How to add location data based on Wi-Fi router MAC address into the message?

Using plugins to resolve information about Wi-Fi nodes into location data with the help of Google Wi-Fi Geolocation API.

The "google-wifi-geolocation" plugin type is used to apply Google Wi-Fi geolocation functionality to resolve information about Wi-Fi nodes based on parameters wifi.mac.address and wifi.signal.strength (might be indexed like wifi.mac.address.1 and wifi.signal.strength.1) into location data and accuracy radius. The plugin will add the following parameters into the message: position.wifi.latitude, position.wifi.longitude, position.wifi.accuracy, etc. 

Note: the name of geolocation provider API is not mentioned in the parameter names to simplify combined geolocation from multiple providers.

Important: you need to have a Google Geolocation API key to make the plugin work.

Click on the "+" button in the Telematics Hub -> Plugins section to create a new plugin:

flespi panel telematics hub plugins

Let's define a new plugin to resolve Wi-Fi information into location data:

create google wifi geolocation plugin flespi

Then we need to assign this plugin to the right devices. Go to the Plugins tab for the required device and click the "+" button:

assign google wifi geolocation plugin

And then you should be able to see the location fields (position.wifi.google.latitude, position.wifi.google.longitude, position.wifi.google.accuracy) in the new device messages. Go to the Logs & Messages tab for the given device to check:

check location added by google wifi geolocation plugin

Done.

Performance and stability considerations

  • The use of plugins may result in slower messages registration in the flespi platform since it is preceded by requests to the third-party system.
  • We cannot guarantee the performance or stability of the third-party systems involved in the process — in case of their service interruptions, flespi will not be able to save messages to devices and will respond with negative ACK and will also terminate the connection if the required flag is set.

Change log

Subscribe to the Google Wi-Fi geolocation plugin change log to stay in sync with any updates.

More plugin types

Find a comprehensive list of available plugin types here.


See also
Using a plugin to convert value with a stepwise linear function