I need to run a service continuously to update my location data to server, I am using FusedLocationProviderAPI to retrieve location and priority as PRIORITY_BALANCED_POWER_ACCURACY, but when GPS is switched off no location is received.
I thought fused provider manages this based on the priority given, but that is not the case, can anyone tell me what can be done to solve this.
Thanks.
Turning off the location on your device turns off all the location services. If you go to Settings -> Location -> Mode you'll see the location options. Switch it to "Battery saving (Networks only)" if you don't want to use the GPS.
Related
I added a test provider using LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER as provider name like described here
https://mobiarch.wordpress.com/2012/07/17/testing-with-mock-location-data-in-android/
In Google Maps app, I see location jumping between mocked location and real location, and then back to mocked location.
Why is jumping to real location and how can I stop it?
Maybe I misunderstand how to use mock locations. I haven't found any official documentation available.
You most likely have your location settings configured in a way that your phone (and apps) can use both the location from the GPS sensor and the location from the cells and wi-fi. Since the coming of the Fused Location Provider, the way the system fetches your location got a bit murkier.
When you mock the position you are only able to mock the GPS sensor readings (this is also true for when you mock the position through the simulator settings).
So when the system feeds Google Maps with a position from the GPS sensor it gives it the fake one, and when it provides the position from other sensors it will be the real one.
To test that I'm correct, you can switch location settings to "Device only" and you should only get the fake positions.
Unfortunately there's no way to mock the other sensors readings.
Turn off Wi-Fi scanning / Bluetooth scanning in the Location Settings to stop jumping to preserve mock location.
I need accurate location updates. When using FusedLocationServices from GooglePlayServices, even if I set HighAccuracy, it will get locations from Wi-Fi and cellular when GPS is not available. How do I request locations ONLY from GPS, and with no updates coming in when GPS is not available?
Use LocationManager.requestLocationUpdates(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER, ...)
this removed the need for GooglePlayServices.Location completely.
I am developing an application where I want to use Fused Location Provider. But I have some doubts, and couple of questions.
When GPS is off and I set priority to HIGH, does that mean that the GPS will be automatically turned on, or not?
Can I set UpdateLocation with Fused provider with HIGH priority on demand to save battery at least a little bit?
How can I know what Fused provider is using (is it a GPS or a network provider)?
And finally
Is Fused provider really the best choice for android location? Are there any negative points about it?
What is your opinion?
Thanks in advance.
When GPS is off and I set priority to HIGH, does that mean that GPS will be automatically turned on, or not?
No, it will not be turned on automatically. But if you use SettingsApi, will prompt a dialog to user and gives information that GPS is must be turned on. If user accepts it, the gps will be active automatically. Check the SettingsApi
How can I know what Fused provider is using (is it a GPS or a network provider)
If you use fused provider api with SettingsApi properly. It will make adequate the required settings for current location request.
Is Fused provider really the best choice for android location? Are there any negative points about it?
In my opinion, before fused provider you must deal with directly providers(Gps, network) But fused just asks you, "how accurate locations you wanna receive ?"
As in here https://developer.android.com/training/location/index.html stated very clearly that, the Google Play services location APIs are preferred over the Android framework location APIs (android.location) as a way of adding location awareness to your app. If you are currently using the Android framework location APIs, you are strongly encouraged to switch to the Google Play services location APIs as soon as possible. So I hope you got your answer.
I made a testing application for Gps, Wifi and Fused Location Provider and testing it for 2 days. It's better because it uses both of them and most of the time it's the one most accurate. Also, Gps data is a very noisy data that causes jittering, to solve this low-pass filter or other filters are used. One of the most successful filter used to get most accurate results is Kalman Filter. FusedLocationProvider use this filter same as RotationVector which is a fused sensor combines hardware and software. RotationVector uses accelerometer, gyroscope(if available), and magnetic field sensor to get and filter positition and azimuth data.
Location.getProvider for Gps with LocationManager returns "gps", Wifi returns "network", and FusedLocationProvider returns "fused".
