Good way of getting the user s location in Android

Question

The problem   Getting the user s current location within a threshold ASAP and at the same time conserve battery   Why the problem is a problem   First off  android has two providers  network and GPS  Sometimes network is better and sometimes the GPS is better   By  better  I mean speed vs  accuracy ratio  I m willing to sacrifice a few meters in accuracy if I can get the location almost instant and without turning on the GPS   Secondly  if you request updates for location changes nothing is sent if the current location is stable   Google has an example of determining the  best  location here  http   developer android com guide topics location obtaining-user-location html BestEstimate But I think it s no where near as good as it should could be   I m kind of confused why google hasn t a normalized API for location  the developer shouldn t have to care where the location is from  you should just specify what you want and the phone should choose for you   What I need help with   I need to find a good way to determine the  best  location  maybe though some heuristic or maybe through some 3rd party library   This does not mean determine the best provider  I m probably gonna use all providers and picking the best of them   Background of the app   The app will collect the user s location at a fixed interval  let say every 10 minutes or so  and send it to a server  The app should conserve as much battery as possible and the location should have X  50-100   meters accuracy   The goal is to later be able to plot the user s path during the day on a map so I need sufficient accuracy for that   Misc   What do you think are reasonable values on desired and accepted accuracies  I ve been using 100m as accepted and 30m as desired  is this to much to ask  I d like to be able to plot the user s path on a map later  Is 100m for desired and 500m for accepted better   Also  right now I have the GPS on for a maximum of 60 seconds per location update  is this too short to get a location if you re indoors with an accuracy of maybe 200m     This is my current code  any feedback is appreciated  apart from the lack of error checking which is TODO    protected void runTask         final LocationManager locationManager    LocationManager  context              getSystemService Context LOCATION SERVICE       updateBestLocation locationManager              getLastKnownLocation LocationManager GPS PROVIDER        updateBestLocation locationManager              getLastKnownLocation LocationManager NETWORK PROVIDER        if  getLocationQuality bestLocation     LocationQuality GOOD            Looper prepare            setLooper Looper myLooper                Define a listener that responds to location updates         LocationListener locationListener   new LocationListener                  public void onLocationChanged Location location                    updateBestLocation location                   if  getLocationQuality bestLocation     LocationQuality GOOD                      return                     We re done                 Looper l   getLooper                    if  l    null  l quit                               public void onProviderEnabled String provider                  public void onProviderDisabled String provider                  public void onStatusChanged String provider  int status                      Bundle extras                       TODO Auto-generated method stub                 Log i  LocationCollector    Fail                    Looper l   getLooper                    if  l    null  l quit                                        Register the listener with the Location Manager to receive            location updates         locationManager requestLocationUpdates                  LocationManager GPS PROVIDER  1000  1  locationListener                  Looper myLooper             locationManager requestLocationUpdates                  LocationManager NETWORK PROVIDER  1000  1                  locationListener  Looper myLooper             Timer t   new Timer            t schedule new TimerTask                   Override             public void run                     Looper l   getLooper                    if  l    null  l quit                       Log i  LocationCollector                       Stopping collector due to timeout                             MAX POLLING TIME           Looper loop            t cancel            locationManager removeUpdates locationListener           setLooper null             if  getLocationQuality bestLocation     LocationQuality BAD           sendUpdate locationToString bestLocation        else Log w  LocationCollector    Failed to get a location       private enum LocationQuality       BAD  ACCEPTED  GOOD       public String toString             if  this    GOOD  return  Good           else if  this    ACCEPTED  return  Accepted           else return  Bad            private LocationQuality getLocationQuality Location location        if  location    null  return LocationQuality BAD      if   location hasAccuracy    return LocationQuality BAD      long currentTime   System currentTimeMillis        if  currentTime - location getTime    lt  MAX AGE              amp  amp  location getAccuracy    lt   GOOD ACCURACY          return LocationQuality GOOD      if  location getAccuracy    lt   ACCEPTED ACCURACY          return LocationQuality ACCEPTED      return LocationQuality BAD     private synchronized void updateBestLocation Location location        bestLocation   getBestLocation location  bestLocation         Pretty much an unmodified version of googles example protected Location getBestLocation Location location          Location currentBestLocation        if  currentBestLocation    null               A new location is always better than no location         return location            if  location    null  return currentBestLocation         Check whether the new location fix is newer or older     long timeDelta   location getTime   - currentBestLocation getTime        boolean isSignificantlyNewer   timeDelta  gt  TWO MINUTES      boolean isSignificantlyOlder   timeDelta  lt  -TWO MINUTES      boolean isNewer   timeDelta  gt  0         If it s been more than two minutes since the current location  use        the new location        because the user has likely moved     if  isSignificantlyNewer            return location             If the new location is more than two minutes older  it must be            worse       else if  isSignificantlyOlder            return currentBestLocation               Check whether the new location fix is more or less accurate     int accuracyDelta    int   location getAccuracy   - currentBestLocation              getAccuracy         boolean isLessAccurate   accuracyDelta  gt  0      boolean isMoreAccurate   accuracyDelta  lt  0      boolean isSignificantlyLessAccurate   accuracyDelta  gt  200         Check if the old and new location are from the same provider     boolean isFromSameProvider   isSameProvider location getProvider                currentBestLocation getProvider            Determine location quality using a combination of timeliness and        accuracy     if  isMoreAccurate            return location        else if  isNewer  amp  amp   isLessAccurate            return location        else if  isNewer  amp  amp   isSignificantlyLessAccurate              amp  amp  isFromSameProvider            return location            return bestLocation         Checks whether two providers are the same    private boolean isSameProvider String provider1  String provider2        if  provider1    null            return provider2    null            return provider1 equals provider2

