Android GPS with LocationManager to get current location – Example

In this article, we will create an Android application which displays latitude and longitude of the current location using GPS and Android’s LocationManager API.

An extension to this application is available in the article titled “Showing current location in Google Maps with GPS and LocationManager in Android“, where current location is displayed in Google Map.
This application is developed in Eclipse ( 4.2.0 ) with ADT plugin ( 20.0.3 ) and Android SDK ( R20.0.3 )

Delete Android’s backward compatibility support library from the project, if exists
By default Eclipse ( 4.2.0) adds Android Support Library to  Android application project. For this application, we don’t need to use this support library. So the library file libs/android-support-v4.jar may be removed manually via ProjectExplorer by simply right click on the file and then clicking the menu item “delete”.

<resources>

    <string name="app_name">LocationFromGPS</string>

    <string name="hello_world">Hello world!</string>

    <string name="menu_settings">Settings</string>

    <string name="title_activity_main">Location From GPS</string>

    <string name="str_tv_location">Current Location</string>

</resources>

 

Update the file res/layout/activity_main.xml

 

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"

    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"

    android:layout_width="match_parent"

    android:layout_height="match_parent" >

 

    <TextView

        android:id="@+id/tv_location"

        android:layout_width="wrap_content"

        android:layout_height="wrap_content"

        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"

        android:text="@string/str_tv_location"

        android:textStyle="bold" />

 

    <TextView

        android:id="@+id/tv_longitude"

        android:layout_width="wrap_content"

        android:layout_height="wrap_content"

        android:layout_below="@id/tv_location"

        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" />

 

    <TextView

        android:id="@+id/tv_latitude"

        android:layout_width="wrap_content"

        android:layout_height="wrap_content"

        android:layout_below="@id/tv_longitude"

        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"/>

</RelativeLayout>

 

Update the file res/values/styles.xml

 

<resources>

    <style name="AppTheme" parent="android:Theme" />

</resources>

 

Update the file res/values-v11/styles.xml

 

<resources>

    <style name="AppTheme" parent="android:Theme.Holo" />

</resources>

 

Update the file res/values-v14/styles.xml

 

<resources>

    <style name="AppTheme" parent="android:Theme.Holo" />

</resources>

 

Update the class MainActivity in the file src/in/wptrafficanalyzer/locationfromgps/MainActivitiy.java

 

package in.wptrafficanalyzer.locationfromgps;

 

import android.app.Activity;

import android.content.Context;

import android.location.Criteria;

import android.location.Location;

import android.location.LocationListener;

import android.location.LocationManager;

import android.os.Bundle;

import android.view.Menu;

import android.widget.TextView;

import android.widget.Toast;

 

public class MainActivity extends Activity implements LocationListener{

 

    LocationManager locationManager ;

    String provider;

 

    @Override

    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

 

        // Getting LocationManager object

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

 

        // Creating an empty criteria object

        Criteria criteria = new Criteria();

 

        // Getting the name of the provider that meets the criteria

        provider = locationManager.getBestProvider(criteria, false);

 

        if(provider!=null && !provider.equals("")){

 

            // Get the location from the given provider

            Location location = locationManager.getLastKnownLocation(provider);

 

            locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(provider, 20000, 1, this);

 

            if(location!=null)

                onLocationChanged(location);

            else

                Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "Location can't be retrieved", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

 

        }else{

            Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "No Provider Found", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

        }

    }

 

    @Override

    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {

        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.activity_main, menu);

        return true;

    }

 

    @Override

    public void onLocationChanged(Location location) {

        // Getting reference to TextView tv_longitude

        TextView tvLongitude = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.tv_longitude);

 

        // Getting reference to TextView tv_latitude

        TextView tvLatitude = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.tv_latitude);

 

        // Setting Current Longitude

        tvLongitude.setText("Longitude:" + location.getLongitude());

 

        // Setting Current Latitude

        tvLatitude.setText("Latitude:" + location.getLatitude() );

    }

 

    @Override

    public void onProviderDisabled(String provider) {

        // TODO Auto-generated method stub

    }

 

    @Override

    public void onProviderEnabled(String provider) {

        // TODO Auto-generated method stub

    }

 

    @Override

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

        // TODO Auto-generated method stub

    }

}

 

Update the file AndroidManifest.xml

 

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"

    package="in.wptrafficanalyzer.locationfromgps"

    android:versionCode="1"

    android:versionName="1.0" >

 

    <uses-sdk

        android:minSdkVersion="4"

        android:targetSdkVersion="15" />

 

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

 

    <application

        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"

        android:label="@string/app_name"

        android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >

        <activity

            android:name=".MainActivity"

            android:label="@string/title_activity_main" >

            <intent-filter>

                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />

            </intent-filter>

        </activity>

    </application>

</manifest>

 

Enable GPS in the emulator or device from Settings




Figure 5 : Enabling GPS in Android 1.6 (Emulator)

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Set Longitude and Latitude of the location in Eclipse -> DDMS ( Perspective ) to run  this application in the emulator

Figure 6 : Setting Longitude and Latitude in Eclipse ->DDMS Perspective

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 Screenshot of the application

Figure 7 : Showing Longitude and Latitude of the current location

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 Download Source Code

Download Full Source Code 

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 Reference
http://developer.android.com/guide/index.html