Develop Reference

Location Request on Android Google Map, setIntervals() and if it costs anything

mLocationRequest = new LocationRequest();
mLocationRequest.setInterval(1000);
mLocationRequest.setFastestInterval(1000);
mLocationRequest.setPriority(LocationRequest.PRIORITY_HIGH_ACCURACY);
Setting this to 1000 ms, requests location every second and accumulates to thousands of requests in a day if app is used continuously. Will this cost me and will making less location requests than this cost me less?
I am working on an app which requires to get the drivers location. I would just like to clarify if setting shorter location request interval will cost me anything. The links given below did help but did not answer what I was actually looking for.
The second link on the costs stated on Google developers site talks about Places API and its costs. What I exactly want to know on point is that does Google charge anything on location request and its intervals?
Android Google Services Location costs and limitations
https://developers.google.com/places/android/usage
What I actually want to achieve is to move my marker on the map in real-time. I can do this by setting intervals which works as delays. I had read somewhere that moving the marker in real-time might cost me. Can I get clarification on this...
Thank you

Getting user location with minimal impact for battery on Android

I'm starting to develop an app that will stay in background forever and detect when a user is staying in a certain location for a while (and then display a notification to invite the user to open the app to obtain informations about that place).
It's something very similar to what Google Maps does when you're in a restaurant and it shows you a notification to check ratings about it.
What I want is to have a minimal impact on device, so location updates should be very "passive", getting the location only when user is not moving and, if possible, recycling location data that is already got by other activities - maybe by Google Maps itself or other location apps that are running on the devices.
This is not a navigation app, so I don't need to have the live fine location but simply the approximate place with the best accuracy and minimal effort, and only if user is not moving.
LocationListener and onLocationChanged seems to be my men, but can I specify that I don't want to trigger device's sensors and only re-use location data when it's available for other scopes? My app should check these informations and then decide to do a reverse geocode if and when they are accurate enough.

Yes, LocationListener and onLocationChanged are your men, though for a passive implementation, there are a few options you can go through.
First you can check for the last known location, maybe compare it in terms of its time; i.e. getTime() and verify whether it is of use to you.
In terms of code, literally...
Google samples, android location has what is relevant for the last location part:
/**
* Runs when a GoogleApiClient object successfully connects.
*/
#Override
public void onConnected(Bundle connectionHint) {
// Provides a simple way of getting a device's location and is well suited for
// applications that do not require a fine-grained location and that do not need location
// updates. Gets the best and most recent location currently available, which may be null
// in rare cases when a location is not available.
mLastLocation = LocationServices.FusedLocationApi.getLastLocation(mGoogleApiClient);
Further, you can combine it with LocationRequest object, this helps your implementation as you can call it right after trying getLastLocation() and basically have a more reliable arrangement for obtaining location.
// Create the location request
mLocationRequest = LocationRequest.create()
//priority object needs to be set, the following will definitely get results for you
.setPriority(LocationRequest.PRIORITY_BALANCED_POWER_ACCURACY)
//interval updates can be on the lines of 15mins or 30... acc to your requirement
.setInterval(UPDATE_INTERVAL)
.setFastestInterval(FASTEST_INTERVAL);
// Request location updates
LocationServices.FusedLocationApi.requestLocationUpdates(mGoogleApiClient,
mLocationRequest, this);
i suggest give PRIORITY_NO_POWER a try, could work well in combination with getLastLocation(). These power modes have been added specifically for optimising battery/power consumption and efficiency for retrieving location.

Android onLocationChanged only called once a second at fastest

I'm using the FusedLocationApi to get updates. But in spite of setting the LocationRequest.setInterval to say 500 or even 200 millis, I only get one update per second. I'd like to get two a second if possible (to do a moving average of speed). Is there a hard limit?
In my onCreate for the Activity:
googleApiClient = new GoogleApiClient.Builder(this)
.addConnectionCallbacks(this)
.addOnConnectionFailedListener(this)
.addApi(LocationServices.API)
.addApi(AppIndex.API).build();
In my 'onConnected' method:
this.locationRequest = new LocationRequest();
this.locationRequest.setInterval(200);
this.locationRequest.setPriority(LocationRequest.PRIORITY_HIGH_ACCURACY);
LocationServices.FusedLocationApi.requestLocationUpdates(this.googleApiClient, this.locationRequest, this);
I also have a separate LocationManager I only use to get status changes via addGpsStatusListener() and those seem to work OK.
Thanks