User · Answer

I scoured the internet for an updated  past year  answer using the latest location pulling methods suggested by google  to use FusedLocationProviderClient    I finally landed on this   https   github com googlesamples android-play-location tree master LocationUpdates  I created a new project and copied in most of this code   Boom   It works   And I think without any deprecated lines     Also  the simulator doesn t seem to get a GPS location  that I know of   It did get as far as reporting this in the log    All location settings are satisfied    And finally  in case you wanted to know  I did   you DO NOT need a google maps api key from the google developer console  if all you want is the GPS location   Also useful is their tutorial   But I wanted a full one page tutorial code example  and that   Their tutorial stacks but is confusing when you re new to this because you don t know what pieces you need from earlier pages    https   developer android com training location index html   And finally  remember things like this   I not only had to modify the mainActivity Java   I also had to modify Strings xml  androidmanifest xml  AND the correct build gradle   And also your activity Main xml  but that part was easy for me    I needed to add dependencies like this one  implementation  com google android gms play-services-location 11 8 0   and update the settings of my android studio SDK to include google play services   file   settings  appearance   system settings   android SDK   SDK Tools     check google play services       update   the android simulator did seem to get a location and location change events  when I changed the value in the settings of the sim    But my best and first results were on an actual device   So it s probably easiest to test on actual devices

User · Answer

Location accuracy depends mostly on the location provider used    GPS - will get you several meters accuracy  assuming you have GPS reception  Wifi - Will get you few hundred meters accuracy Cell Network - Will get you very inaccurate results  I ve seen up to 4km deviation       If it s accuracy you are looking for  then GPS is your only option   I ve read a very informative article about it here   As for the GPS timeout - 60 seconds should be sufficient  and in most cases even too much  I think 30 seconds is OK and sometimes even less than 5 sec     if you only need a single location  I d suggest that in your onLocationChanged method  once you receive an update you ll unregister the listener and avoid unnecessary usage of the GPS

