Geofencing-Based Faculty Attendance

Management System

Team Members:
1) Sharvin Joshi (23BAI1510)
2) Ishaan Sawant (23BAI1509)
3) Abhishek Bhardwaj (23BCE1341)

Abstract:

This project presents a geofencing-based solution for managing

faculty attendance within university campuses. By utilizing
geofencing, GPS, and HRMS integration, the app automates
attendance recording, improves accuracy, and reduces manual effort.
Future developments aim to enhance location accuracy and battery
efficiency.
Problem Statement
Develop a location-based attendance system that leverages geofencing to automatically track
faculty presence on campus, accurately log attendance, and integrate seamlessly with the
university's HRMS. The solution must ensure high reliability in various environments,
minimize battery consumption, and address technical challenges such as connectivity and
GPS accuracy to provide consistent and dependable attendance records.

Objective
The objective of this project is to create an efficient, automated attendance system for faculty
members that utilizes geofencing technology to accurately track and record campus presence.
By integrating with the university's HRMS, the system aims to streamline attendance
management, reduce manual administrative tasks, enhance faculty accountability, and provide
real-time insights into campus activity, while addressing challenges such as battery usage,
GPS accuracy, and system reliability in diverse environments.

Importance of the project

This project is essential because it modernizes and simplifies attendance management for
faculty, ensuring that attendance is both accurate and effortlessly recorded. By automating
this process, the system reduces the need for manual attendance tracking, saving time and
minimizing errors. This not only enhances accountability but also supports the university in
efficiently managing faculty presence on campus. Additionally, it offers faculty members a
more convenient and less intrusive way to mark their attendance, contributing to a smoother
daily routine and a more productive campus environment.

Existing Solutions
1. Manual Systems: Traditional attendance tracking methods involve paper-based
registers or spreadsheets where faculty manually sign in and out. While simple to
implement, these systems are prone to human error, time-consuming, and can lead to
inaccuracies or misuse. They also require considerable administrative oversight and
data processing.
2. Biometric Systems: Biometric attendance solutions, such as fingerprint or facial
recognition, are popular for their ability to verify identity accurately. They reduce the
chances of proxy attendance but require physical presence at a specific location,
making them less flexible. Additionally, they involve high initial setup costs and
maintenance, and can be inconvenient during peak times or in large institutions with
multiple entry points.
 3. RFID-Based Systems: RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) systems use ID cards
embedded with RFID chips that faculty members scan at designated readers when
entering or exiting campus. These systems are contactless and provide a quick way to
log attendance. However, they require physical infrastructure at entry points and can
still be subject to proxy attendance if ID cards are shared. Additionally, they may
require regular maintenance and can become costly to implement across large
campuses with multiple access points.

Why Geofencing?
Geofencing offers unique advantages for attendance management by creating virtual
boundaries around specific locations, like a campus. When a faculty member’s device enters
this geofenced area, the system automatically records their presence, eliminating the need for
manual check-ins or physical scanning. This location-based approach provides more accuracy
in tracking real-time campus presence, ensuring that only those within the defined area are
marked present.
The automated nature of geofencing not only reduces administrative effort but also minimizes
human error, ensuring attendance data is both timely and reliable. Additionally, since
geofencing operates passively on mobile devices, faculty members enjoy a more seamless
and less intrusive experience, enhancing convenience without compromising security. This
technology also integrates well with other digital systems, enabling real-time insights and
streamlined attendance records that are easy to manage and audit.

Tech Stack
1)Android Studio (Kotlin): Android Studio is the primary environment where the entire app
is developed. Kotlin is used as the programming language to handle the app’s logic, including
functionalities like geofencing, GPS tracking, and communication with the HRMS system. It
helps to manage the user experience, handle data flow, and implement features such as
attendance tracking, campus monitoring, and location-based actions.
2)XML for UI Design: XML is used to create the user interface (UI) elements of the app.
All visual elements like buttons, input fields, attendance status, and maps are defined in XML
files. This includes creating a clean, interactive layout that allows faculty members to view
their attendance status, track their location, and interact with geofencing notifications. The UI
is designed to be intuitive, ensuring that faculty can easily navigate through features like
campus maps or attendance history.
3)Google Maps API: The Google Maps API is crucial for providing real-time location-based
features. It enables the app to display the campus layout, track faculty members' locations,
and visualize geofencing areas. The API is also used for the Line-Polygon algorithm, helping
to determine whether a faculty member is inside or outside the geofenced campus boundary.
The app can show interactive campus maps, markers for key locations, and zoom functions to
enhance the user experience.
4)Selenium: Selenium is used to automate the process of retrieving data from the HRMS
(Human Resource Management System) for real-time attendance updates. It helps to sync
attendance data with the system without requiring manual input. Selenium automates the
login and data extraction process from the HRMS website, ensuring that attendance records
are up-to-date and that duplicate entries are avoided. This allows seamless integration
between the geofencing attendance system and the university’s existing HRMS infrastructure.