As per documentations
This interval is inexact. You may not receive updates at all (if no location sources are available), or you may receive them slower than requested.
You can try to use public LocationRequest setFastestInterval (long millis). The documentation states:
he fastest rate that that you will receive updates can be controlled with setFastestInterval(long). By default this fastest rate is 6x the interval frequency.
Also make sure you request ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION. The docs also states that:
Applications with only the coarse location permission may have their interval silently throttled

As the "LocationRequest.setInterval()" docs says
The location client will actively try to obtain location updates for your application at this interval[...]
So it's possible you cannot get the location updated in the desired frequency. That's because the nature of the location retrieving techniques (GPS, WiFi, etc.) and it's very hardware dependent (and also the Google's fused location provider algorithms), and also depends on the atmospheric conditions (in the GPS case). If you want to obtain a high accuracy location, then the device needs to obtain first some samples in order to do a high accuracy estimation.

google play services location api sometimes give wrong location

My app use Google Play service API to get the user location and check if the device is inside or outside a particular area of 50 mt of radius.
The app use PRIORITY_HIGH_ACCURACY and a Interval of 1 minute.
So I create GoogleApiClient:
mGoogleApiClient = new GoogleApiClient.Builder(this)
.addConnectionCallbacks(this)
.addOnConnectionFailedListener(this)
.addApi(LocationServices.API)
.build();
mGoogleApiClient.connect();
In the onConnected callback:
mLocationRequest = new LocationRequest();
mLocationRequest.setInterval(60000);
mLocationRequest.setFastestInterval(10000);
mLocationRequest.setPriority(LocationRequest.PRIORITY_HIGH_ACCURACY);
and
MyLocationListener.FusedLocationApi.requestLocationUpdates(mGoogleApiClient, mLocationRequest, mLocationListener);
My app also filter locations based on accuracy (if accuracy > 200 mt I discard it) and time (if it is too old I discard it).
The app works fine except in some particular areas where sometimes it returns wrong locations update about 500 meters from the real location, and those wrong locations are always near the same place, some step away from a Cell Tower.
In those areas I get a combination of wrong and correct locations and my app think that the device is sometimes inside and sometimes outside the area of interest.
When I get a location update I wait for other 3 in a row to confirm the position. Also I filter location if exactly the same as the previous. This means that when I m getting those errors I'm receiving 4 wrong locations in a row each one slightly different from the others.
Is there a way to prevent this behavior? Can this be caused by the Cell Tower?

There's always a chance of it being wrong. An accuracy of 200m doesn't mean its within 200m- it means there's a 67% chance you're within 200m. There's still a 1/3 chance you aren't.
Since most of the Google Play location providers are fused (use GPS and wifi/cell data), yes being very close to a tower could screw with the data.

Change setInterval(60000) to setInterval(20000) or to 5000.
Since the interval is one minute, you won't get updates even if the user moves. That's why there is an inaccuracy.
According to Google, setInterval(long) means - set the interval in which you want to get locations. setFastestInterval(long) means - if a location is available sooner you can get it (i.e. another app is using the location services. Means, if no other apps are using the location service, you will get updates only after a minute).

Android Location Update Clarification

Am working with the location update application which will update the user location periodically to the server.
I have used the fused location provider to get the location update. I have referred the following link Android Location Update.
Regarding the location update I have following clarifications,
1) I requested Location using Pending Intent. I had given the Time
interval as 5 min in the location request. I am getting the location
information successfully at every 5 min. But my question is "How effectively
Android uses the GPS to get the location - GPS need not to be on for
the whole 5 min". Around 4 min 50 seconds it starts using the GPS to
get the user location. I just want to know how the fused location provider effectively using the GPS.
2) And also I want to know the time taken to fetch the user location
by using available providers. How much time approximately taken by the
android api to get the user location by using fusion location
provider.
3) The Fused Location Provider uses GPS only at the nearest time of given interval to get
the user location. The remaining time the GPS is not usable. Is there
is better solution to switch off the GPs or effective way to use the
GPS to save the mobile battery power.
4) Am giving the time interval as 1 min. Some time am not getting the
location update every one minute. For Example, First minute successfully
I am getting the user location. Then not getting the user location at 2nd Minute. Then 3rd minute
getting fine and so. I have GPS ON and with mobile network available and WiFi
connected.
5) And what is the maximum time interval we can give. Am not finding
any maximum time limit in the document. We can give the minimum time interval as zero. But it is not recommended.
6) And also I want to know the minimum OS support while using this feature. I have referred below link Does Google Activity Recognition work on older versions of Android? Which says Everything in Google Play Services should work back to API level 8(Android 2.3).
Please help me on this. I hope this could help other developer also who are working on Android Location Updates.
Thanks in advance.