User · Answer

Looks like we re coding the same application  -  Here is my current implementation  I m still in the beta testing phase of my GPS uploader app  so there might be many possible improvements  but it seems to work pretty well so far          try to get the  best  location selected from all providers     private Location getBestLocation         Location gpslocation   getLocationByProvider LocationManager GPS PROVIDER       Location networkLocation               getLocationByProvider LocationManager NETWORK PROVIDER          if we have only one location available  the choice is easy     if  gpslocation    null            Log d TAG   No GPS Location available             return networkLocation            if  networkLocation    null            Log d TAG   No Network Location available            return gpslocation               a locationupdate is considered  old  if its older than the configured        update interval  this means  we didn t get a        update from this provider since the last check     long old   System currentTimeMillis   - getGPSCheckMilliSecsFromPrefs        boolean gpsIsOld    gpslocation getTime    lt  old       boolean networkIsOld    networkLocation getTime    lt  old          gps is current and available  gps is better than network     if   gpsIsOld            Log d TAG   Returning current GPS Location            return gpslocation               gps is old  we can t trust it  use network location     if   networkIsOld            Log d TAG   GPS is old  Network is current  returning network            return networkLocation               both are old return the newer of those two     if  gpslocation getTime    gt  networkLocation getTime              Log d TAG   Both are old  returning gps newer             return gpslocation        else           Log d TAG   Both are old  returning network newer             return networkLocation                  get the last known location from a specific provider  network gps      private Location getLocationByProvider String provider        Location location   null      if   isProviderSupported provider             return null            LocationManager locationManager    LocationManager  getApplicationContext                getSystemService Context LOCATION SERVICE       try           if  locationManager isProviderEnabled provider                 location   locationManager getLastKnownLocation provider                   catch  IllegalArgumentException e            Log d TAG   Cannot acces Provider     provider             return location      Edit  here is the part that requests the periodic updates from the location providers   public void startRecording         gpsTimer cancel        gpsTimer   new Timer        long checkInterval   getGPSCheckMilliSecsFromPrefs        long minDistance   getMinDistanceFromPrefs           receive updates     LocationManager locationManager    LocationManager  getApplicationContext                getSystemService Context LOCATION SERVICE       for  String s   locationManager getAllProviders              locationManager requestLocationUpdates s  checkInterval                  minDistance  new LocationListener                           Override                     public void onStatusChanged String provider                              int status  Bundle extras                           Override                     public void onProviderEnabled String provider                           Override                     public void onProviderDisabled String provider                           Override                     public void onLocationChanged Location location                               if this is a gps location  we can use it                         if  location getProvider   equals                                  LocationManager GPS PROVIDER                                 doLocationUpdate location  true                                                                                    Toast makeText this   GPS Service STARTED              Toast LENGTH LONG  show            gps recorder running   true               start the gps receiver thread     gpsTimer scheduleAtFixedRate new TimerTask               Override         public void run                 Location location   getBestLocation                doLocationUpdate location  false                    0  checkInterval      public void doLocationUpdate Location l  boolean force        long minDistance   getMinDistanceFromPrefs        Log d TAG   update received     l       if  l    null            Log d TAG   Empty location            if  force              Toast makeText this   Current location not available                       Toast LENGTH SHORT  show            return            if  lastLocation    null            float distance   l distanceTo lastLocation           Log d TAG   Distance to last      distance           if  l distanceTo lastLocation   lt  minDistance  amp  amp   force                Log d TAG   Position didn t change                return                    if  l getAccuracy    gt   lastLocation getAccuracy                    amp  amp  l distanceTo lastLocation   lt  l getAccuracy    amp  amp   force                Log d TAG                       Accuracy got worse and we are still                            within the accuracy range   Not updating                return                    if  l getTime    lt   lastprovidertimestamp  amp  amp   force                Log d TAG   Timestamp not never than last                return                         upload store your location here     Things to consider    do not request GPS updates too often  it drains battery power  I currently use 30 min as default for my application   add a  minimum distance to last known location  check  without this  your points  will  jump around  when GPS is not available and the location is being triangulated from the cell towers  or you can check if the new location is outside of the accuracy value from the last known location

