Android LocationManager Criteria

Question

I need to receive location changes both from Network and GPS providers.

If GPS provider not avaliable or has not location (bad sattelite visibility) I would receive location from Network provider else from GPS provider.

Is it possible to select provider using criteria according to my necessity?

Preadamite

if you are using Criteria class for finding best Provider available according to configuration then will result anyone from GPS PROVIDER , NETWORK PROVIDER or PASSIVE. and without Criteria class use requestLocationUpdates for getting location accoding to provider – Pecoraro

LocationManager will not notify me about Network and GPS both in one callback? Need I to use two requestLocation() with different callbacks? – Preadamite

To register your location manager for getting updates, you must give a provider, from whom you want to get updates. like mgr.requestLocationUpdates(LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER, 10 * 1000, 50, this); – Gluck

Answer 1

Actually Android Developers - Making Your App Location Aware has a great example code to meet your needs.

in its code, if you use both providers (from GPS and from Network) it will do a comparison:

...
} else if (mUseBoth) {
    // Get coarse and fine location updates.
    mFineProviderButton.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.button_inactive);
    mBothProviderButton.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.button_active);
    // Request updates from both fine (gps) and coarse (network) providers.
    gpsLocation = requestUpdatesFromProvider(
            LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER, R.string.not_support_gps);
    networkLocation = requestUpdatesFromProvider(
            LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER, R.string.not_support_network);

    // If both providers return last known locations, compare the two and use the better
    // one to update the UI.  If only one provider returns a location, use it.
    if (gpsLocation != null && networkLocation != null) {
        updateUILocation(getBetterLocation(gpsLocation, networkLocation));
    } else if (gpsLocation != null) {
        updateUILocation(gpsLocation);
    } else if (networkLocation != null) {
        updateUILocation(networkLocation);
    }
}
...

It implement the idea of best location providers (by determine the accuracy within a specified period of time like:

/** Determines whether one Location reading is better than the current Location fix.
  * Code taken from
  * http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/location/obtaining-user-location.html
  *
  * @param newLocation  The new Location that you want to evaluate
  * @param currentBestLocation  The current Location fix, to which you want to compare the new
  *        one
  * @return The better Location object based on recency and accuracy.
  */
protected Location getBetterLocation(Location newLocation, Location currentBestLocation) {
    if (currentBestLocation == null) {
        // A new location is always better than no location
        return newLocation;
    }

    // Check whether the new location fix is newer or older
    long timeDelta = newLocation.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 newLocation;
    // 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) (newLocation.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(newLocation.getProvider(),
            currentBestLocation.getProvider());

    // Determine location quality using a combination of timeliness and accuracy
    if (isMoreAccurate) {
        return newLocation;
    } else if (isNewer && !isLessAccurate) {
        return newLocation;
    } else if (isNewer && !isSignificantlyLessAccurate && isFromSameProvider) {
        return newLocation;
    }
    return currentBestLocation;
}

For complete code, please have a look at the link provided above.

Fructiferous

Answer 2

For search best location Provider please user belowe code : Please refer https://developer.android.com/reference/android/location/Criteria.html for understand, How criteria will going to work ?

public  String getProviderName() {
    LocationManager locationManager =(LocationManager)this.getSystemService(Context.LOCATION_SERVICE);
    Criteria criteria = new Criteria();
    criteria.setPowerRequirement(Criteria.POWER_LOW);
    criteria.setAccuracy(Criteria.ACCURACY_FINE);
    criteria.setSpeedRequired(true);
    criteria.setAltitudeRequired(false);
    criteria.setBearingRequired(false);
    criteria.setCostAllowed(false);
    return locationManager.getBestProvider(criteria, true);
}

Alfons

Criteria is already deprecated – Imperialism

Answer 3

Just don't give any criteria, and try to get the best provider:

LocationManager mgr = (LocationManager) getSystemService(LOCATION_SERVICE);
Criteria criteria = new Criteria();
String best = mgr.getBestProvider(criteria, true);
//since you are using true as the second parameter, you will only get the best of providers which are enabled.
Location location = mgr.getLastKnownLocation(best);

Gluck