I have used the fused location provider API's in our project and it's was really helpful to improve battery usage.Earlier We were using Android's Location framework APi's .
Please read below article which I have prepared ,you can refer the information to implement it in your project.
In simple words, it’s the best way to get location data in Android platform as of now.
GooglePlay Services provide many location APi’s to get the location data(e.g. User’s current location or you can say device’s last known location).
The Fused Location Provider is one of the location APIs in Google Play services.
Prerequisite is that:
1- Google Play services sdk is used as library project(and also Google PlayService is properly installed in your device)
Download and install the Google Play services component from the SDK Manager and add the library to your project.
Import GooglePlayServices lib from android google-play-services_lib in your development project as Library project.
2- You should have an actual device as this APi won’t work in Emulator.
The Fused Location Provider intelligently manages the underlying location technology (GPS/Wi-Fi/Network provider’s connection) and gives us the best location according to our needs.
Why to use
=============
We could choose one of the location providers (network or GPS) and request location updates or set up proximity alert. But there were two main issues with this approach:
1. In case we need to define precise location, we had to switch between network and GPS location providers (as GPS doesn’t work indoors).
2. Proximity alerts were used to notify a user about proximity to a location, and this took its toll on the battery life.
Benefits
==========
1. Simple APIs: Lets us specify high-level needs like “high accuracy” or “low power”, instead of having to worry about location providers.
2. Battery efficient: Minimizes out app’s use of power. Based on all incoming location requests and available sensors, fused location provider chooses the most efficient way to meet those needs.
Steps to use this Api:
=====================
1- Declare the location related permission in the manifest file.
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COURSE_LOCATION"/>
Or
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION"/>
2. Implement related interfaces and callbacks.
Before we request location updates, we must first implement the interfaces that Location Services uses to communicate connection status to our app:
2.1 com.google.android.gms.common.GooglePlayServicesClient.ConnectionCallbacks: Specifies methods that Location Services calls when a location client is connected or disconnected.
2.2
com.google.android.gms.common.GooglePlayServicesClient.OnConnectionFailedListener
3 Connect to Google Play Services
Connecting LocationClient to Google api.To do this , create a LocationClient object (it’s actually instance of GoogleApiClient object) as below:
mLocationClient = new GoogleApiClient.Builder(getApplicationContext())
.addApi(LocationServices.API).addConnectionCallbacks(this)
.addOnConnectionFailedListener(this).build();
and then call connect() :
mLocationClient.connect();
4- Create an instance of FusedLocationProviderApi by using LocationServices class as below:
private FusedLocationProviderApi fusedLocationProviderApi = LocationServices.FusedLocationApi;
5- Retrieve the current location
Inside onConnected(Bundle bundle){
Location currentLocation = fusedLocationProviderApi .getLastLocation(mLocationClient);
if (mCurrentLocation != null) {
Log.d(TAG, "last location =" + mCurrentLocation.getLatitude()
+ " - " + mCurrentLocation.getLongitude());
}
}
6- Receive periodic location updates
Create and setup LocationRequest object:
mLocationRequest = new LocationRequest();
private void setLocationParameter() {
// Set the update interval
mLocationRequest.setInterval(Constants.SECONDS_TO_UP);
// Use high accuracy
mLocationRequest.setPriority(LocationRequest.PRIORITY_HIGH_ACCURACY);
// Set the interval ceiling to one minute
mLocationRequest.setFastestInterval(Constants.SECONDS_TO_UP);
// Set the distance to 10 meters.
mLocationRequest.setSmallestDisplacement(Constants.METERS_TO_UP);
}
6- Request for periodic Location updates: To get periodic location updates from Location Services, we send a request using a location client.
LocationListener listener = new LocationListener() {
#Override
public void onLocationChanged(Location location) {
Utils.locationUpdates = Utils.locationUpdates + 1;
if (Utils.locationUpdates == 1) {
mLocationRequest
.setPriority(LocationRequest.PRIORITY_LOW_POWER);
LocationServices.FusedLocationApi.requestLocationUpdates(
mLocationClient, mLocationRequest, listener);
}
}
}
};