User · Answer

Answering the first two points    GPS will always give you a more precise location  if it is enabled and if there are no thick walls around  If location did not change  then you can call getLastKnownLocation String  and retrieve the location immediately    Using an alternative approach   You can try getting the cell id in use or all the neighboring cells  TelephonyManager mTelephonyManager    TelephonyManager  getSystemService Context TELEPHONY SERVICE   GsmCellLocation loc    GsmCellLocation  mTelephonyManager getCellLocation     Log d   CID   Integer toString loc getCid      Log d   LAC   Integer toString loc getLac         or  List lt NeighboringCellInfo gt  list   mTelephonyManager getNeighboringCellInfo     for  NeighboringCellInfo cell   list        Log d   CID   Integer toString cell getCid          Log d   LAC   Integer toString cell getLac          You can refer then to cell location through several open databases  e g   http   www location-api com  or http   opencellid org       The strategy would be to read the list of tower IDs when reading the location  Then  in next query  10 minutes in your app   read them again  If at least some towers are the same  then it s safe to use getLastKnownLocation String   If they re not  then wait for onLocationChanged    This avoids the need of a third party database for the location  You can also try this approach

User · Answer

Skyhook  http   www skyhookwireless com   has a location provider that is much faster than the standard one Google provides  It might be what you re looking for  I m not affiliated with them

User · Answer

Currently i am using since this is trustable for getting location and calculating distance for my application       i am using this for my taxi application   use the fusion API that google developer have developed with fusion of GPS Sensor Magnetometer Accelerometer also using Wifi or cell location to calculate or estimate the location  It is also able to give location updates also inside the building accurately  for detail get to link  https   developers google com android reference com google android gms location FusedLocationProviderApi  import android app Activity  import android location Location  import android os Bundle  import android support v7 app ActionBarActivity  import android support v7 app AppCompatActivity  import android util Log  import android widget TextView  import android widget Toast   import com google android gms common ConnectionResult  import com google android gms common GooglePlayServicesUtil  import com google android gms common api GoogleApiClient  import com google android gms common api GoogleApiClient ConnectionCallbacks  import com google android gms common api GoogleApiClient OnConnectionFailedListener  import com google android gms location LocationListener  import com google android gms location LocationRequest  import com google android gms location LocationServices   import java util concurrent Executors  import java util concurrent TimeUnit    public class MainActivity extends Activity implements LocationListener          GoogleApiClient ConnectionCallbacks          GoogleApiClient OnConnectionFailedListener        private static final long ONE MIN   500      private static final long TWO MIN   500      private static final long FIVE MIN   500      private static final long POLLING FREQ   1000   20      private static final long FASTEST UPDATE FREQ   1000   5      private static final float MIN ACCURACY   1 0f      private static final float MIN LAST READ ACCURACY   1       private LocationRequest mLocationRequest      private Location mBestReading  TextView tv      private GoogleApiClient mGoogleApiClient        Override     protected void onCreate Bundle savedInstanceState            super onCreate savedInstanceState            if   servicesAvailable                  finish                       setContentView R layout activity main   tv   TextView  findViewById R id tv1           mLocationRequest   LocationRequest create            mLocationRequest setPriority LocationRequest PRIORITY HIGH ACCURACY           mLocationRequest setInterval POLLING FREQ           mLocationRequest setFastestInterval FASTEST UPDATE FREQ            mGoogleApiClient   new GoogleApiClient Builder this                   addApi LocationServices API                   addConnectionCallbacks this                   addOnConnectionFailedListener this                   build              if  mGoogleApiClient    null                mGoogleApiClient connect                          Override     protected void onResume             super onResume             if  mGoogleApiClient    null                mGoogleApiClient connect                          Override     protected void onPause    d         super onPause             if  mGoogleApiClient    null  amp  amp  mGoogleApiClient isConnected                  mGoogleApiClient disconnect                              tv setText location                   Determine whether new location is better than current best            estimate         if  null    mBestReading    location getAccuracy    lt  mBestReading getAccuracy                  mBestReading   location                if  mBestReading getAccuracy    lt  MIN ACCURACY                    LocationServices FusedLocationApi removeLocationUpdates mGoogleApiClient  this                                       Override     public void onConnected Bundle dataBundle               Get first reading  Get additional location updates if necessary         if  servicesAvailable                      Get best last location measurement meeting criteria             mBestReading   bestLastKnownLocation MIN LAST READ ACCURACY  FIVE MIN                if  null    mBestReading                        mBestReading getAccuracy    gt  MIN LAST READ ACCURACY                        mBestReading getTime    lt  System currentTimeMillis   - TWO MIN                     LocationServices FusedLocationApi requestLocationUpdates mGoogleApiClient  mLocationRequest  this                     Schedule a runnable to unregister location listeners                       Override                     public void run                             LocationServices FusedLocationApi removeLocationUpdates mGoogleApiClient  MainActivity this                                              ONE MIN  TimeUnit MILLISECONDS                                         Override     public void onConnectionSuspended int i                 private Location bestLastKnownLocation float minAccuracy  long minTime            Location bestResult   null          float bestAccuracy   Float MAX VALUE          long bestTime   Long MIN VALUE              Get the best most recent location currently available         Location mCurrentLocation   LocationServices FusedLocationApi getLastLocation mGoogleApiClient             tv setText mCurrentLocation              if  mCurrentLocation    null                float accuracy   mCurrentLocation getAccuracy                long time   mCurrentLocation getTime                 if  accuracy  lt  bestAccuracy                    bestResult   mCurrentLocation                  bestAccuracy   accuracy                  bestTime   time                                      Return best reading or null         if  bestAccuracy  gt  minAccuracy    bestTime  lt  minTime                return null                    else               return bestResult                        Override     public void onConnectionFailed ConnectionResult connectionResult                private boolean servicesAvailable             int resultCode   GooglePlayServicesUtil isGooglePlayServicesAvailable this            if  ConnectionResult SUCCESS    resultCode                return true                    else               GooglePlayServicesUtil getErrorDialog resultCode  this  0  show                return false

