Another post I saw asking for help with multiple hubs/locations and presence reminded me of a question that had come to mind along the same lines.
(Other post Multiple Hubs Presence Question)
Hubitat (and to be fair many other apps with presence sensing) are limited to a single location.
On the other hand, some other apps (Life 360, Home assistant just to name two) allow for multiple locations to be used. All of those locations can have entry/exit actions assigned to them.
From a programming standpoint, is it not possible to do something similar with hubitat? Or is it just outside the scope of what most users want need? Or possibly even too cumbersome/costly a task to revamp the existing presence model?
I can and do share the presence of the other locations from HA over to HE through a process of switches. One primary use is to automatically send a notification to the wife when I arrive at work in bad weather (really long commute and sometimes texting I made it is not at the forefront of my thoughts) But, it would be really nice if we could natively set multiple geofence locations to act as triggers for things in HE.
I have seen the question a few times. But just curious if those of us who want/need it (let's face it, the home automation is 99% just wants...) are in the minority. Or, are there others that do not ask or comment because they just know the limitations
Adding that this is just a question, not a request for a feature change or a ding in any way on Hubitat. I have found ways to get done what I want to get done within the limitations, and sometimes, finding ways around a challenge is enjoyment why I got into this.
Presence is a function/feature of your mobile device and the behind-the-scenes equipment that make it happen, including GPS.
Therefore the flexibility of Presence is mostly a mobile device question...
For example, I use an iPhone and it allows multiple GeoFences. I then expose a Hubitat created virtual device via HomeKit Integration to Apple.
When my mobile device crosses into the GeoFence I've established around my kid's school, the Hubitat virtual device switches to Present & On. I can display Presence on a dashboard and use the switch portion to run automations.
You may be asking from a Strict Hubitat App viewpoint, and forgetting that the mobile device has functionality beyond the one app.
I use multiple geofences to determine if I'm at home, near home going away from home and coming back home. Then I have automations that will help determine if the thermostats should change temps higher or lower depending on season and if I'm going away or coming back, stay the same when I'm not home but near home, change if that near home state is more than 1 hour (at friends for diner and send me a message to let me know so that I can reset that state when I'll be coming back home from near). etc.
Also outside lights will brighten when we arrive if it's dark and dim back down 5 minutes later. Check if lights were forgotten on and will turn them off. When we leave home the first time (max once per day) and leave the near home zone, the robot vacuum will start cleaning the house. When home, all cameras will stop notifications for movement and turn back on when we leave. etc.
So yes zones is important for us, I use Locative on IOS to achieve this, it rarely misses a beat. We also have multiple (homekit and HE app) for reliability but I'm sure that Locative would do perfectly well alone.
That is not quite where I was going with that. I use the same mobile device(s) for both Hubitat and Home Assistant. Just curious as to anything someone might have on why some apps only geofence one location vs others that do multiple.
This was exactly where I was heading (leading?) with my question. Not even going anywhere with specific devices as that was irrelevant to the options that HE (Ecobee, ST, and many others) has(have) vs what others like HA, Life 360, etc choose to do.
More or less just wondering what the difficulty and/or reasoning might be for HE to implement multiple locations (I know for one, modes would likely have to be reworked to pick a specific location in addition to a device to use for determining home/away..... so I could see that getting complex just from having to set up the same logic in HA.)
you can also use hardware presence sensors not just mobile devices.. i older smarthings presenence sensor or newer tag presence sensors or even the tesla itself..
Two of my cars (subaru app) are presence sensors in HA. I use that with the remote start feature to automatically open the garage if I remote start them at home.
It's also much more handy to view them on the HA map than it is to open the Subaru App, log in, click the map, and wait for the ping. The HA ap is is virtually two clicks and instant.
Yep, I forgot I have one hardwired with a DC-DC transformer in my boat , this one is used mostly to dim up deck and backyard lites when we come back in the dark. The ST presence sensor will trigger about 350 ft from the deck when we arrive. We then turn them back down manually via a virtual switch when we are done unloading and closing everything up.
