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When I searched in Google on how to get the current location in Android, I came across the page in Android’s documentation about connecting to Google Play Services and initializing it.
I found out this was really not needed. If I could get the location without having to use this, all the better right?
User MrJre from the StackOverflow forum provided this very handy, useful, clean and non-Google Play Services type of code.
All you need are some broadcasters, receivers and listeners. This is how I did using some of his code. The code will try to get locations through GPS or WI-FI in case one or the other fails.
First off, place this code in a class.
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private Location currentBestLocation; private ServiceLocationListener gpsLocationListener; private ServiceLocationListener networkLocationListener; private ServiceLocationListener passiveLocationListener; private LocationManager locationManager; private Handler handler = new Handler(); public static Device getInstance() { if (device == null) device = new Device(); return device; } public Location fetchLocation(Context context) { locationManager = (LocationManager) context.getSystemService(Context.LOCATION_SERVICE); try { LocationProvider gpsProvider = locationManager.getProvider(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER); LocationProvider networkProvider = locationManager.getProvider(LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER); LocationProvider passiveProvider = locationManager.getProvider(LocationManager.PASSIVE_PROVIDER); if (gpsProvider != null ) { Location lastKnownGPSLocation = locationManager.getLastKnownLocation(gpsProvider.getName()); if (isBetterLocation(lastKnownGPSLocation, currentBestLocation) ) currentBestLocation = lastKnownGPSLocation; } if (networkProvider != null ) { Location lastKnownNetworkLocation = locationManager.getLastKnownLocation(networkProvider.getName()); if (isBetterLocation(lastKnownNetworkLocation, currentBestLocation) ) currentBestLocation = lastKnownNetworkLocation; } if (passiveProvider != null) { Location lastKnownPassiveLocation = locationManager.getLastKnownLocation(passiveProvider.getName()); if (isBetterLocation(lastKnownPassiveLocation, currentBestLocation)) { currentBestLocation = lastKnownPassiveLocation; } } timerRunnable = new TimerRunnable(context); gpsLocationListener = new ServiceLocationListener(); networkLocationListener = new ServiceLocationListener(); passiveLocationListener = new ServiceLocationListener(); if (gpsProvider != null) { locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(gpsProvider.getName(), 0l, 0.0f, gpsLocationListener); } if (networkProvider != null) { locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(networkProvider.getName(), 0l, 0.0f, networkLocationListener); } if (passiveProvider != null) { locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(passiveProvider.getName(), 0l, 0.0f, passiveLocationListener); } if (gpsProvider != null || networkProvider != null || passiveProvider != null) { handler.postDelayed(timerRunnable, 2 * 60 * 1000); } else { handler.post(timerRunnable); } } catch (SecurityException se) { finish(); Logger.getLogger(Web.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, se); } return currentBestLocation; } private class ServiceLocationListener implements android.location.LocationListener { @Override public void onLocationChanged(Location newLocation) { synchronized (this) { if (isBetterLocation(newLocation, currentBestLocation)) { currentBestLocation = newLocation; LocationRetrieverBroadcaster.getInstance().fireGotLocation(currentBestLocation); if (currentBestLocation.hasAccuracy() && currentBestLocation.getAccuracy() <= 100) { finish(); } } } } @Override public void onStatusChanged(String s, int i, Bundle bundle) {} @Override public void onProviderEnabled(String s) {} @Override public void onProviderDisabled(String s) {} } private synchronized void finish() { handler.removeCallbacks(timerRunnable); handler.post(timerRunnable); } private static final int TWO_MINUTES = 1000 * 60 * 2; /** Determines whether one Location reading is better than the current Location fix * @param location The new Location that you want to evaluate * @param currentBestLocation The current Location fix, to which you want to compare the new one */ private boolean isBetterLocation(Location location, Location currentBestLocation) { if (currentBestLocation == null) { // A new location is always better than no location return true; } if (location == null) return true; // Check whether the new location fix is newer or older long timeDelta = location.getTime() - currentBestLocation.getTime(); boolean isSignificantlyNewer = timeDelta > TWO_MINUTES; boolean isSignificantlyOlder = timeDelta < -TWO_MINUTES; boolean isNewer = timeDelta > 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 true; // If the new location is more than two minutes older, it must be worse } else if (isSignificantlyOlder) { return false; } // Check whether the new location fix is more or less accurate int accuracyDelta = (int) (location.getAccuracy() - currentBestLocation.getAccuracy()); boolean isLessAccurate = accuracyDelta > 0; boolean isMoreAccurate = accuracyDelta < 0; boolean isSignificantlyLessAccurate = accuracyDelta > 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 true; } else if (isNewer && !isLessAccurate) { return true; } else if (isNewer && !isSignificantlyLessAccurate && isFromSameProvider) { return true; } return false; } /** Checks whether two providers are the same */ private boolean isSameProvider(String provider1, String provider2) { if (provider1 == null) { return provider2 == null; } return provider1.equals(provider2); } private class TimerRunnable implements Runnable { Context context; TimerRunnable(Context context) { this.context = context; } @Override public void run() { Intent intent = new Intent(context.getPackageName() + ".action.LOCATION_FOUND"); if (currentBestLocation != null) { intent.putExtra(LocationManager.KEY_LOCATION_CHANGED, currentBestLocation); locationManager.removeUpdates(gpsLocationListener); locationManager.removeUpdates(networkLocationListener); locationManager.removeUpdates(passiveLocationListener); } } } private TimerRunnable timerRunnable; |
Then create a broadcast class that will fire events to all listeners when a location has been found.
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public class LocationRetrieverBroadcaster { private static LocationRetrieverBroadcaster lrb; private List _listeners = new ArrayList<>(); public static LocationRetrieverBroadcaster getInstance() { if (lrb == null) lrb = new LocationRetrieverBroadcaster(); return lrb; } public synchronized void addLocationRetrieverImpl(LocationRetrieverImpl lri) { if (!_listeners.contains(lri)) _listeners.add(lri); } public synchronized void fireGotLocation(Location location) { for (LocationRetrieverImpl _listener : _listeners) { (_listener).gotLocation(location); } } } |
Next, create a listener for use in any Activity that may use location tracking.
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public interface LocationRetrieverImpl { void gotLocation(Location location); } |
All classes are now in place. The next thing to do is to implement the listener to your Activity.
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public class MyActivity extends Activity implements LocationRetrieverImpl { private Location myLocation; @Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); .... fetchLocation(this); } @Override public void gotLocation(Location location) { myLocation = location; } } |
In the onCreate() method, the fetchLocation() method is called and once a location is found, the broadcaster will fire the gotLocation() method to all listeners and return a Location object.
That’s it! And without having to use Google Play Services to get a location object.