User · Answer

Recently refactored to obtain the location of the code  learn some good ideas  and finally achieved a relatively perfect library and Demo    Gryphius s answer is good        request all valid provider network gps  private boolean requestAllProviderUpdates         checkRuntimeEnvironment        checkPermission         if  isRequesting            EasyLog d  Request location update is busy            return false              long minTime   getCheckTimeInterval        float minDistance   getCheckMinDistance         if  mMapLocationListeners    null            mMapLocationListeners   new HashMap lt  gt                mValidProviders   getValidProviders        if  mValidProviders    null    mValidProviders isEmpty              throw new IllegalArgumentException  Not available provider                for  String provider   mValidProviders            LocationListener locationListener   new LocationListener                  Override             public void onLocationChanged Location location                    if  location    null                        EasyLog e  LocationListener callback location is null                         return                                    printf location                   mLastProviderTimestamp   location getTime                     if  location getProvider   equals LocationManager GPS PROVIDER                         finishResult location                     else                       doLocationResult location                                      removeProvider location getProvider                     if  isEmptyValidProviders                          requestTimeoutMsgInit                        removeUpdates                                                  Override             public void onStatusChanged String provider  int status  Bundle extras                                Override             public void onProviderEnabled String provider                                Override             public void onProviderDisabled String provider                                     getLocationManager   requestLocationUpdates provider  minTime  minDistance  locationListener           mMapLocationListeners put provider  locationListener           EasyLog d  Location request  s provider update    provider             isRequesting   true      return true       remove request update public void removeUpdates         checkRuntimeEnvironment         LocationManager locationManager   getLocationManager        if  mMapLocationListeners    null            Set lt String gt  keys   mMapLocationListeners keySet            for  String key   keys                LocationListener locationListener   mMapLocationListeners get key               if  locationListener    null                    locationManager removeUpdates locationListener                   EasyLog d  Remove location update  provider is     key                                   mMapLocationListeners clear            isRequesting   false             Compared with the last successful position  to determine whether you need to filter private boolean isNeedFilter Location location        checkLocation location        if  mLastLocation    null            float distance   location distanceTo mLastLocation           if  distance  lt  getCheckMinDistance                  return true                    if  location getAccuracy    gt   mLastLocation getAccuracy                    amp  amp  distance  lt  location getAccuracy                  return true                    if  location getTime    lt   mLastProviderTimestamp                return true                      return false     private void doLocationResult Location location        checkLocation location        if  isNeedFilter location             EasyLog d  location need to filtered out  timestamp is     location getTime             finishResult mLastLocation         else           finishResult location              Return to the finished position private void finishResult Location location        checkLocation location        double latitude   location getLatitude        double longitude   location getLongitude        float accuracy   location getAccuracy        long time   location getTime        String provider   location getProvider         if  mLocationResultListeners    null  amp  amp   mLocationResultListeners isEmpty              String format    Location result  lt  f   f gt  Accuracy  f Time  d Provider  s           EasyLog i String format format  latitude  longitude  accuracy  time  provider             mLastLocation   location          synchronized  this                Iterator lt LocationResultListener gt  iterator    mLocationResultListeners iterator                while  iterator hasNext                      LocationResultListener listener   iterator next                    if  listener    null                        listener onResult location                                     iterator remove                                      Complete implementation  https   github com bingerz FastLocation blob master fastlocationlib src main java cn bingerz fastlocation FastLocation java  1 Thanks  Gryphius solution ideas  I also share the complete code   2 Each request to complete the location  it is best to removeUpdates  otherwise the phone status bar will always display the positioning icon