When GPS is off and I set priority to HIGH, does that mean that the GPS will be automatically turned on, or not
Anything other than "Battery Saving" turns Gps on if available. This settings available on my Android 7.1.1 phone. Setting for location was different on previous versions of Android on user's side. As a developer to enable using Gps you should set mLocationRequest.setPriority(LocationRequest.PRIORITY_HIGH_ACCURACY);
PRIORITY_HIGH_ACCURACY - Use this setting to request the most precise location possible. With this setting, the location services are more likely to use GPS to determine the location.
Setting Priority also determines battery use level too.
Can I set UpdateLocation with Fused provider with HIGH priority on demand to save battery at least a little bit?
Yes, you can set interval of location request in addition to priority.
mLocationRequest.setInterval(UPDATE_INTERVAL_IN_MILLISECONDS);
mLocationRequest.setFastestInterval(FASTEST_UPDATE_INTERVAL_IN_MILLISECONDS);
How can I know what Fused provider is using (is it a GPS or a network provider)?
Location from Wifi never returns true for Location.hasSpeed() but Gps returns almost always true if you are outdoors. Also location.getExtras() have satellites tag which you can check for satellites which is only available for Gps. Speed may not be correct if you are walking or as far i've read so far, i haven't tried this on car, when speed it less than 5km/h it's not very accurate. I mean if you are using FLP and last location data contains speed info it's definitely from Gps.
Are there any negative points about it?
As of Android 8.0 and above there is location retrieving limit if you do not use a Foreground Service or get location on foreground while app is not paused for both FLP and LocationManager.
Also FLP requires GooglePlayService to be available on user's device and it should be above a particular version. 10 or 11 depending on which one you use. This can be trouble if you wish to publish your apps on a country, for example China, that bans Google Play Services.
The existing answers don't say why the FusedLocationProvider is better.
It is better because the API fuses from more data sources (sensors, wifi, context, history) in an intelligent and battery-saving way. Also, Google is always improving it by adding more data sources. If your app uses it, you get those improvements for free.
I want to locate user using best provider enabled.
When I launch my app with GPS off, the location manager will use network to get user location.
If I turn on my GPS while the app still running, the GPS will not be used because the location manager is listening network provider.
How can I detect the activation/desactivation of GPS and update user location on the map while the location manager is using the network provider ?
SOLUTION FOUND
Use locationclient, see this code example!
Use this line to detect if the GPS was enabled by the user:
yourLocationManager.isProviderEnabled(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER);
It will return true if it's enabled or ortherwise false.
But as MaciejGórski said, do yourself a favor and use the LocationClient. You will never ask yourself questions like this anymore.
Use new LocationClient fused provider. It does all the hard work for you and listens for all providers when they are enabled.
getBestKnownLocation Returns a Location indicating the data from the last known location fix obtained from the given provider. This can be done without starting the provider. Note that this location could be out-of-date, for example if the device was turned off and moved to another location.
when the Last Known Location updated in Android? is it updated if when there's an application listening for the location provider, if so what if there's no application that it ask for the location and then you asked for LastKnownLocation() ?
I thinki LastKnownLocation() is updating when some programs in your phone use this function requestLocationUpdates.
Please see Start location strategy
I did some investigations: I turned on GPS and waited to get a fix. Then I turned GPS off and drove 50km (31 miles). Then I used the code from A Deep Dive Into Location to get all the getLastKnownLocation. I tried it twice, first with GPS turned off and second with GPS turned on, but without a fix:
1) with GPS turned off I got
- Provider: network, correct location with accuracy 680m
- Provider: passive (mProvider=network), same location as above, same time as above
- Provider: gps, location null
So I learned that when gps is turned off you get no getLastKnownLocation from the GPS location provider.
2) with GPS turned on I got
- Provider: network, correct location with accuracy 652m
- Provider: passive (mProvider=network), same location as above, same time as above
- Provider: gps, location as it was 2h earlier with accuracy 12m, time was also 2h earlier
Here I learned that old messages are not invalidated, even it is obvious that they are wrong.
So to sum it up: when a provider is active, it stores the last received location retreivable via getLastKnownLocation. If the provider is deactivated, you don't even get getLastKnownLocation. Please note that I tested this with the GPS-Provider, other providers may react in a different way.