WTH can we not have overlapping zones and multiple "circles" being the same zone?

Aephir · October 5, 2022, 9:51pm

Since the zone is a circle, there are instances where I can’t cover the entire area desired without overlapping with another “zone”.

It would be great to have the option to:

Have overlapping zones and if device is in overlapping area, then choose which zone to give it as state (prioritize zones).
Have multiple zones (circles) belonging to the same zone to better cover areas that are not, in fact, circles. That, or allow custom zone shape as suggested, though #1 would still be useful.

OzStone · October 17, 2023, 2:32am

I was just struggling with this myself.

Here’s a work around:

Create a Helper > Template (sensor)

Call it something like ‘Distance From Home’

Use this for the state template:
{{ (distance(states.device_tracker.your_phone_name, states.zone.home) * 1000) }}

This will give you a sensor with distance you are away from home in meters (defaults to km, * 1000 to get meters)

Change ‘your_phone_name’ to the name of your device used for tracking.

Now, you can create an automation that looks for this distance (use a numeric state trigger) to become greater than whatever radius you want.

How distance works:

You could also now use this new sensor to create a Threshold Sensor if you want a binary on/off sensor that says if you’re ‘Home’ or not for any distance you want.

Let me know if you’ve got any questions.