Are there any best practices for an app to get the same geo location as the Google Maps app?
For example, my app lists nearby Sprockets based on a user's geolocation. Often the geolocation I come up with is different than what the Google Maps app comes up with (which is often more accurate).
We can kind of do this if we have a MapActivity and use MyOverlay - this should give us the same location google maps would show - but we always need to display a map to use this. I'm almost considering just hosting a hidden map on my activity in order to use MyOverlay and grab better location updates! Any more sane way of doing this?
Thanks
Android has a full location API. This is what the map system uses.
A good direction to look is the open-source Foursquare app's location code if you're looking to manage location reports from multiple providers (GPS, network, etc.) and balance freshness and so forth. IMO their solution is a bit overarchitected for most needs, but the basic ideas are pretty easy to grok from it.
Related
I've developed a hybrid app that collects GPS points using a plugin (this one, to be precise). The thing is, when users are on a remote location, with little GPS/network coverage, we've had to resort to opening Google Maps in the background and then using the app in order to get a good coordinate. Otherwise, it doesn't work too well.
I would like to eliminate the need for doing that, but feel at a loss about what kind of practices do apps like Google Maps or Waze do to get better geolocations. Is there a code base that I could study, or some documentation?
Thanks in advance!
You may check here. It is GitHub from Google Devs and they show how they handle location. Also, you can find other examples there
New to Stackoverflow, did some searching and couldn't find anything that really matched what I'm looking for unless I'm using the wrong keywords. I did find guides on how to plot a route when you know the actual route, but I'm looking to do it from actually walking it, see below:
I'm fairly new to web development and am looking to plot maps of a trail on a website using an embedded Google map or some other free map platform if it's suitable (OSM?) I have an Android phone and I'd like to actually be able to:
(1) walk this route,
(2) take the GPS data somehow &
(3) match it up to a Google map to
(4) post it on my webpage.
That will help visitors know the actual route (which is not available on Google Maps in any detail) and have somewhat of a "guide" of the near-exact trail route. I imagine this can be done, as Runkeeper and other applications do this (with additional data on speed, time, etc.) for tracking your runs. I don't really want any of that additional data as much as I would like to just capture the GPS route itself, and have it in some format that I can then use to make a map out of automatically. Not sure where to start with this, or if it can be done easily. Any information or guidance would be greatly appreciated. I have no experience in Java; very limited Javascript and OK in HTML/CSS. I've never used the Google Maps API either.
Thanks!
You may use API Picker lists to help you on the most common things you may want to do on a map or with location-based data, and this also suggests the API that most suits your needs.
Listed below are the useful APIs to plot a route on a map:
Polylines in the Google Maps Android API
Polylines in the Google Maps SDK for iOS
Polylines in the Google Maps JavaScript API
Directions mode in the Google Maps Embed API
Paths in the Google Static Maps API (a web service)
Links of useful APIs for whatever you want to do on a map can be found in the documentation.
Looking for a little bit of help structuring my problem.
I will be traveling with friends to a party weekend and we are plotting locations of places to visit and see on a shared Google map with custom layers.
My thought is that I could add real-time location layers for each attendee, based on the lat/long of those with Android phones.
I'm trying to figure at the moment the elements of the code that I will need and asking the community for help structuring the design.
So far:
Working on a way to broadcast the current lat/long of the Android phone through an API
Determining the best way to import the returns (lat/long) from the API as a layer into Google Maps (thinking KML, but there may be a better solution with GPX or text files)
Once I finish 1 and 2, will write the code to accomplish the process and load to Google Maps
Any guidance is very much appreciated
Why do you need to develop everything of this sort when Google has already provided us with the My Map app. This app is available in Play Sore for Google as well as the App Store for Apple. So all your friends whether an Android or iPhone user can install this app on their phone.
With this app you all can customize the map as per the needs and share inside the group. This app explicitly serves the purpose for the vacation planning when a group is involved.
Take a look on the Google Play Store and the App Store to explore and download.
I'm developing an Android Application, and i need to get the current location of the user. I'm wondering what is the best way to do so: using GPS or Google Maps.
Thank you for your help.
What do you think Google Maps use?
Surprise! It also uses GPS.
So getting it manually will be faster than loading a map and checking the location.
Note: you can also get your location through a network which will usually be faster (but probably less accurate).
Google Maps uses GPS and Mobile Data, so it is probably more accurate.
Try Google Play Location Services, it adds an abstraction layer to all the location stuff, so you dont need to care about what is android doing to get the location.
I want to receive roads information from Google Maps API like the regular street info.
For example, in the Google Maps application, you can see the traffic in each road. Is there any way to receive this info in data and not just view on the screen?
I need to get information such name, traffic, speed-limit and point of start and end.
I think about something similar to the existing streets info, I will give a location (long,lat) and the system will return the nearest roads around (maybe crossroads also).
Is there any way to get this information with Google Maps API? If not, there is another service that can provide this info?
I tried to find some details but I can't find anything...
You can use Google Directions API for this. It provides you closest directions, distance and time to travel. I also recommend using Google-Directions-Android library for parsing all that stuff, it really saves a lot of time.