Wireless sensor network (WSN) is a promising technology for monitoring physical phenomena at fine-grained spatial and temporal resolution. However, the typical approach of sending each sensed measurement out of the network for detailed spatial analysis of transient physical phenomena may not be an efficient or scalable solution. This paper focuses on in-network physical phenomena detection schemes, particularly the distributed computation of the boundary of physical phenomena (i.e. event), to support energy efficient spatial analysis in wireless sensor networks. In-network processing approach reduces the amount of network traffic and thus achieves network scalability and lifetime longevity. This study investigates the recent advances in distributed event detection based on in-network processing and includes a concise comparison of various existing schemes. These boundary detection schemes identify not only those sensor nodes that lie on the boundary of the physical phenomena but also the interior nodes. This constitutes an event geometry which is a basic building block of many spatial queries. In this paper, we introduce the challenges and opportunities for research in the field of in-network distributed event geometry boundary detection as well as illustrate the current status of research in this field. We also present new areas where the event geometry boundary detection can be of significant importance.