Accessing raw GPS data on Android

Question

first question here!

I am interested in acquiring raw GPS data on android devices: satellite positions, pseudoranges, and phase information. According to this well-answered question, the best we can do is get everything that GpsSatellite provides.

I'm wondering if the situation has changed in the past five years? I noticed that the Android source now a structure named GpsMeasurement, which sounds like it has everything I want in it, and is used similar to the well-known GpsStatus structure.

However, GpsMeasurement is @SystemApi and thus not accessible via normal app writing. Further, I can't find any information on this beyond source code.

Is there not another way to get this data? Is there a workaround to access GpsMeasurement regardless? There's really nothing in there that should be kept from developers.

For a really good open source project that utilizes these different data points look into MozStumbler — andrewdleach, Aug 18 '15 at 18:19
Unfortunately MozStumbler doesn't handle raw data of any sort, only processed positions. — nonbasketless, Aug 18 '15 at 18:26
bummer. thought for sure they were processing raw data from gps hardware. sorry about the false lead — andrewdleach, Aug 18 '15 at 18:27

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 01 '17 at 15:03

1

So looks like this has changed recently. Here is a link describing how to get the raw GPS data off of modern smartphones: Raw GNSS Measurements

answered Sep 01 '17 at 15:03

JVal90

176
4

No flipping way! Thanks kindly for digging it up and posting it. I've learned much about GNSS processing since 2015 and want to contribute that the data provided there is commonly regarded as "raw", though in actuality is far from it. Regardless, there is much one can do with pseudoranges and such. – nonbasketless Sep 05 '17 at 22:43

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 19 '15 at 17:27

I doubt that you ever will have access to that data on an consumer android handy. The reason is, that the GPS chip has to specially configured to output these pseudo ranges, this produces overhead that normally nobody uses.

Further GPS chips that are able to output pseudeoranges, are often more expensive. This is called the "raw-data option".

Accessing raw GPS data on Android

2 Answers2