Location support via `geoclue`2 & support for `device_tracker` entities

[LnLcFlx]

Describe the solution you'd like

I would like to track if my laptop is home or not for home assistant automations, because sometimes I leave my phone at home.

This could be done using

1. the currently connected WiFi name.
   But lnxlink does not support exposing a device_tracker afaik.
   And there is also no way to create a helper device_tracker in Hass itself afaik.
   A device_tracker is needed to attach a location tracking entity to a person in homeassistant.
2. the current actual geolocation. For this a WiFi geolocation service such as geoclue2 could be used.
   This service runs already under many environments (e.g. Gnome afaik) and in certain places delivers very accurate geolocation.
   Using the preinstalled GTK Python library gi this is easy to fetch

   from gi.repository import Geoclue
   clue = Geoclue.Simple.new_sync('something',Geoclue.AccuracyLevel.NEIGHBORHOOD,None)
   location = clue.get_location()
   print(location.get_property('latitude'), location.get_property('longitude'))

Additional context

No response

[bkbilly]

Implementing an integration with GeoClue2 proved challenging due to its instability; my tests showed inconsistent responses.
As a workaround, I developed a new module for BeaconDB. This module gathers available Wi-Fi networks and sends them to BeaconDB for location, with an IP-based location as a fallback.
I've also added support for the creation of device_tracker using the result from the BeaconDB.
While the accuracy in my current location is low, I anticipate better performance in areas with more comprehensive data.

[LnLcFlx]

First of all, thank you for lnxlink!

GeoClue2 proved challenging due to its instability

In what way exactly?

I developed a new module for BeaconDB

This is not in the repo yet, right?
How about the device_tracker support?

[bkbilly]

I forgot to commit the latest changes, so now you will be able to see the new module called BeaconDB.
Unfortunately, it won't work on the current version of LNXlink, because it depends on the device_tracker entity which I've added support.
If you want to try it out, you will have to install the developer version of LNXlink.

With the GeoClue2, I tried the demos on which you have to run the agent service and then run the where-am-i. On the 1st try, it usually works, but when I try running it again, it fails to get the location.
Just for a reference this is my output:

bkbilly@bkbilly-Desktop:~$ /usr/libexec/geoclue-2.0/demos/where-am-i
Client object: /org/freedesktop/GeoClue2/Client/1

New location:
Latitude:    40.644400°
Longitude:   21.494300°
Accuracy:    25000.000000 meters
Description: ipf fallback (from WiFi data)
Timestamp:   Wed 18 Jun 2025 22:27:14 EEST (1750274834 seconds since the Epoch)
bkbilly@bkbilly-Desktop:~$ /usr/libexec/geoclue-2.0/demos/where-am-i

** (where-am-i:607605): CRITICAL **: 22:27:44.755: Failed to connect to GeoClue2 service: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.AccessDenied: Geolocation disabled for UID 1000

[LnLcFlx]

Hmm this is interesting, I cannot reproduce.
I usually get below 20m accuracy around my area.
Are you on GNOME? Because ...

the location services can be toggled in Settings > Privacy > Location Services

I'll try your BeaconDB module for now, thanks!

Also, are you considering adding the device_tracker support to the WiFi module, i.e. so that you can supply a list of "home WiFis" in the config (better even with glob-style matching or regex support) and when you are connected to one of those the device_tracker is set to home?
Maybe this should go in a separate module?

[LnLcFlx]

Ok so I just adapted your beacondb.py module to work with geoclue as a proof of concept.
For me it works great so I think I'll be using this as a custom module for now.
I have to look at the gi.repository.Geoclue docs though because some arguments are still a mystery to me.

"""Gets the coordinates of the maching using Geoclue"""
import time
import logging
import gi; gi.require_version('Geoclue', '2.0')
from gi.repository import Geoclue

logger = logging.getLogger('lnxlink')


def get_location(accuracy_level=Geoclue.AccuracyLevel.EXACT, time_threshold=0, distance_threshold=0):
    try:
        clue = Geoclue.Simple.new_with_thresholds_sync('lnxlink.desktop', accuracy_level, time_threshold, distance_threshold, None)
        location = clue.get_location()
        return location
    except Exception as err:
        if accuracy_level > 0:
            accuracy_level -= 1
            logger.warning("Trying again with AccuracyLevel={}".format(accuracy_level))
            return get_location(accuracy_level=accuracy_level, time_threshold=time_threshold, distance_threshold=distance_threshold)
        else:
            logger.error("Error querying Geoclue: %s", err)
            return None


class Addon:
    """Addon module"""

    def __init__(self, lnxlink):
        """Setup addon"""
        self.name = 'Geoclue'
        self.lnxlink = lnxlink
        self.last_time = 0
        self.update_interval = 300 # [s]
        self.max_accuracy = 500 # [m]
        self.min_distance = 0 # [m] minimum distance travelled since last fix
        self.position = None

    def get_info(self):
        """Gather information from the system"""
        cur_time = time.time()
        if cur_time-self.last_time > self.update_interval:
            self.last_time = cur_time
            location = get_location(distance_threshold=self.min_distance)
            if location:
                accuracy = location.get_property('accuracy')
                if accuracy <= self.max_accuracy:
                    self.position = {
                        'latitude': location.get_property('latitude'),
                        'longitude': location.get_property('longitude'),
                        'location_accuracy': accuracy,
                    }
        return self.position

    def exposed_controls(self):
        """Exposes to home assistant"""
        return {
            'Geoclue': {
                'type': 'device_tracker',
                'entity_category': 'diagnostic',
            }
        }

[bkbilly]

I am trying to avoid using the gi library because of it's dependencies, so it's best to keep this as a custom module.
The solution you gave me about enabling the location service worked just fine on my Ubuntu distribution, so I don't get any more errors.

I would love to learn more about how the results from your Geoclue module are compared with my BeaconDB module.
Does it show a similar location on the map and if so, how accurate is each of them?

As for your idea with the WiFi, it could be an extension to the BeaconDB which could support a configuration with custom coordinates based on the WiFi networks found in the area.

[bkbilly]

I've pushed an update that supports local configuration for setting up the coordinates per SSID.

[LnLcFlx]

I am trying to avoid using the gi library because of it's dependencies

From my understanding this comes preinstalled systemwide in GNOME based environments.
Maybe there is a way to use this systemwide installation, such that no additional dependencies are forced upon people who don't use this?

Also one could use DBUS to access Geoclue.
This would not require the gi dependency.

I would love to learn more about how the results from your Geoclue module are compared with my BeaconDB module.

Fyi Geoclue is using BeaconDB in the background afaik. (German Source)
Before it was using the Mozilla Location Service, but they shut down last year.

So I expect the accuracy to be equal, or better with Geoclue because this is obviously a more mature solution then a self-made script.
Another advantege of Geoclue is, that it can reuse fixes fetched by other apps, which makes it more efficient.

For me it only makes sense to use Geoclue. You can even manually change the location provider from BeaconDB to sth. else.