Get GPS location via a service in Android

Question

I need to monitor user's locations using a background service, and then load them and show the path to the user.

Using an activity, it was quite easy to get GPS locations, but when I got to do it via a service, I came into a problem as it seems to only work for looper threads (or something like that).

As I've searched the internet for a solution, I've found out that many people got the same problem, but I couldn't find a working solution. Some people say that you need to use prepare->loop->quit , and some say you have to use a handlerThread, but still, I can't find out how to do such things in a proper way.

Answer 1

Just complementing, I implemented this way and usually worked in my Service class

In my Service

@Override
public void onCreate()
{
    mHandler = new Handler(Looper.getMainLooper());
    mHandler.post(this);
    super.onCreate();
}

@Override
public void onDestroy() 
{
    mHandler.removeCallbacks(this);     
    super.onDestroy();
}

@Override
public void run()
{
    InciarGPSTracker();
}

Answer 2

I don't understand what exactly is the problem with implementing location listening functionality in the Service. It looks pretty similar to what you do in Activity. Just define a location listener and register for location updates. You can refer to the following code as example:

Manifest file:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION" />
<application
    android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/app_name" >
    <activity android:label="@string/app_name" android:name=".LocationCheckerActivity" >
        <intent-filter >
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>
    <service android:name=".MyService" android:process=":my_service" />
</application>

The service file:

import android.app.Service;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.location.Location;
import android.location.LocationManager;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.IBinder;
import android.util.Log;

public class MyService extends Service
{
private static final String TAG = "BOOMBOOMTESTGPS";
private LocationManager mLocationManager = null;
private static final int LOCATION_INTERVAL = 1000;
private static final float LOCATION_DISTANCE = 10f;

private class LocationListener implements android.location.LocationListener{
    Location mLastLocation;
    public LocationListener(String provider)
    {
        Log.e(TAG, "LocationListener " + provider);
        mLastLocation = new Location(provider);
    }
    @Override
    public void onLocationChanged(Location location)
    {
        Log.e(TAG, "onLocationChanged: " + location);
        mLastLocation.set(location);
    }
    @Override
    public void onProviderDisabled(String provider)
    {
        Log.e(TAG, "onProviderDisabled: " + provider);            
    }
    @Override
    public void onProviderEnabled(String provider)
    {
        Log.e(TAG, "onProviderEnabled: " + provider);
    }
    @Override
    public void onStatusChanged(String provider, int status, Bundle extras)
    {
        Log.e(TAG, "onStatusChanged: " + provider);
    }
} 
LocationListener[] mLocationListeners = new LocationListener[] {
        new LocationListener(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER),
        new LocationListener(LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER)
};
@Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent arg0)
{
    return null;
}
@Override
public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId)
{
    Log.e(TAG, "onStartCommand");
    super.onStartCommand(intent, flags, startId);       
    return START_STICKY;
}
@Override
public void onCreate()
{
    Log.e(TAG, "onCreate");
    initializeLocationManager();
    try {
        mLocationManager.requestLocationUpdates(
                LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER, LOCATION_INTERVAL, LOCATION_DISTANCE,
                mLocationListeners[1]);
    } catch (java.lang.SecurityException ex) {
        Log.i(TAG, "fail to request location update, ignore", ex);
    } catch (IllegalArgumentException ex) {
        Log.d(TAG, "network provider does not exist, " + ex.getMessage());
    }
    try {
        mLocationManager.requestLocationUpdates(
                LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER, LOCATION_INTERVAL, LOCATION_DISTANCE,
                mLocationListeners[0]);
    } catch (java.lang.SecurityException ex) {
        Log.i(TAG, "fail to request location update, ignore", ex);
    } catch (IllegalArgumentException ex) {
        Log.d(TAG, "gps provider does not exist " + ex.getMessage());
    }
}
@Override
public void onDestroy()
{
    Log.e(TAG, "onDestroy");
    super.onDestroy();
    if (mLocationManager != null) {
        for (int i = 0; i < mLocationListeners.length; i++) {
            try {
                mLocationManager.removeUpdates(mLocationListeners[i]);
            } catch (Exception ex) {
                Log.i(TAG, "fail to remove location listners, ignore", ex);
            }
        }
    }
} 
private void initializeLocationManager() {
    Log.e(TAG, "initializeLocationManager");
    if (mLocationManager == null) {
        mLocationManager = (LocationManager) getApplicationContext().getSystemService(Context.LOCATION_SERVICE);
    }
}
}

