locate

A Flutter plugin to fetch GPS/ Network based Location Data Feed on Android.

locate v1.2.0 is readily availble for use.

intro

locate can be used on Android for fetching Location Data Feed.

Two location service providers are available

• Google Mobile Services i.e. GMS based FusedLocationProvider ( this is recommended )
• Standard Android LocationManager ( in this case you get freedom to choose which provider to use )
  • Network provider
  • GPS provider

It has androidX support, along with latest version of all dependencies.

installation

• Add locate as dependency in in your flutter project’s pubspec.yaml

dependencies:
  locate: ^1.2.0

• Fetch flutter packages from pub.dev

$ flutter pub get

• Import locate in your dart code & start getting location data feed

import 'package:locate/locate.dart';

usage

permission

• First thing first, add permission declaration in your project’s AndroidManifest.xml.

  • If you’re planning to use Google Mobile Services based FusedLocationProvider, request for ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION, which automagically selects location data source for you.
  • Otherwise you may only request for
    • ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION ( GPS based location data )
    • ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION ( Network based location data )

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_{FINE, COARSE}_LOCATION"/>

API

• Get an intance of Locate.

var _locate = Locate();

• Let’s first request Location Access Permission from user.

_locate.requestLocationPermission().then((bool result) {
                  if (result)
                    // we're good to go
                  else
                    // let user know it's required
                  });

• Time to enable Location.

_locate.enableLocation().then((bool result) {
                      if (result) {
                        // update UI & request *locate* for location Data
                        setState(() => _areWeGettingLocationUpdate = true);
                        // Location data will be fetched and delivered as Stream<MyLocation>
                      else
                        // user didn't enable location
                      }
                    });

• Now we start getting Location Data Feed.

_locate.getLocationDataFeed()
                          ..listen(
                            // we listen for location data, which is received as stream
                            (MyLocation data) =>
                                setState(() => _locationData.add(data)), // as soon as data received, will update UI/ perform some other task using location data.
                            cancelOnError: true,
                            onError: (e) => print(e),
                          );

• Aah I just forgot to mention one thing, how to stop listening location update ?

_locate.stopLocationDataFeed().then((bool result) {
  // do some UI updation kind of work/ or something else
});

what’s in MyLocation class ?

• MyLocation class can be thought of as a Location Data container & manipulator.

/// constructor of MyLocation
MyLocation(
      this.longitude,
      this.latitude,
      this.time, // in DateTime
      this.altitude, // in meters
      this.bearing, // in degree
      this.speed, // in meters/s
      this.accuracy, // in meters
      this.verticalAccuracy, // in meters
      this.bearingAccuracy, // in meters
      this.speedAccuracy, // in meters/s
      this.provider, // as String,either gps/ network/ fused
      this.satelliteCount);

• I’ve added some companion methods which can be used from MyLocation, such as

// will fetch you name of direction of movement from bearing value
bearingToDirectionName();

// m/s to km/h converion for speedaccuracy
getSpeedAccuracyInKiloMetersPerHour();

/// same as above, but works on speed
getSpeedInKiloMetersPerHour();

/// displays time in pretty format
getParsedTimeString();

example

Here’s an example application using all these API(s).

notes

You can also set some optional named parameters while invoking methods from Locate class.

While requesting permission, you can set provider

• LocationProvider.Network, if you want to use Network based Location
• LocationProvider.GPS, if you want to use GPS based Location [ default ]

Before requesting Location Data Feed, you can also set via which location manager to fetch data and location data provider name.

• For LocationServiceProvider.GMSBasedLocation, make sure you’ve declared & requested for permission of accessing FINE Location.
• Otherwise for LocationServiceProvider.LocationManagerBasedLocation as locationServiceProvider, you may use any of them, depending upon your declared & requested permissions.
  • LocationProvider.GPS
  • LocationProvider.Network