Geofences / Geofancy

---

Hi,

Is there anyone using Geofancy App for iPhone or a similar App?

I want to use HTTP Requests for controlling pimatic with Geo-Fences. It´s not working really well, and I´m looking for an alternative App. Any suggestions?

What about pimatic-location? I think it´s only to show the GPS location of the mobile phone. Or can I define geo-fences?

greetz
Barny

@Oitzu maybe could have a look at this.
he’s the head of the location plugin

@Barny The pimatic-location app sends the GPS location to pimatic. The pimatic-location-plugin calculates the route and linear distance between the GPS location and GPS locations configured into the plugin.
With this information you can invoke rules that trigger on specific distances.

The pimatic-location app is only for android. But the plugin can also pull the GPS location out of an iCloud account.

See: https://github.com/Oitzu/pimatic-location

Fantastic. It´s working perfectly. thx…

@Oitzu Is it possible, that using iCloud to check the location reduces battery charge?

I set the interval to 60000ms in my config, but I was thinking, that this is only the interval to request the location from iCloud.

@Barny i don’t really know what the iCloud is doing at that point. I don’t an iPhone myself.
Maybe @Yves911 or @sweebee can answer this? As far as i know both are using the iClound function of the plugin.

I don’t use the iCloud version. It drains the battery quite quickly. We need a geofence app on the iPhone that sends the location only when the iPhone moves. We found 1 app, but its old and doesn’t work very well.

That sounds bad. I´m trying with some other intervals. Maybe thats better for batterycharge. What´s your experience with different intervals?

I used the app Geofancy, but its reliability is not good. I also contacted the support, but didn´t get response.

I tried the iCloud solution and it shortens iPhone battery life to half a day. Although it’s working well otherwise.

I am testing Geofancy now, calling an “adapter” script I made with SSL/authentication, which sets variables in pimatic through pimatic’s API. I find that Geofancy (or iOS) is unreliable in that. But I’ll give it more testing.

If Geofancy works reliably, a pimatic-geofancy module would be cool, which accepts GeoFancy URLs and offers authentication.

The ifttt plugin is no option for me, since it needs to be given full access to pimatic, I’ve read.

I also run the ping (?) plugin, pinging the iPhones, and keeping them half awake with MDNS requests, but it often thinks I’m away for short times and triggers lots of rules then.>! Spoiler

@poeml I don´t know if we´re using the same app? SSL/Authentication works fine with mine. Only the trigger isn´t working really god. Maybe it´s a GPS issue or something.

Currently I´m working with location plugin with 10 Minutes interval and ping-presence for coming home function. Still testing, but I think, this seems to be the best solution for me.

I am also interested in geofences and coming home functions.
For indoor location iBeacons are very accurate. I bought a cheap Bluetooth 4.0 Stick and used it to create an iBeacon with my raspberry pi. (Link)
It is then possible to track distance to the iBeacon inch-perfect and some apps can send HTTP requests, too.
As i was using it in combination with the location plugin via iCloud I had such a bad battery life that i ditched both location methods. Does anyone of you have an idea how much iBeacons affect the battery life? I found very less information about that

Ibeacons should use Bluetooth LE, so it should not use much energy. But i dont know what happens when your phone doesnt support LE.

@sweebee Yeah thats right, they use Bluetooth LE and my iPhone 5s also got Bluetooth LE.
Stil iBeacon technology will drain battery life and the question is how much exactly. I think the only chance i got is to test it myself. Will do this in the next weeks.

I don´t have experience with Bluetooth iBeacons. Which App you are using for this?

I just installed many Beacon apps and it looks like Geofancy is the best app imho. I am setting up a beacon with my raspberry pi now and will report on battery life in the next days.

Thanks for geofancy. Trying it now and looks good so far.

Only pimatic had issue today?

There has been made a GET request to the following URI https://server.wiebenieuwenhuis.nl/api/device/iphone-wiebe/changePresenceTo?presence=true.
The Server responded with a 0.
Here's the full output of this call:
<See error code>

Would be nice if geomancy tried some minutes later. Now it simply does nothing after a fail and i have to set the presence by hand.

Geofancy works great, but the problem is my cellular connection in my town. Most of the time i have no or a weak 2G connection in my town. Thats why it fails.

pimatic-location plugin with iCloud works great with 10minutes interval. For coming-home functionality I additionally use ping-presence. Battery-Charge is no problem with this configuration.

@sweebee
Have a look at Update 1.5.0 in the AppStore. It states that ‘if networks disconnects on the go your HTTP-Requests are stored and send when you are online again’ (translated)

So cellular connection shouldnt be an error.

@thymian Yes disconnects, but on 2G there is a connection but its terrible slow, so the request times out.