Geofencing on android doesnt really work

vertigo

Young grasshopper
May 24, 2016
37
2
Im experimenting with the geofencing feature, but it appears the blue iris android app doesnt update status in the background, even though I locked the app in memory.
I was sitting at home for 4 hours while my desktop still considered me 'away'. Activating the blue iris app on my phone instantly changed that.

The cause might also be different. I could be wrong, but its difficult to know for sure, as neither app gives a lot of info to help troubleshoot, but it also seems like there is a problem if a change in position occurs when there is no internet connection. This happens all the time as I leave or enter the house, as my phone switches from wifi to 3G (and 3G is spotty here at best). It seems those changes are not queued and retransmitted later?

Lastly, my phone has told me I entered my house on a few occasions when I was quite far from it. This I guess is due to my phone losing its GPS, and android increasing the radius of the estimated position so much, my house falls in it again. Thats not a problem you can solve 100% but it might be useful to set a second parameter, that not only defines the range between phone and home, but also takes in to account the margin of error android gives.

Lastly; the easiest and most reliable way to know if my phone is at home, is by checking the wifi access point its connected to. Can we please have that as an additional trigger for geofencing? Its not a perfect solution either as my phone will typically connect to the wifi when Im already opening the door, but it could be used in combination with the GPS localization to make it much more robust. If you implement this, please allow us to select multiple access points that define home, as I have more than one, and Im probably not alone in that.
 
It's funny, I have just been struggling for a last go-around with geofencing also.

It seems that the app cannot handle many changes within the phone. Having any power saving feature engage will cause it to misbehave, and switching between access points in my home will cause it to trigger. It's a cool idea that is well implemented by by alarm app that works without fail, but Blue Iris has a long way to go. At least in my environment and with my habits, it is, unfortunately worthless. I'm giving one last try by leaving it on mobile data and not allowing my phone to attach to any access points and not to engage power saving features.

To get the home and away results I want, I'll just have to train myself for toggle these setting myself. Seem a shame. As I viewer, I far prefer tinyCAM monitor and was hoping that the geofencing feature would actually work.
 
There is a youtube video where the guy explains how he implements geofencing using wifi as the trigger.
 
I've spent time searching youtube and haven't unearthed the video. If anyone else has a line on it, let me know.
 
I did, however, find a write-up on cam-it.org about using an Android app called tasker to invoke commands for the Blue Iris app when switching on and off of wifi.

My alarm app has no problem communicating and invoking geo-fence messages when it switches wireless access points, but the BI seems limited to just one wireless source, which isn't practical in my environment.
 
Heck, it's worth watching this video just for the fun "kid narration". Very well done home spun videos.