Improving Locale?

[qoncept]

I thought Locale was a great idea until the first time I used it. I went to work, Locale turned off my ringer like it should, but then throughout the day I got notifications that it had turned it off 10 more times.

I work right in the middle of a big concrete building that probably creates a ton of interference. If I look at my location in google maps it can be all over the place, nowhere near the building I'm in (different cities, even). I hoped Locale would be smart enough to deal with this, but apparently not. Is there anything else I can do?

I did notice you can have it triggered when wireless networks are found, but I prefer to keep my wifi turned off and the networks aren't visible all over the building anyway.

 

[fshowcars]

I experienced pretty similar results... I think my issue is that my building is large enough that when i walk to and from the opposite sides, it goes in and out of work mode... I get the notification a bunch of times a day as well and actually didn't have my phone on mute / vibrate like it should have been at a point.

If there was a way to block off an entire area as a 'zone' then apply the settings to the zone, that might relieve some of our issues.

Your issue with jumpy GPS might just inevitably cause issues unless you can put in a wait period or a confirmed GPS movement before dropping you from the settings?

 

[qoncept]

Yeah, it makes sense.. But since GPS is so reliant on having an unobstructed line of site to the satellites, I would have thought they'd account for that. Like, I was never anywhere between here and Pittsburgh, so I must actually be in the same place I was all along and I'm just getting a funky reading.

So.. Considering my situation isn't very unique, it looks like Locale was a great idea, but so-so implementation.

 

[craighwk]

Has anyone tried FoxyRing? Looks like it's some sort of Locale alternative, but also has Network Location finding so you don't have to keep GPS on. Not as accurate, but it could be beneficial to us OCD Battery life types.

Any experiences with this?

 

[Agrajag]

Locale was a bust for me because of this. You might try extending the circle but frankly I've often seen Locale have me 10-20 blocks from where I really am. Unless they can address the granularity it's just a fact that this is an idea ahead of its time right now.

Tower triangulation is interesting but likely to always be faulty.