This is a web application that runs in the Stovall Hut Network and can record location data using the owntracks iPhone application. A simple browser application at owntracks.stovallhut.online will let you view recent location/tracks for you or other family members.
This application does not keep your location data completely private. Other family members with an owntracks login have access as well. That said, location tracking in the app can easily be turned on and off.
This web page will show you how to setup the owntracks app on your phone. Independent from whether or not you set that up, Stovall family members can login to the owntracks app in your web browser (protected with credentials in bitwarden).
¶ To setup the owntracks recorder on your phone
Visit the app store and download the owntracks app. When that map displays, click the (i) to configure the app.
In the next panel (not shown) click on Settings…
See settings below.
Note the following:
- Use HTTP Mode NOT MQTT Mode.
- Select to use password authentication.
- Find your UserID and Password in bitwarden for the publoc location NOT owntracks.
- Enter the full URL https://publoc.stovallhut.online/pub
Scroll down and see other settings that might be important:
Now back out of this by pressing Status Info at the top of the screen. You should see that the app is idle and no errors are displayed. Back out one more time by pressing Map at the top.
This completes basic setup of the app. To minimize battery use leave the app in Quiet mode.
¶ Testing position reporting
To make sure your app can report positions, start with the map display and click the upload button in the upper-right of the screen. Choose Send Position NOW.
Now, visit the owntracks app in your browser (see below View location data…). Click on the Live MAP and click the device location shown there to see detail…
¶ View location data for yourself or family members
To view location data visit the owntracks webapp in your browser. You'll need to authenticate as a user in the family user group (i.e. Walter or Becky).
This is a very simple webapp that can show a user's last reported location, or a map of points/tracks in the recent past.
¶ Extract select location data for sharing
Follow this workflow to extract data as geojson for use in other viewing tools, for example the mapster plugin in wordpress.
Follow this example where we want to get the route followed on a bicycle ride. Let's say we can't remember what the day was but it was sometime in the last week. Go to the owntracks tool and next to the desired user/device pick the Points 7d tool to view all points in the last week. Scroll to an area in the bike ride to see which day the ride occurred on.
We see here that the ride was on 4/3/2025. Sample the user and device arguments from the URL in the address-bar. Use those values where you see <user> and <device> placeholders below.
First view all the points on the day of the ride by going to this URL:
https://owntracks.stovallhut.online/map/index.html?from=2025-04-03&format=geojson&user=<user>&device=<device>
Browse that map and identify points you want to use for the start and end of the ride.We'll pick a start time of 9:14:08 AM EDT and end time of 3:19:33 PM EDT. Converted to zulu/24 hour this is 13:14:08z to 19:19:33z. Given this build a URL to view just that data as follows:
https://owntracks.stovallhut.online/map/index.html?from=2025-04-03T13:14:08Z&to=2025-04-03T19:19:33Z&format=geojson&user=<user>&device=<device>
View and confirm the points.
Now let's convert this to a URL that will download geojson. To prepare for mapster import the data is extracted as a linestring feature instead of individual points.
https://owntracks.stovallhut.online/api/0/locations?from=2025-04-03T13:14:08Z&to=2025-04-03T19:19:33Z&format=linestring&user=<user>&device=<device>
Display that. Now popup over the data in the browser and pick save as. Then save it to your desktop and locations.geojson. This can be viewed by tools like GpxSee.
¶ Prepare for mapster import
Mapster is picky about importing lines. It purports to bring in “geojson” with a single linestring but it needs to be formatted very specifically.
Use the following template for importing lines (note I created the template by drawing a line and then exporting the map it was on).
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[{"id":"GLOBAL-UNIQUE-IDENTIFIER","type":"Feature","properties":{},"geometry":{"coordinates":[
[-84.37755199999999,33.781912]
],"type":"LineString"}}]}
Note the following:
- Replace GLOBAL-UNIQUE-IDENTIFIER with a globally unique string for this line. I suggest a label and a date.
- Replace the sample coordinate value with a comma-delimited list extracted from the geojson saved above.
For our example that results in a file that looks like this (with coordinate list abbreviated).
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[{"id":"atlanta-to-whetstone-20250403","type":"Feature","properties":{},"geometry":{"coordinates":[
[-84.292196,33.75115],[-84.29214,33.751608],.....[-84.29253799999999,33.748769]
],"type":"LineString"}}]}
With that saved as a geojson file, go to the Maps→Lines on the wordpress dashboard and add a new line. Send the viewer to the right area (search for Atlanta, GA for example). Then choose to import the coodinates, pick the saved geojson, see the linestring import successfully, and publish.
The full API is described on github.
¶ References
https://bhdouglass.com/blog/self-hosted-device-tracking-with-owntracks/
https://github.com/owntracks/recorder
https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/raade4/quick_owntracksrecorderindocker_dummies_guide/
https://github.com/owntracks/docker-recorder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRbkY4zcjnc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRbkY4zcjnc
https://github.com/owntracks/docker-recorder