Geofence not working - idea for alternative using WiFi

[RGN01]

Geofencing does not work in my location due to building structure (when indoors there is no GPS signal so it is interpreted as having left geofenced area). I have sent an email to Blue Iris tech support asking for geo-location to be supplemented by proximity to WiFi networks but have not had a response yet.

As a result I am looking for an alternative. I initially considered using an Arduino to periodically ping mobile phones on the WiFi network (all devices have fixed IP addresses) and then send commands to the Blue Iris web server to change settings. I subsequently realised that the Blue Iris PC could run a VBScript or similar and do the same thing.

Has anyone done anything like this, or seen anything similar documented anywhere? I'm sure that I can figure it out but as I'm not a trained programmer I'd far rather use something that already exists.

Thanks.

Richard

 

[fenderman]

There is a youtube video that describes how to do this..I have mentioned it in a thread somewhere...

 

[nayr]

Ive set something like this up w/my automation network, however it is a very poor method for presence detection.. by default most devices wont maintain a wifi connection when they are idle and running on battery, and if you reconfigure them so they maintain wireless connectivity they burn through battery several times faster than the defaults.

at 3am my automation system would think we were away, because both of our phones would disconnect from wifi and go to sleep..

 

[RGN01]

There is a youtube video that describes how to do this..I have mentioned it in a thread somewhere...

Thanks, fenderman, I'll try to find that video.

 

[RGN01]

Ive set something like this up w/my automation network, however it is a very poor method for presence detection.. by default most devices wont maintain a wifi connection when they are idle and running on battery, and if you reconfigure them so they maintain wireless connectivity they burn through battery several times faster than the defaults.

at 3am my automation system would think we were away, because both of our phones would disconnect from wifi and go to sleep..

Thanks, nayr. I know it isn't the best approach but it is probably the best I can get members of my family to use and it is better than the standard geofencing that is pretty much unusable for me. Actually, the problem you identify at 03h00 isn't a problem for me because my phone will be on charge and WiFi is maintained during charge.

If anyone knows of any other simple method to do this then I'd be very keen to hear about it.

Thanks.

 

[nayr]

i just mapped them to static IP's and modified the python script found here: https://www.domoticz.com/wiki/Presence_detection

 

[RGN01]

i just mapped them to static IP's and modified the python script found here: https://www.domoticz.com/wiki/Presence_detection

Thanks again. I had never heard of domoticz and it seems very useful!

Sigh, another toy to play with!