Answer 3

public class GPSService extends Service implements GoogleApiClient.ConnectionCallbacks, GoogleApiClient.OnConnectionFailedListener, com.google.android.gms.location.LocationListener {
    private LocationRequest mLocationRequest;
    private GoogleApiClient mGoogleApiClient;
    private static final String LOGSERVICE = "#######";

    @Override
    public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();
        buildGoogleApiClient();
        Log.i(LOGSERVICE, "onCreate");

    }

    @Override
    public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
        Log.i(LOGSERVICE, "onStartCommand");

        if (!mGoogleApiClient.isConnected())
            mGoogleApiClient.connect();
        return START_STICKY;
    }


    @Override
    public void onConnected(Bundle bundle) {
        Log.i(LOGSERVICE, "onConnected" + bundle);

        Location l = LocationServices.FusedLocationApi.getLastLocation(mGoogleApiClient);
        if (l != null) {
            Log.i(LOGSERVICE, "lat " + l.getLatitude());
            Log.i(LOGSERVICE, "lng " + l.getLongitude());

        }

        startLocationUpdate();
    }

    @Override
    public void onConnectionSuspended(int i) {
        Log.i(LOGSERVICE, "onConnectionSuspended " + i);

    }

    @Override
    public void onLocationChanged(Location location) {
        Log.i(LOGSERVICE, "lat " + location.getLatitude());
        Log.i(LOGSERVICE, "lng " + location.getLongitude());
        LatLng mLocation = (new LatLng(location.getLatitude(), location.getLongitude()));
        EventBus.getDefault().post(mLocation);

    }

    @Override
    public void onDestroy() {
        super.onDestroy();
        Log.i(LOGSERVICE, "onDestroy - Estou sendo destruido ");

    }

    @Nullable
    @Override
    public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
        return null;
    }

    @Override
    public void onConnectionFailed(ConnectionResult connectionResult) {
        Log.i(LOGSERVICE, "onConnectionFailed ");

    }

    private void initLocationRequest() {
        mLocationRequest = new LocationRequest();
        mLocationRequest.setInterval(5000);
        mLocationRequest.setFastestInterval(2000);
        mLocationRequest.setPriority(LocationRequest.PRIORITY_HIGH_ACCURACY);

    }

    private void startLocationUpdate() {
        initLocationRequest();

        if (ActivityCompat.checkSelfPermission(this, Manifest.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED && ActivityCompat.checkSelfPermission(this, Manifest.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
            // TODO: Consider calling
            //    ActivityCompat#requestPermissions
            // here to request the missing permissions, and then overriding
            //   public void onRequestPermissionsResult(int requestCode, String[] permissions,
            //                                          int[] grantResults)
            // to handle the case where the user grants the permission. See the documentation
            // for ActivityCompat#requestPermissions for more details.
            return;
        }
        LocationServices.FusedLocationApi.requestLocationUpdates(mGoogleApiClient, mLocationRequest, this);
    }

    private void stopLocationUpdate() {
        LocationServices.FusedLocationApi.removeLocationUpdates(mGoogleApiClient, this);

    }

    protected synchronized void buildGoogleApiClient() {
        mGoogleApiClient = new GoogleApiClient.Builder(this)
                .addOnConnectionFailedListener(this)
                .addConnectionCallbacks(this)
                .addApi(LocationServices.API)
                .build();
    }

}

Answer 4

ok , i've solved it by creating a handler on the onCreate of the service , and calling the gps functions through there .