User · Answer

This is my solution which works fairly well   private Location bestLocation   null  private Looper looper  private boolean networkEnabled   false  gpsEnabled   false   private synchronized void setLooper Looper looper        this looper   looper     private synchronized void stopLooper         if  looper    null  return      looper quit        Override protected void runTask         final LocationManager locationManager    LocationManager  service              getSystemService Context LOCATION SERVICE       final SharedPreferences prefs   getPreferences        final int maxPollingTime   Integer parseInt prefs getString              POLLING KEY   0         final int desiredAccuracy   Integer parseInt prefs getString              DESIRED KEY   0         final int acceptedAccuracy   Integer parseInt prefs getString              ACCEPTED KEY   0         final int maxAge   Integer parseInt prefs getString AGE KEY   0         final String whichProvider   prefs getString PROVIDER KEY   any        final boolean canUseGps   whichProvider equals  gps                  whichProvider equals  any        final boolean canUseNetwork   whichProvider equals  network                  whichProvider equals  any        if  canUseNetwork          networkEnabled   locationManager                  isProviderEnabled LocationManager NETWORK PROVIDER       if  canUseGps          gpsEnabled   locationManager                  isProviderEnabled LocationManager GPS PROVIDER          If any provider is enabled now and we displayed a notification clear it      if  gpsEnabled    networkEnabled  removeErrorNotification        if  gpsEnabled          updateBestLocation locationManager                  getLastKnownLocation LocationManager GPS PROVIDER        if  networkEnabled          updateBestLocation locationManager                  getLastKnownLocation LocationManager NETWORK PROVIDER        if  desiredAccuracy    0                getLocationQuality desiredAccuracy  acceptedAccuracy                      maxAge  bestLocation     LocationQuality GOOD               Define a listener that responds to location updates         LocationListener locationListener   new LocationListener                  public void onLocationChanged Location location                    updateBestLocation location                   if  desiredAccuracy    0                          amp  amp  getLocationQuality desiredAccuracy                                  acceptedAccuracy  maxAge  bestLocation                                     LocationQuality GOOD                      stopLooper                               public void onProviderEnabled String provider                    if  isSameProvider provider                          LocationManager NETWORK PROVIDER  networkEnabled  true                  else if  isSameProvider provider                          LocationManager GPS PROVIDER   gpsEnabled   true                     The user has enabled a location  remove any error                    notification                 if  canUseGps  amp  amp  gpsEnabled    canUseNetwork                          amp  amp  networkEnabled  removeErrorNotification                               public void onProviderDisabled String provider                    if  isSameProvider provider                          LocationManager NETWORK PROVIDER  networkEnabled false                  else if  isSameProvider provider                          LocationManager GPS PROVIDER   gpsEnabled   false                  if   gpsEnabled  amp  amp   networkEnabled                        showErrorNotification                        stopLooper                                                 public void onStatusChanged String provider  int status                      Bundle extras                    Log i LOG TAG   Provider     provider     statusChanged                    if  isSameProvider provider                          LocationManager NETWORK PROVIDER   networkEnabled                            status    LocationProvider AVAILABLE                            status    LocationProvider TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE                  else if  isSameProvider provider                          LocationManager GPS PROVIDER                       gpsEnabled   status    LocationProvider AVAILABLE                          status    LocationProvider TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE                     None of them are available  stop listening                 if   networkEnabled  amp  amp   gpsEnabled                        showErrorNotification                        stopLooper                                         The user has enabled a location  remove any error                    notification                 else if  canUseGps  amp  amp  gpsEnabled    canUseNetwork                          amp  amp  networkEnabled  removeErrorNotification                                     if  networkEnabled    gpsEnabled                Looper prepare                setLooper Looper myLooper                    Register the listener with the Location Manager to receive                location updates             if  canUseGps                  locationManager requestLocationUpdates                          LocationManager GPS PROVIDER  1000  1                          locationListener  Looper myLooper                 if  canUseNetwork                  locationManager requestLocationUpdates                          LocationManager NETWORK PROVIDER  1000  1                          locationListener  Looper myLooper                 Timer t   new Timer                t schedule new TimerTask                       Override                 public void run                         