So, you have decided to shared your alert with your neighbours? The first thing you need to do is decide on the structure of your group or neighbourhood watch.
Create a Shared Notification account
The idea of linking neighbour’s Home Assistant or smart alarm system under one user/account for the purpose of sharing alerts seems intriguing and indeed it is. Under such an arrangement you’re basically creating a Monitoring Centre where one can manage each neighbour’s setting. In this structure, all neighbours share the same Neighbourhood Identification (NID) and same API-Key and receive the same alert notifications. This type of neighbourhood is known as Private.
All devices/neighbours are managed by a single user. Devices uses the same NID and API-Key. Method of propagation is communal. This is known as Private Neighbourhood Watch.
The second type of neighbourhood watch structure is similar to the above expect each neighbours create and manages their own account. This gives users a unique API-Key but same NID. Each neighbour will still receive alerts from other neighbours with the same NID. Method of propagation is also communal. This type of neighbourhood is known as Exclusive.
Devices (A, B, C) are managed by a single account user. Device (D) is managed by a separate user. All devices use the same NID. Device (A, B, C) uses the same API-Key while device (D) uses a unique API-Key. Method of propagation for all is communal.
The third type of neighbourhood watch structure is having each neighbour register for SharedNotification account and set alerts propagation radius. Currently, they’re five (5) Radial Propagation: 500m, 1km, 2km, 5 km, and 10 km. Radial Propagation is the maximum distance an alert shared between neighbours. This type of neighbourhood is known as Open.
Devices (A, B, C) are managed by a single user. Device (D) is managed by a separate user. The four (4) devices belong to the same Communal Neighbourhood network. Device (F) is managed by a single account user with a unique API-Key. This device (F) doesn’t have NID because its method of propagation is radial meaning alerts are shared based only on the distance you set. Device (F) will not share notification with NID and visa-versa.
The fourth type of neighbourhood watch structure isn’t necessarily a neighbourhood watch since it requires you to keep your NID and API-Key private. Since no neighbour belong to your NID, your alerts are only shared with you and possibly your family along with this server. This structure mainly function has a data logger where sharednotification.com stores your alert on the cloud. This type of neighbourhood is known as Data Logging.
Device (E) are managed by a single user with unique API-Key and NID isn’t used by no other device. Since device (E) alerts aren’t shared, this device only function as a datalogger.
The fifth and final type of neighbourhood watch structure is creating a Radial Propagation account and joining an existing neighbourhood watch with an existing NID. This option allows you to be part of a larger established neighbourhood watch while belonging to another community that is limited by distance. This type of neighbourhood is known as Enhance.
Device (G) is managed by a single account with a unique API-Key and method of propagation is Radial. Notifications are shared with other radial devices within the specified radial distance. Since device (G) also has a NID, notifications are also shared with devices with the same NID that are within the specified radial distance.