My app is currently using Maps by Google Play Services
speficying:
mMap.setMyLocationEnabled(true);
I realize each time I am displaying the map in my app:
- the location is indicated on the map by a blue dot
- a location icon is displaying in the top bar
- if I go into Settings/Location of the phone, my app is reported as "High battery use"
However, I can see there are apps that use Maps and still show the location blue dot, but the location icon doesn't appear in top bar and their battery usage is low.
My app currently grants both permissions:
android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION
android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION
My question is:
how can I show the location blue dot with low battery usage?
is it possible to specify the accuracy/battery usage by code?
UPDATE
Actually I realized that the way to do it is to use the GoogleApiClient
's FusedLocationApi
mGoogleApiClient = new GoogleApiClient.Builder(context)
.addApi(LocationServices.API)
.addConnectionCallbacks(this)
.addOnConnectionFailedListener(this)
.build();
I have configured the GoogleApiClient inside my Activity, calling:
GoogleApiClient.connect()
on the Activity's start
GoogleApiClient.disconnect()
on the Activity's stop
on the onConnected
callback I set the criteria for the location updates: fastest interval of 1 minute with low power priority:
private static final LocationRequest REQUEST = LocationRequest.create()
.setFastestInterval(60000) // in milliseconds
.setInterval(180000) // in milliseconds
.setPriority(LocationRequest.PRIORITY_LOW_POWER);
@Override
public void onConnected(Bundle bundle) {
LocationServices.FusedLocationApi.requestLocationUpdates(
mGoogleApiClient,
REQUEST,
this); // LocationListener
}
I have tested that the GoogleApiClient connects correctly at start, but for some reasons whenever I visit the fragment with the embedded MapView, I still get the high battery use for my app on the Settings/Location screen!
It seems the MapView is ignoring these low power criterias!
FINALLY FOUND THE SOLUTION!!!
thanks to Tristan for his answer!
By default, GoogleMap uses its on location provider, which is not the Fused Location Provider. In order to use the Fused Location Provider (which allows you to control the location accuracy and power consumption) you need to explicitely set the map location source with GoogleMap.setLocationSource()
(documentation)
I am reporting here a sample activity to do that:
import com.google.android.gms.common.ConnectionResult;
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 com.google.android.gms.maps.GoogleMap;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.GoogleMap.OnMyLocationButtonClickListener;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.LocationSource;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.OnMapReadyCallback;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.SupportMapFragment;
import android.location.Location;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentActivity;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.widget.Toast;
public class MainActivity extends FragmentActivity
implements
ConnectionCallbacks,
OnConnectionFailedListener,
LocationSource,
LocationListener,
OnMyLocationButtonClickListener,
OnMapReadyCallback {
private GoogleApiClient mGoogleApiClient;
private TextView mMessageView;
private OnLocationChangedListener mMapLocationListener = null;
// location accuracy settings
private static final LocationRequest REQUEST = LocationRequest.create()
.setPriority(LocationRequest.PRIORITY_BALANCED_POWER_ACCURACY);
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
mMessageView = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.message_text);
SupportMapFragment mapFragment =
(SupportMapFragment) getSupportFragmentManager().findFragmentById(R.id.map);
mapFragment.getMapAsync(this);
mGoogleApiClient = new GoogleApiClient.Builder(this)
.addApi(LocationServices.API)
.addConnectionCallbacks(this)
.addOnConnectionFailedListener(this)
.build();
}
@Override
protected void onResume() {
super.onResume();
mGoogleApiClient.connect();
}
@Override
public void onPause() {
super.onPause();
mGoogleApiClient.disconnect();
}
@Override
public void onMapReady(GoogleMap map) {
map.setLocationSource(this);
map.setMyLocationEnabled(true);
map.setOnMyLocationButtonClickListener(this);
}
public void showMyLocation(View view) {
if (mGoogleApiClient.isConnected()) {
String msg = "Location = "
+ LocationServices.FusedLocationApi.getLastLocation(mGoogleApiClient);
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), msg, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
}
/**
* Implementation of {@link LocationListener}.
*/
@Override
public void onLocationChanged(Location location) {
mMessageView.setText("Location = " + location);
if (mMapLocationListener != null) {
mMapLocationListener.onLocationChanged(location);
}
}
@Override
public void onConnected(Bundle connectionHint) {
LocationServices.FusedLocationApi.requestLocationUpdates(
mGoogleApiClient,
REQUEST,
this); // LocationListener
}
@Override
public void onConnectionSuspended(int cause) {
// Do nothing
}
@Override
public void onConnectionFailed(ConnectionResult result) {
// Do nothing
}
@Override
public boolean onMyLocationButtonClick() {
Toast.makeText(this, "MyLocation button clicked", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
// Return false so that we don't consume the event and the default behavior still occurs
// (the camera animates to the user's current position).
return false;
}
@Override
public void activate(OnLocationChangedListener onLocationChangedListener) {
mMapLocationListener = onLocationChangedListener;
}
@Override
public void deactivate() {
mMapLocationListener = null;
}
}
You will want to make your activity (or better a separate object for this purpose) implement the LocationSource
interface.
It is pretty simple you need to store the listener passed in the activate()
method and call it when the location is updated and forget it when deactivate()
is called. See this answer for an example, you will probably want to update it to use the FusedLocationProvider
.
Once you have this set up you can pass your activity as the LocationSource
for the map like so mMap.setLocationSource(this)
(documentation).
This will stop the map from using its default LocationSource
which uses the high battery use location services.
It's stated here that
FusedLocationProviderApi provides improved location finding and power usage and is used by the "My Location" blue dot.
So "My Location" dot on map is fed by FusedLocationProviderApi
. And as you grant permission android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION
you allow FusedLocationProviderApi
for your app to get data from GPS which may cause high battery use.
So add only android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION
permission to manifest and Android should not blame you for battery usage.
You can do so by using Network provider classes
You can use below code
AppLocationService.java // Special for getting current location with low battery usage (same like Battery saver mode in nexus 5 ,5.0)
package coreclass;
import android.app.Service;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.location.Location;
import android.location.LocationListener;
import android.location.LocationManager;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.IBinder;
public class AppLocationService extends Service implements LocationListener {
protected LocationManager locationManager;
Location location;
private static final long MIN_DISTANCE_FOR_UPDATE = 10;
private static final long MIN_TIME_FOR_UPDATE = 1000 * 60 * 2;
public AppLocationService(Context context) {
locationManager = (LocationManager) context
.getSystemService(LOCATION_SERVICE);
}
public Location getLocation(String provider) {
if (locationManager.isProviderEnabled(provider)) {
locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(provider,
MIN_TIME_FOR_UPDATE, MIN_DISTANCE_FOR_UPDATE, this);
if (locationManager != null) {
location = locationManager.getLastKnownLocation(provider);
return location;
}
}
return null;
}
@Override
public void onLocationChanged(Location location) {
}
@Override
public void onProviderDisabled(String provider) {
}
@Override
public void onProviderEnabled(String provider) {
}
@Override
public void onStatusChanged(String provider, int status, Bundle extras) {
}
@Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent arg0) {
return null;
}
}
Usage of above class
MainActivity.java
AppLocationService appLocationService;
appLocationService = new AppLocationService(getActivity());
Location nwLocation = appLocationService.getLocation(LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER);
if (nwLocation != null) {
Lat = nwLocation.getLatitude();
Longi = nwLocation.getLongitude();
}
In this way you can get the current location with GPS mode in high bettery usage mode, after you can set the blue dot or whatever you want
Hope it helps you and all