[RELEASE] OwnTracks Presence

⚙️ Custom Apps and Drivers Custom Drivers
289

Hi

I have been playing around with OwnTracks (OT), and have managed to successfully set up Recorder and a FrontEnd using HTTP mode, using a Portainer stack (EVERYTHING works.
[Portainer stack at the END of my message if anybody wants to use it]

After installing the Google phone app (Pixel6Pro), I pointed it to http://my_internal_ip:8083/pub, and just like magic it stared recording my location! (Everything works!)

I then installed the Hubitat app + driver, did the OAUTH thing, got my Hubitat URL access token, created a location, and changed to phone app to point to the Hubitat URL. And just like magic I had a new presence device! (Everything works!)

Now (finally) for my question...

I have taken a look at @bptworld's app [Beta] OwnTracker - Map your location with OwnTracks!. I did NOT implement it. Right now, what puts me off it, is:

  • Bryan is no longer supporting/developing it (not an issue if something is rock solid)
  • But mostly because the Google maps API costs are apparently prohibitive (based on the comments in that app's post thread)
  • And to a lesser degree, I LIKE the front-end from my container!

THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION IS HOW DO I UPDATE BOTH ENDPOINTS AT THE SAME TIME???

Well, out of the box it is not doable with the phone client... BUT, BUT, but

  • this app, the Hubitat OwnTracks Presence app/device, already gets the exact same packet the native recorder would get, in other words, all the info is already available...

So, what would it take to do a POST request from the hub [read: this app], using the exact same packet received, back to http://my_internal_ip:8083/pub ?

  • There is a DISTINCT security advantage in doing so... I would NOT need to open any ports on my router, NOT do any forwarding, or have a need for something like a reverse proxy!! Everything is internal to my system, as the phone app already securely communicates with the hub, and the Hub and the Recorder are both behind my firewall [read: internal network]

Note: I am not a programmer. To me, Groovy is something that happened in the 70's. But I did look at the code, and eveything appears to be already there to make a POST happen. I just don't know the how-to's.

Any enterprising folks out there want to implement a change? I'll be the guinea-pig...

Thanks
J

Portainer Container:

---
version: '3'
services:
  #https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/raade4/quick_owntracksrecorderindocker_dummies_guide/
  owntracks-recorder:
    container_name: otrecorder
    image: owntracks/recorder
    #command: "--port 0"  # Seems to be needed to disable MQTT   # Old method, do not use.
    environment:
      - OTR_PORT=0  # disables MQTT
      - TZ=America/Edmonton
    volumes:
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
      - /var/lib/docker/volumes/portainer_data/owntracks/config:/config
      - /var/lib/docker/volumes/portainer_data/owntracks/store:/store
    ports:
      - 8083:8083
    restart: unless-stopped

  #https://hub.docker.com/r/owntracks/frontend
  owntracks-ui:
    container_name: otui
    image: owntracks/frontend
    ports:
      - 89:80
    volumes:
      - /var/lib/docker/volumes/portainer_data/owntracks/config/config.js:/usr/share/nginx/html/config/config.js
    environment:
      - SERVER_HOST=otrecorder
      - SERVER_PORT=8083
    restart: unless-stopped
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