stopLooper                                     maxPollingTime   1000               Looper loop                t cancel                setLooper null               locationManager removeUpdates locationListener             else    No provider is enabled  show a notification         showErrorNotification              if  getLocationQuality desiredAccuracy  acceptedAccuracy  maxAge              bestLocation     LocationQuality BAD            sendUpdate new Event EVENT TYPE  locationToString desiredAccuracy                  acceptedAccuracy  maxAge  bestLocation           else Log w LOG TAG   LocationCollector failed to get a location       private synchronized void showErrorNotification         if  notifId    0  return      ServiceHandler handler   service getHandler        NotificationInfo ni   NotificationInfo createSingleNotification              R string locationcollector notif ticker              R string locationcollector notif title              R string locationcollector notif text              android R drawable stat notify error       Intent intent   new Intent              android provider Settings ACTION LOCATION SOURCE SETTINGS       ni pendingIntent   PendingIntent getActivity service  0  intent              PendingIntent FLAG UPDATE CURRENT       Message msg   handler obtainMessage ServiceHandler SHOW NOTIFICATION       msg obj   ni      handler sendMessage msg       notifId   ni id     private void removeErrorNotification         if  notifId    0  return      ServiceHandler handler   service getHandler        if  handler    null            Message msg   handler obtainMessage                  ServiceHandler CLEAR NOTIFICATION  notifId  0           handler sendMessage msg           notifId   0            Override public void interrupt         stopLooper        super interrupt       private String locationToString int desiredAccuracy  int acceptedAccuracy          int maxAge  Location location        StringBuilder sb   new StringBuilder        sb append String format               qual  s time  d prov  s acc   1f lat  f long  f               getLocationQuality desiredAccuracy  acceptedAccuracy  maxAge                      location   location getTime     1000     Millis to                                                                seconds             location getProvider    location getAccuracy    location                      getLatitude    location getLongitude          if  location hasAltitude            sb append String format   alt   1f   location getAltitude          if  location hasBearing            sb append String format   bearing   2f   location getBearing          return sb toString       private enum LocationQuality       BAD  ACCEPTED  GOOD       public String toString             if  this    GOOD  return  Good           else if  this    ACCEPTED  return  Accepted           else return  Bad            private LocationQuality getLocationQuality int desiredAccuracy          int acceptedAccuracy  int maxAge  Location location        if  location    null  return LocationQuality BAD      if   location hasAccuracy    return LocationQuality BAD      long currentTime   System currentTimeMillis        if  currentTime - location getTime    lt  maxAge   1000              amp  amp  location getAccuracy    lt   desiredAccuracy          return LocationQuality GOOD      if  acceptedAccuracy    -1                location getAccuracy    lt   acceptedAccuracy          return LocationQuality ACCEPTED      return LocationQuality BAD     private synchronized void updateBestLocation Location location        bestLocation   getBestLocation location  bestLocation      protected Location getBestLocation Location location          Location currentBestLocation        if  currentBestLocation    null               A new location is always better than no location         return location            if  location    null  return currentBestLocation         Check whether the new location fix is newer or older     long timeDelta   location getTime   - currentBestLocation getTime        boolean isSignificantlyNewer   timeDelta  gt  TWO MINUTES      boolean isSignificantlyOlder   timeDelta  lt  -TWO MINUTES      boolean isNewer   timeDelta  gt  0         If it s been more than two minutes since the current location  use        the new location        because the user has likely moved     if  isSignificantlyNewer            return location             If the new location is more than two minutes older  it must be            worse       else if  isSignificantlyOlder            return currentBestLocation               Check whether the new location fix is more or less accurate     int accuracyDelta    int   location getAccuracy   - currentBestLocation              getAccuracy         boolean isLessAccurate   accuracyDelta  gt  0      boolean isMoreAccurate   accuracyDelta  lt  0      boolean isSignificantlyLessAccurate   accuracyDelta  gt  200         Check if the old and new location are from the same provider     boolean isFromSameProvider   isSameProvider location getProvider                currentBestLocation getProvider            Determine location quality using a combination of timeliness and        accuracy     if  isMoreAccurate            return location        else if  isNewer  amp  amp   isLessAccurate            return location        else if  isNewer  amp  amp   isSignificantlyLessAccurate              amp  amp  isFromSameProvider            return location            return bestLocation         Checks whether two providers are the same    private boolean isSameProvider String provider1  String provider2        if  provider1    null  return provider2    null      return provider1 equals provider2

