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I'm creating an app which tracks the location through FusedLocationProviderApi in a Foreground Service.

When I create LocationRequest with PRIORITY_BALANCED_POWER_ACCURACY and start listening for location updates, to my surprise GPS fires up ( Location in the phone settings is set to High Accuracy). I get the location almost immediately (through wifi/cell sources I guess), but as I'm indoors I can't get a GPS fix and it just keeps on trying without end...

Even though I didn't ask for PRIORITY_HIGH_ACCURACY I get hit with significant battery drain and get blamed for using GPS for several minutes.

  1. Is there a way to set a timeout for GPS search (detect indoors situation)?
  2. Is it possible to get a decent location using FusedLocationProviderApi without automatically triggering GPS or do I have to revert to the old location API?
  3. Do I have to resort to limiting each LocationRequest to couple of minutes (setExpirationDuration) and create a new one to prevent the GPS battery drain?

[EDIT]: I think I might have found an another culprit. On a map tab in the app I have set setMyLocationEnabled(true), and this seems to be causing the GPS to flare up. I will experiment a bit more and post the results. Still I'm interested in how the location manager decides that enough is enough when it comes to GPS fix attempt.

Thanks in advance!

Nemanja Maksimovic
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  • i think you will have to ask the user to set it to BALANCED_POWER, programmatically making the requests would not change the device setting if it is already set to HIGH_ACCURACY, check [prompting user about location settings](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/28759454/enabling-location-with-mode-high-accuracy-or-battery-saving-without-user-needing) – Pararth Oct 14 '15 at 12:34
  • for GPS search scenario, you can add a timer for obtaining the location with only GPS and if its not obtained in a specific duration, arrange the callback according to what you want. ALSO, FusedLocationProviderApi works well, i suggest not to revert to the old one – Pararth Oct 14 '15 at 12:37
  • Thing is I don't mind using the GPS. What I do mind is wasting 30% of the battery trying to get a GPS fix indoors, especially if I didn't explicitly ask for it. @user2450263 – Nemanja Maksimovic Oct 14 '15 at 12:38
  • yeah then what you can do is set a short interval for the timer while trying to obtain the location from GPS, 9/10 scenarios, where there is no line-of-sight issue, you will get the location within seconds – Pararth Oct 14 '15 at 12:40
  • And how would I tell FusedLocationProviderApi that I do, or do not want GPS? I still don't trust PRIORITY_BALANCED_POWER_ACCURACY to guarantee prevent GPS being turned on. – Nemanja Maksimovic Oct 14 '15 at 12:42
  • Hmm, I think I might have found an another culprit. On a map tab in the app I have set setMyLocationEnabled(true), and this seems to be causing the GPS to flare up. – Nemanja Maksimovic Oct 14 '15 at 12:44

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