Implementation
[Link] Boundaries Setup:
Geofencing enables virtual boundaries around the campus using specific GPS coordinates
forming a polygon. This setup includes:
 Define Boundary: Outline the campus boundary with coordinates using tools
like Google Maps.
 Geofencing API: The Google Geofencing API is used to define this boundary
and monitor entry/exit. It triggers actions (like attendance logging) when a
device crosses the boundary.
 Triggers: When a faculty member enters or exits, the system records
attendance or sends notifications and monitors time spent within the boundary.
2. Line-Polygon Method (Ray-Casting Algorithm):
This method determines if a faculty member is inside the polygon-shaped campus boundary.
 Point-In-Polygon Check: A ray is drawn from the point representing the faculty
location, and intersections with the boundary are counted:
 Odd count = point is inside.
 Even count = point is outside.
 Line Detection: Tracks movement by checking if the path intersects the boundary.
3. Example Scenario:
Let’s say a campus is shaped like an irregular polygon, with a central building as the
reference point. The geofence is created around this area with specific coordinates defining
the vertices of the polygon. When a faculty member’s device (which continuously updates its
GPS coordinates) enters this polygon, the app uses the Ray-Casting algorithm to check if the
coordinates of the device are inside the polygon. If the device is inside, the app logs the
attendance; if it’s outside, no action is taken.
4. Benefits of Using Geofencing with Line-Polygon Method:
 Accuracy: Enables precise attendance tracking within complex boundaries.
 Flexibility: Adapts to irregular shapes like pathways and building corners.
 Seamless Integration: Allows automated tracking and real-time data collection
without manual input.
Challenges and Solutions
1. Indoor Location Accuracy
 Challenge: GPS signals can be weak indoors, causing inaccurate location tracking
within campus buildings.
 Solution: To improve indoor accuracy, we supplemented GPS with Wi-Fi positioning,
which uses nearby Wi-Fi networks for enhanced precision. This helped maintain
reliable tracking indoors, ensuring attendance records remained accurate.
2. Battery Consumption
 Challenge: Continuous location tracking can drain battery life, which could be
inconvenient for faculty members who need their devices throughout the day.
 Solution: Instead of continuously tracking location, the app checks faculty location at
set intervals, which minimizes battery usage while still maintaining accurate
attendance tracking. This interval-based approach allowed for effective geofencing
without excessive power consumption.
3. HRMS Data Integration
 Challenge: Integrating data with the university’s HRMS required handling
compatibility issues and automating real-time updates.
 Solution: Using Selenium for data automation, we enabled smooth data retrieval and
ensured that attendance records synced accurately without manual input, reducing the
risk of duplicate entries and streamlining data management.

Conclusions and Future Outlook

This project successfully implemented a geofencing-based attendance system, providing an
accurate, automated, and convenient solution for tracking faculty presence on campus. By
leveraging geofencing with the Line-Polygon method, the system handles complex campus
boundaries effectively, ensuring reliable attendance logging without manual input.
Additionally, the app integrates with HRMS for seamless record-keeping and uses interval-
based location checks to optimize battery consumption.
For future improvements, we aim to enhance indoor accuracy further, perhaps through a
hybrid approach using Bluetooth or additional Wi-Fi triangulation. Battery efficiency could
be improved by refining location-check intervals based on user activity. Expanding analytics
features is also a promising area, allowing campus management to gain insights into patterns
and trends in faculty presence, which can support better decision-making for resource
planning and campus operations. This ongoing development will help make the system even
more robust and user-friendly.
Contributors
1) Sharvin Joshi (23BAI1510)
2) Ishaan Sawant (23BAI1509)
3) Abhishek Bhardwaj (23BCE1341)