User · Answer

In my experience  I ve found it best to go with the GPS fix unless it s not available   I don t know much about other location providers  but I know that for GPS there are a few tricks that can be used to give a bit of a ghetto precision measure   The altitude is often a sign  so you could check for ridiculous values   There is the accuracy measure on Android location fixes   Also if you can see the number of satellites used  this can also indicate the precision   An interesting way of getting a better idea of the accuracy could be to ask for a set of fixes very rapidly  like  1 sec for 10 seconds and then sleep for a minute or two   One talk I ve been to has led to believe that some android devices will do this anyway   You would then weed out the outliers  I ve heard Kalman filter mentioned here  and use some kind of centering strategy to get a single fix   Obviously the depth you get to here depends on how hard your requirements are   If you have particularly strict requirement to get THE BEST location possible  I think you ll find that GPS and network location are as similar as apples and oranges   Also GPS can be wildly different from device to device

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To select the right location provider for your app  you can use Criteria objects   Criteria myCriteria   new Criteria    myCriteria setAccuracy Criteria ACCURACY HIGH   myCriteria setPowerRequirement Criteria POWER LOW      let Android select the right location provider for you String myProvider   locationManager getBestProvider myCriteria  true        finally require updates at -at least- the desired rate long minTimeMillis   600000     600 000 milliseconds make 10 minutes locationManager requestLocationUpdates myProvider minTimeMillis 0 locationListener      Read the documentation for requestLocationUpdates for more details on how the arguments are taken into account      The frequency of notification may be controlled using the minTime and   minDistance parameters  If minTime is greater than 0  the LocationManager   could potentially rest for minTime milliseconds between location updates   to conserve power  If minDistance is greater than 0  a location will only   be broadcasted if the device moves by minDistance meters  To obtain   notifications as frequently as possible  set both parameters to 0    More thoughts   You can monitor the accuracy of the Location objects with Location getAccuracy    which returns the estimated accuracy of the position in meters  the Criteria ACCURACY HIGH criterion should give you errors below 100m  which is not as good as GPS can be  but matches your needs  You also need to monitor the status of your location provider  and switch to another provider if it gets unavailable or disabled by the user  The passive provider may also be a good match for this kind of application  the idea is to use location updates whenever they are requested by another app and broadcast systemwide

[android] Good way of getting the user's location in Android

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