We’re building an open SDK to collect location data (like GPS) from phones, for apps like yours

Purpose

Why is this project useful?

OpenLocate is supported by developers, non-profits, trade groups, and industry for the following reasons:

• Collecting location data in a battery efficient manner that does not adversely affect mobile application performance is non-trivial. OpenLocate enables everyone in the community to benefit from shared knowledge around how to do this well.
• Creates standards and best practices for location collection.
• Developers have full transparency on how OpenLocate location collection works.
• Location data collected via OpenLocate is solely controlled by the developer.

What can I do with location data?

Mobile application developers can use location data collected via OpenLocate to:

• Enhance their mobile application using context about the user’s location.
• Receive data about the Points of Interest a device has visited by enabling integrations with 3rd party APIs such as Google Places or Foursquare Venues
• Send location data to partners of OpenLocate via integrations listed here.

Who is supporting OpenLocate?

OpenLocate is supported by mobile app developers, non-profit trade groups, academia, and leading companies across GIS, logistics, marketing, and more.

Requirements

• Android - Min SDK version 19

Permissions

Openlocate uses the following permissions:

• ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION - Required to access approximate location.
• ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION - Required to access precise location.
• INTERNET - Required to open network sockets.
• ACCESS_WIFI_STATE - Required to access information about Wi-Fi networks.

Installation

Adding to your project

Add the below line to your app's build.gradle:

repositories {
    maven {
        url "https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/openlocate-android/"
    }
}

Add the below line to your app's build.gradle inside the dependencies section:

compile 'com.openlocate:openlocate:0.1.10@aar'

Usage

Start tracking of location

Configure where the SDK should send data to by building the configuration with appropriate URL and headers. Supply the configuration to the startTracking method.

Configuration config = new Configuration.Builder()
                    .setUrl(<Your URL>)
                    .setHeaders(<Your Headers>)
                    .build();
try {
  OpenLocate.getInstance(context).startTracking(config);
} catch (Exception e) {
  Log.e("OpenLocate", e.getMessage())
}

For example, to send data to SafeGraph:

HashMap<String, String> headers = new HashMap<>();
headers.put("Authorization", "Bearer <TOKEN>");

Configuration config = new Configuration.Builder()
        .setUrl("https://api.safegraph.com/v1/provider/<UUID>/devicelocation")
        .setHeaders(headers)
        .build();
try {
  OpenLocate.getInstance(context).startTracking(config);
} catch (Exception e) {
  Log.e("OpenLocate", e.getMessage())
}

Stop tracking of location

To stop location tracking, call the stopTracking method on OpenLocate. Get the instance by calling getInstance.

OpenLocate.getInstance(context).stopTracking()

Fields collected by the SDK

The following fields are collected by the SDK to be sent to a private or public API:

1. latitude - Latitude of the device
2. longitude - Longitude of the device
3. utc_timestamp - Timestamp of the recorded location in epoch
4. horizontal_accuracy - The accuracy of the location being recorded
5. id_type - 'aaid' for identifying android advertising type
6. ad_id - Advertising identifier
7. ad_opt_out - Flag that indicates whether user has enabled "limit ad tracking" (1: enabled; 0: not enabled)
8. course - Bearing in degrees.
9. speed - Speed in meters/second over ground.
10. altitude - Altitude in meters above the WGS 84 reference ellipsoid.

(Optional)

11. is_charging - Indicates whether phone is charging or not
12. device_manufacturer - Manufacturer of device
13. device_model - Model of devise
14. os - Operating system installed on Device.
15. location_method - Method of location collected i.e "wifi", "cellular", "fused", "gps"
16. location_context - Indicates whether the location was collected when the application was foregrounded or backgrounded on the device.
17. carrier_name - Name of the mobile network carrier
18. connection_type - Collects devices's network connection type
19. wifi_ssid - Collects wifi_ssid
20. wifi_bssid - Collects wifi_bssid

Configuring fields for collection

Optional field collection can be disabled while building the configuration object before passing it to the startTracking method.

For example

Configuration configuration = new Configuration.Builder()
                    .setUrl(BuildConfig.URL)
                    .setHeaders(getHeader())
                    .withoutDeviceManufacturer()
                    .withoutDeviceModel()
                    .withoutChargingInfo()
                    .withoutOperatingSystem()
                    .withoutCarrierName()
                    .withoutConnectionType()
                    .withoutWifiInfo()
                    .withoutLocationMethod()
                    .withoutLocationContext()
                    .build();

Using user's location to query 3rd party Places APIs

To use user's current location, obtain the location by calling getCurrentLocation method on OpenLocate. Get the instance by calling getInstance. Use the fields collected by SDK to send to 3rd party APIs.

