How can I check the current status of the GPS receiver?

by

As a developer of SpeedView: GPS speedometer for Android, I must have tried every possible solution to this problem, all with the same negative result. Let’s reiterate what doesn’t work:

  1. onStatusChanged() isn’t getting called on Eclair and Froyo.
  2. Simply counting all available satellites is, of course, useless.
  3. Checking if any of the satellites return true for usedInFix() isn’t very helpful also. The system clearly loses the fix but keeps reporting that there are still several sats that are used in it.

So here’s the only working solution I found, and the one that I actually use in my app. Let’s say we have this simple class that implements the GpsStatus.Listener:

private class MyGPSListener implements GpsStatus.Listener {
    public void onGpsStatusChanged(int event) {
        switch (event) {
            case GpsStatus.GPS_EVENT_SATELLITE_STATUS:
                if (mLastLocation != null)
                    isGPSFix = (SystemClock.elapsedRealtime() - mLastLocationMillis) < 3000;

                if (isGPSFix) { // A fix has been acquired.
                    // Do something.
                } else { // The fix has been lost.
                    // Do something.
                }

                break;
            case GpsStatus.GPS_EVENT_FIRST_FIX:
                // Do something.
                isGPSFix = true;

                break;
        }
    }
}

OK, now in onLocationChanged() we add the following:

@Override
public void onLocationChanged(Location location) {
    if (location == null) return;

    mLastLocationMillis = SystemClock.elapsedRealtime();

    // Do something.

    mLastLocation = location;
}

And that’s it. Basically, this is the line that does it all:

isGPSFix = (SystemClock.elapsedRealtime() - mLastLocationMillis) < 3000;

You can tweak the millis value of course, but I’d suggest to set it around 3-5 seconds.

This actually works and although I haven’t looked at the source code that draws the native GPS icon, this comes close to replicating its behaviour. Hope this helps someone.

More Related Contents:

  1. using Gps Getting Latitude and Longitude
  2. Can GPS location be acquired in a phone without internet and SIM?
  3. How do I get the current GPS location programmatically in Android?
  4. How to emulate GPS location in the Android Emulator?
  5. Best way to get user GPS location in background in Android [duplicate]
  6. How to mock location on device?
  7. Android: How to get accurate altitude?
  8. Get current location of user in Android without using GPS or internet
  9. Getting Latitude and longitude in 30 seconds
  10. Location service GPS Force closed
  11. How can I enable disable GPS programmatically in Android? [duplicate]
  12. Disable / Check for Mock Location (prevent gps spoofing)
  13. Android : LocationManager vs Google Play Services
  14. How to trigger broadcast receiver when gps is turn on/off?
  15. Android : how to capture a image of GPS location
  16. Android device GPS on/off programmatically
  17. Android MapView -setting zoom automatically until all ItemizedOverlay’s are visible
  18. Android Location Manager, Get GPS location ,if no GPS then get to Network Provider location
  19. Android LocationManager.getLastKnownLocation() returns null
  20. Fused Location Provider unexpected behavior
  21. How can I get the dreaded WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS permission for my android app?
  22. getlastknownlocation always return null after I re-install the apk file via eclipse
  23. Does GPS require Internet?
  24. How to enable Location access programmatically in android?
  25. How to put some delay in calling an activity from another activity?
  26. GPS not update location after close and reopen app on android
  27. Emulator’s Location simulation not working
  28. How accurate is Android GPS? [closed]
  29. How to detect when user turn on/off GPS state?
  30. Sync Android devices via GPS time?

Leave a Comment