months, so don't hesitate to post here with questions or PM me. Either Paul or I will try to answer any questions.

As Paul wrote above, you can install it alongside the original PHL and run them both. After I installed PHL2, I filtered on PHL Devices in the Event List and manually edited the Events, it took all of 15 minutes at most. I used the same naming conventions on the new Devices, but a different Device location. Once it was all up and running, I removed PHL and all of the old devices.

PHL2 has been very reliable other that Apple breaking 3rd party support last month for about 3 weeks. iCloud is all working again as of the end of December. I will attempt to put a few posts in this thread showing some of the differences. The biggest change is how known locations, mapping and mapping services are handled.

Known Locations are now common to all Devices. There are provisions for APIs fo multiple Mapping providers.

[randy]

The Configuration Pages:

The General tab is self-explanatory. The plug-in is still free, but Paul does request that you register it. The process is quick and painless, unlike the development of this software. While the software is free, donations via PayPal are much appreciated. There is a link on the General page.



The API page is where you can enter APIs for the supported mapping options. All except Google offer free APIs and Elevation Api does not require a code. Google is still supported if you have a key.

You can choose among providers and an alternate is optional for Reverse Geocode, Elevation and Distance. Youi can also chose providers for generated URL links as well as dynamic mapping. There is a checkbox to suppress API error messages, if desired.



The Other tab is more or less self explanatory, but there is an option under Tools to "Force update of position devices". This is useful for diagnosis. If you force an update of a location provider with this selected all devices will be updated, even if they are not at a new location. This option will become disabled after about 10 updates - either manual or scheduled.


The last tab is for mapping Mapping. One big change is for Auto Generated All Users maps. You can set the initial maximum zoom level so that a single point map will still have good context. You can set the size up to 1000x1000 pixels. The most interesting change is the ability to use custom naming for maps and using a set of replacement variables in the name.

The file name can take replacement variables which must be enclosed between the dollar symbol like $variable$.
You can specify multiple variables together ($YMD$) or singularly ($Y$/$D$/$M$).
Supported variables are
A=Yesterday's date (YYYYMMDD)
Y=Current Year (YYYY)
M=Current Month (MM)
D=Current Day (DD)
h=Current Hour (hh)
m=Current Minute (mm)
s=Current Second (ss)

These variables can also be used in Event generated maps.

[randy]

For those of you posting from 3rd party apps like GeoFency, PHL2 does not use its own web server, it uses the HS built-in server. The posting is still the same as before with two changes 1) it now uses your HomeSeer web server port (usually 80) so create your port forwarding rules and structure the URL accordingly. 2) The api is now phl2api, with the original it was phlapi. The dtypes are the same as listed in the PHL documentation.


If you are posting to GeoFency for example it will be:

MYHS:
https://connected2.homeseer.com/phl2api?dtype=GF
Use your MyHS login credentials

Direct through port forwarding:
http://[ddns domain name]:[external port]/phl2api?dtype=GF
if you have "No Password Required for Local/Same Network Login (Web Browser/HSTouch)" no credentials are required, otherwise use your HS admin account credentials.

Direct through VPN:
http://[HS local IP]:[HS port - not required if 80]/phl2api?dtype=GF
if you have "No Password Required for Local/Same Network Login (Web Browser/HSTouch)" no credentials are required, otherwise use your HS admin account credentials.

[randy]

Life360 is now supported as a provider.

Be aware that Life360 is reliable but slow on updates. Use your standard Life360 login credentials to setup the account under "Service Accounts, then setup the users under "Users/Devices" as a "Life360 Device" then select the DeviceID from the dropdown of users. This is much the same as iCloud support.

IIRC Life360 is a little weird about updates and does require the device be moved before all the data is updated with an API call. This means "Force update of position devices" under Other will have no effect.

[randy]

As before all devices will be created with PHLocation2 as both locations, but they can be moved to the locations of your choice.

[sparkman]

Thanks Paul and also Randy for the support you are offering!

[randy]

Known Locations are handled differently in PHL2. There is a single list shared among all Position Devices. Access them from the Plug-in dropdown


They are all shown and new ones can be added


When you add a location you enter the coordinates and the radius. They can be enabled or disabled.



Each position device will have a child for the nearest location. These are updated each time the Position Device is updated.



There are Triggers



And Conditions
.


These can be used to create Events on Entry and Exit of Known Locations

[randy]

The very cool new thing is Event generated mapping. Paul put a lot of effort into this. Here is an example from my system



There is a lot of stuff there. First of all the Event is Triggered on a new location. Two maps are generated. The first is a history map. All maps are highly configurable. This one generates a new map of today's history (Since midnight) but any duration from 1 to 168 hours (7 days) can be chosen. Then I picked my phone and a hybrid (road and satellite - this depends on the provider you choose) map type, a size and automatic zoom level. Then I put it on a network path with a name that is unique for each day. This lets me archive every day. We use this for a "Where's Waldo" map for the family when we travel. They can select a date to look at, zoom in and out and see where we were on any day or time. The maps are real time. This is where the replacement variables for naming come in handy.

Here is a history map generated as a road map. Note that the markers are all grouped. There are hundreds of points mapped that day, but they are grouped to reduce clutter. Click on a group or zoom in and you can get down to individual points. Each point will have a tool tip of the user, time and coordinates unless you have selected "Exclude Info:" in the Event. This is useful if you want to create a semi-publicly available map, but don't want to share the exact details.



The second Action creates a current location map. Whenever a map is created, it will overwrite a file of the same name, so I have a single current location map and a history map for each day. I use a similar Event for my wife's phone.

[brientim]

Great Job - That look fantastic.

[zimmer62]

I'm trying to create an event and my Select A User dropdown list is blank. It doesn't matter which trigger I pick, the user is always blank.

I have connected it to my iCloud, and I have a user which I'm using geofency to get the location. I see my geofency locations update on the device page.

Any ideas?

[randy]

I'm trying to create an event and my Select A User dropdown list is blank. It doesn't matter which trigger I pick, the user is always blank.

I have connected it to my iCloud, and I have a user which I'm using geofency to get the location. I see my geofency locations update on the device page.

Any ideas?

GeoFency is not a position service, it will not be shown under PHL triggers or conditions. GeoFency creates HS devices which change between near and not near. You can use the HS devices in events.

iCloud and Life360 devices/users will show up in PHL triggers and conditions. You have to set up service accounts first, then users or devices.

[zimmer62]

GeoFency is not a position service, it will not be shown under PHL triggers or conditions. GeoFency creates HS devices which change between near and not near. You can use the HS devices in events.

iCloud and Life360 devices/users will show up in PHL triggers and conditions. You have to set up service accounts first, then users or devices.

I do have it connected to iCloud. I've tried removing and re-adding it as well. Still no users in the dropdown. I am getting a new error since then though..

PHLocation2

(Polling) IC Error. Key:430 is not in the polling interval list!

My guess is that 430 was my old iCloud before I deleted it to create a new connection... the new one is 457.

Jan-11 9:08:43 AM

PHLocation2

(ProcServiceAccountConfigChange) Initialised iCloud account Ref: 457 : myappleaccount@gmail.com

Jan-11 9:08:43 AM

PHLocation2

(ProcServiceAccountConfigChange) Closed iCloud service for Ref: 457