For example, to obtain user location:

OpenLocate openLocate = OpenLocate.getInstance(activity);

openLocate.getCurrentLocation(new OpenLocateLocationCallback() {
    @Override
    public void onLocationFetch(OpenLocateLocation location) {
        //Use location object to obtain fields and pass it to 3rd Party API
    }

    @Override
    public void onError(Error error) {
       //error
    }
});

For example, to query Google Places API using location:

Google Places API: https://developers.google.com/places/web-service/search

private Map<String, String> getQueryMapGoogle(OpenLocateLocation location ) {
        Map<String, String> queryMap = new HashMap<>();
        queryMap.put("location", String.valueOf(location.getLocation().getLatitude()) + "," + String.valueOf(location.getLocation().getLongitude()) );
        queryMap.put("radius", "500");
        queryMap.put("type", "restaurant");
        queryMap.put("keyword", "south");
        queryMap.put("key", -YOUR GOOGLE PLACES API KEY-);
        return queryMap;
}

public void fetchGooglePlaces(OpenLocateLocation openLocateLocation, final SafeGraphPlaceCallback callback) {

        GooglePlaceClient safeGraphPlaceClient = GooglePlaceClientGenerator.createClient(GooglePlaceClient.class);
        Call<GooglePlaceBody> call=safeGraphPlaceClient.getNearByPlaces(getQueryMapGoogle(openLocateLocation));

        call.enqueue(new Callback<GooglePlaceBody>() {
            @Override
            public void onResponse(Call<GooglePlaceBody> call, Response<GooglePlaceBody> response) {
                if(response.isSuccessful()) {
                     //TODO Do something with place.
                }
            }

            @Override
            public void onFailure(Call<GooglePlaceBody> call, Throwable t) {
                    //Error
            }
        });
}

For example, to query Safegraph Places API using location:

SafeGraph Places API: https://developers.safegraph.com/docs/places.html

private Map<String, String> getQueryMap(OpenLocateLocation location) {
        Map<String, String> queryMap = new HashMap<>();
        queryMap.put("advertising_id", location.getAdvertisingInfo().getId());
        queryMap.put("advertising_id_type", "aaid");
        queryMap.put("latitude", String.valueOf(location.getLocation().getLatitude()));
        queryMap.put("longitude", String.valueOf(location.getLocation().getLongitude()));
        queryMap.put("horizontal_accuracy", String.valueOf(location.getLocation().getHorizontalAccuracy()));
        return queryMap;
 }

 private void fetchNearbyPlaces() {
    // These classes can be found in the example app in this repo
     SafeGraphPlaceClient safeGraphPlaceClient = ClientGenerator.createClient(SafeGraphPlaceClient.class);
     Call<SafeGraphPlaceBody> call = safeGraphPlaceClient.getAllPlaces(getQueryMap(openLocateLocation));

     call.enqueue(new Callback<SafeGraphPlaceBody>() {
         @Override
         public void onResponse(Call<SafeGraphPlaceBody> call, Response<SafeGraphPlaceBody> response) {

             if (response.isSuccessful()) {
                 List<SafeGraphPlace> places = response.body().getPlaceList();
                 //TODO Do something with places
             }
         }

         @Override
         public void onFailure(Call<SafeGraphPlaceBody> call, Throwable t) {
             //error
         }
     });
 }

Similarly, OpenLocate SDK can be used to query additional APIs such as Facebook Places Graph or any other 3rd party places API.

• Facebook Places API - https://developers.facebook.com/docs/places/

Note

ClientGenerator is created using Retrofit and its implementation code can found in example code.

Sample Request Body

This is a sample request body sent by the SDK.

[
  {
    "latitude": 37.773972,
    "longitude": -122.431297,
    "horizontal_accuracy": "23.670000076293945",
    "utc_timestamp": 1508369672,
    "course": "0.0",
    "speed": "0.0",
    "altitude": 0,
    "ad_id": "f109e57e-a02e-41d3-b7c4-c906d1b92331",
    "ad_opt_out": false,
    "id_type": "aaid",
    "device_manufacturer": "motorola",
    "device_model": "Moto G (5S) Plus",
    "is_charging": true,
    "os_version": "Android 7.1.1",
    "carrier_name": "T Mobile",
    "wifi_ssid": "\"Jungle\"",
    "wifi_bssid": "10:fe:ed:8d:b5:7c",
    "connection_type": "wifi",
    "location_method": "gps",
    "location_context": "bground"
  },
  {
    "latitude": 37.773972,
    "longitude": -122.431297,
    "horizontal_accuracy": "23.670000076293945",
    "utc_timestamp": 1508369683,
    "course": "0.0",
    "speed": "0.0",
    "altitude": 0,
    "ad_id": "f109e57e-a02e-41d3-b7c4-c906d1b92331",
    "ad_opt_out": false,
    "id_type": "aaid",
    "device_manufacturer": "motorola",
    "device_model": "Moto G (5S) Plus",
    "is_charging": true,
    "os_version": "Android 7.1.1",
    "carrier_name": "T Mobile",
    "wifi_ssid": "\"Jungle\"",
    "wifi_bssid": "10:fe:ed:8d:b5:7c",
    "connection_type": "wifi",
    "location_method": "gps",
    "location_context": "bground"
  }
]

Communication

• If you need help, post a question to the discussion forum, or tag a question with 'OpenLocate' on Stack Overflow.
• If you found a bug, open an issue.
• If you have a feature request, open an issue.
• If you want to contribute, submit a pull request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE.md file for details.