How to get location update for every half an hour android?

Question

hi i have developed an android application for getting location and sending it to server it is working good but location update is not working it is currently running once i have to get location and send to server once in half an hour, and this process should run only for 9 hrs to 17 hrs how can i do it pls help me..!

my code:

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        {

            Intent intent = new Intent("android.location.GPS_ENABLED_CHANGE");
            intent.putExtra("enabled", true);
            this.sendBroadcast(intent);

            String provider = Settings.Secure.getString(getContentResolver(),
                    Settings.Secure.LOCATION_PROVIDERS_ALLOWED);
            if (!provider.contains("gps")) { // if gps is disabled
                final Intent poke = new Intent();
                poke.setClassName("com.android.settings",
                        "com.android.settings.widget.SettingsAppWidgetProvider");
                poke.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_ALTERNATIVE);
                poke.setData(Uri.parse("3"));
                this.sendBroadcast(poke);

                manager = (LocationManager) getSystemService(Context.LOCATION_SERVICE);

                String providerName = manager.getBestProvider(new Criteria(),
                        true);
                Location location = manager.getLastKnownLocation(providerName);

                if (!manager.isProviderEnabled(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER)) {

                    TelephonyManager mTelephonyManager = (TelephonyManager) getSystemService(Context.TELEPHONY_SERVICE);
                    GsmCellLocation loc = (GsmCellLocation) mTelephonyManager
                            .getCellLocation();
                    String networkOperator = mTelephonyManager
                            .getNetworkOperator();

                    Log.d("CID", Integer.toString(loc.getCid()));
                    Log.d("LAC", Integer.toString(loc.getLac()));
                    int mcc = Integer.parseInt(networkOperator.substring(0, 3));
                    int mnc = Integer.parseInt(networkOperator.substring(3));

                    TextView tv1 = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.locationResults);
                    if (loc != null) {
                        tv1.setText("Cell ID: " + loc.getCid() + " , "
                                + "Lac: " + loc.getLac() + "mcc : " + mcc
                                + "mnc : " + mnc);

                    }

                    // manager.requestLocationUpdates(providerName, 1000 * 60 *
                    // 2, 0,this);

                }

            }

            else {

                String providerName = manager.getBestProvider(new Criteria(),
                        true);
                Location location = manager.getLastKnownLocation(providerName);

                TextView tv = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.locationResults);
                if (location != null) {
                    tv.setText(location.getLatitude() + " latitude, "
                            + location.getLongitude() + " longitude");

                    TelephonyManager telephonyManager = (TelephonyManager) getSystemService(Context.TELEPHONY_SERVICE);
                    telephonyManager.getDeviceId();
                    String imei = telephonyManager.getDeviceId();

                    SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat(
                            "yyyyMMdd_HHmmss");
                    String cdt = sdf.format(new Date());

                    double latitude = location.getLatitude();
                    double longitude = location.getLongitude();

                    String lat = Double.toString(latitude);
                    String lon = Double.toString(longitude);

                    String locations = Double.toString(latitude) + ","
                            + Double.toString(longitude);


                    // manager.requestLocationUpdates(providerName, 1000 * 60 *
                    // 2, 0,this);

                }

                else {

                    TelephonyManager mTelephonyManager = (TelephonyManager) getSystemService(Context.TELEPHONY_SERVICE);
                    GsmCellLocation loc = (GsmCellLocation) mTelephonyManager
                            .getCellLocation();
                    String networkOperator = mTelephonyManager
                            .getNetworkOperator();

                    Log.d("CID", Integer.toString(loc.getCid()));
                    Log.d("LAC", Integer.toString(loc.getLac()));
                    int mcc = Integer.parseInt(networkOperator.substring(0, 3));
                    int mnc = Integer.parseInt(networkOperator.substring(3));

                    // TextView tv1 = (TextView)
                    // findViewById(R.id.locationResults);
                    if (loc != null) {
                        tv.setText("Cell ID: " + loc.getCid() + " , " + "Lac: "
                                + loc.getLac() + "mcc : " + mcc + "mnc : "
                                + mnc);

                    }

                }

                manager.requestLocationUpdates(providerName, 1000 * 60 * 10, 1,
                        this);
            }
        }
    }

    // Find the closest Bart Station
    public String findClosestBart(Location loc) {
        double lat = loc.getLatitude();
        double lon = loc.getLongitude();

        double curStatLat = 0;
        double curStatLon = 0;
        double shortestDistSoFar = Double.POSITIVE_INFINITY;
        double curDist;
        String curStat = null;
        String closestStat = null;

        // sort through all the stations
        // write some sort of for loop using the API.

        curDist = Math.sqrt(((lat - curStatLat) * (lat - curStatLat))
                + ((lon - curStatLon) * (lon - curStatLon)));
        if (curDist < shortestDistSoFar) {
            closestStat = curStat;
        }

        return closestStat;

    }

    @Override
    public void onLocationChanged(Location location) {
        TextView tv = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.locationResults);
        if (location != null) {
            tv.setText(location.getLatitude() + " latitude, "
                    + location.getLongitude() + " longitude");
        } else {
            tv.setText("Problem getting gps NETWORK ID : ");

        }
    }



    @Override
    public void onProviderDisabled(String arg0) {

    }

    @Override
    public void onProviderEnabled(String arg0) {
    }

    @Override
    public void onStatusChanged(String arg0, int arg1, Bundle arg2) {
    }

}

Answer 1

The approach provided by Schaemelhout and the approach taken by library referred to in the comments is the only workable solution I have found.

Using an AlarmManager to wake your service guarantees the service is periodically invoked/restarted. This serves to counteract any power saving actions that the OS/phone might hit your service with in the mean time.

Registering a location listener from your alarm BroadcastReceiver wakes up the GPS (the GPS would not normally be running if the phone is asleep). In your alarm BroadcastReceiver you will need to take and hold a WakeLock and stay awake until results are passed back to the listener.

The down side to this approach is that it takes a while for a location to be available and the accuracy may be bad. Your service might have to wait a while until acceptable accuracy is achieved (the Location accuracy value can be wrong, so it might be be best to wait for a few samples). The whole approach will need to be tuned to your required update frequency and accuracy requirements. If you need very frequent and accurate updates I suspect holding a wake-lock and keeping the GPS alive might be the only way to go.

I also tried using the lm.requestLocationUpdates() using a PendingIntent. This did faithfully wake up my service and pass it an Intent, but if the GPS was sleeping prior to the wake up the Intent lacked a location.

Answer 2

You can use requestLocationUpdates of LocationManager Class

requestLocationUpdates (long minTime, float minDistance, Criteria criteria, PendingIntent intent)

So, the first param you can specify as 30 mins according to your requirement.

To keep track of hours elapsed, you can have something like :

var1 = System.CurrentTimeMillis(); //Get time when service started

In onLocationChanged()

var2 = System.CurrentTimeMillis();

Now calculate var2-var1 to get elapsed time. if >17 hrs, removeUpdates from locationManager

Answer 3

I have a similar project going on, I am using a Service for this, fired by an AlarmManager. Check here for more info.