Running a service to get location details

Question

In my app, i need to create an android service to periodically get mobile user's current location(latitude and longitude). The service should get user's location in every 5 minutes.. How can i do this in android service that would run in background. And is this the right approach?

Answer 1

 LocationManager mlocManager = (LocationManager)getSystemService(Context.LOCATION_SERVICE);   
      LocationListener mlocListener = new MyLocationListener();
      mlocManager.requestLocationUpdates(LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER, 0, 0, mlocListener);
}
 public class MyLocationListener implements LocationListener
    {


        @Override
        public void onLocationChanged(Location loc)
        {
            Log.i("**************************************", "Location changed");

            loc.getLatitude();
            loc.getLongitude(); 
            String Text = "My current location is: " +"Latitude = " + loc.getLatitude() + "Longitude = " + loc.getLongitude();             
            Toast.makeText( getApplicationContext(), Text, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        }

        @Override
        public void onProviderDisabled(String provider)
        {
            Toast.makeText( getApplicationContext(), "Gps Disabled", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT ).show();
        }

        @Override
        public void onProviderEnabled(String provider)
        {
            Toast.makeText( getApplicationContext(), "Gps Enabled", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        }

        @Override
        public void onStatusChanged(String provider, int status, Bundle extras)
        {
        }

    }

Answer 2

You don't need a service to accomplish this. In order to get location every 5mins, in your app, on the activity you can implement the location listener. While setting up the location manager, you can specify the minTime = 5mins (300000 ms). The onlocationChanged method will be called every 5 mins or when the distance change > minDistance, which ever occurs first.

LocationManager locationManager = (LocationManager)getSystemService(Context.LOCATION_SERVICE);
MyLocationListener listener = new MyLocationListener();
locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER, 300000, minDistance, listener);

Answer 3

You can write a private/internal class(within your service) that implements locationListener and in the onStart meethod of your service you can requestLocationUpdates which will be listened by your listener

LocationManager locationManager = (LocationManager) getSystemService(Context.LOCATION_SERVICE);
MyLocationListener listener = new MyLocationListener();
locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER, minTime, minDistance, listener);