cordova-plugin-navis-background-geolocation

Fork notice

This is fork of christocracy cordova-background-geolocation. The main change is in Android version. Posting positions to url was replaced by callbacks, so now it works same as in iOS. Plugin is now battery and data efficient foreground and background geolocation provider.

On Android you can choose from two location service providers:

• ANDROID_DISTANCE_FILTER (original christocracy's)
• ANDROID_FUSED_LOCATION (experimental contributed by huttj)

See wiki Which provider should I use? for more information about providers.

Warning: You probably have to set your cordova app to keep running by keepRunning property to true (this is the default now).

Description

Cross-platform foreground and background geolocation for Cordova / PhoneGap with battery-saving "circular region monitoring" and "stop detection".

It is far more battery and data efficient then html5 geolocation or cordova-geolocation plugin. But you can still use it together with other geolocation providers (eg. html5 navigator.geolocation).

Installing the plugin

As Cordova is shifting towards npm, this plugin can be installed from npm:

cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-navis-background-geolocation

Registering plugin for Adobe® PhoneGap™ Build

This plugin should work with Adobe® PhoneGap™ Build without any modification. To register plugin add following line into your config.xml:

<gap:plugin name="cordova-plugin-navis-background-geolocation" source="npm"/>

NOTE: If you're using hydration, you have to download and reinstall your app with every new version of the plugin, as plugins are not updated.

Compilation

Android

You will need to ensure that you have installed the following items through the Android SDK Manager:

Name	Version
Android SDK Tools	24.4.1
Android SDK Platform-tools	23.1
Android SDK Build-tools	23.0.1
Android Support Repository	25
Android Support Library	23.1.1
Google Play Services	29
Google Repository	24

Quick Example

document.addEventListener('deviceready', onDeviceReady, false);
 
function onDeviceReady () {
 
    /**
    * This callback will be executed every time a geolocation is recorded in the background.
    */
    var callbackFn = function(location) {
        console.log('[js] BackgroundGeoLocation callback:  ' + location.latitude + ',' + location.longitude);
 
        // Do your HTTP request here to POST location to your server.
        // jQuery.post(url, JSON.stringify(location));
 
        /*
        IMPORTANT:  You must execute the finish method here to inform the native plugin that you're finished,
        and the background-task may be completed.  You must do this regardless if your HTTP request is successful or not.
        IF YOU DON'T, ios will CRASH YOUR APP for spending too much time in the background.
        */
        backgroundGeoLocation.finish();
    };
 
    var failureFn = function(error) {
        console.log('BackgroundGeoLocation error');
    };
 
    // BackgroundGeoLocation is highly configurable. See platform specific configuration options
    backgroundGeoLocation.configure(callbackFn, failureFn, {
        desiredAccuracy: 10,
        stationaryRadius: 20,
        distanceFilter: 30,
        debug: true, // <-- enable this hear sounds for background-geolocation life-cycle.
        stopOnTerminate: false, // <-- enable this to clear background location settings when the app terminates
    });
 
    // Turn ON the background-geolocation system.  The user will be tracked whenever they suspend the app.
    backgroundGeoLocation.start();
 
    // If you wish to turn OFF background-tracking, call the #stop method.
    // backgroundGeoLocation.stop();
}

Example Application

This plugin hosts a SampleApp in example/SampleApp folder. SampleApp can be also used to improve plugin in the future. Read instructions in README.md.

Behaviour

The plugin has features allowing you to control the behaviour of background-tracking, striking a balance between accuracy and battery-usage. In stationary-mode, the plugin attempts to decrease its power usage and accuracy by setting up a circular stationary-region of configurable stationaryRadius. iOS has a nice system Significant Changes API, which allows the os to suspend your app until a cell-tower change is detected (typically 2-3 city-block change) Android uses LocationManager#addProximityAlert. Windows Phone does not have such a API.

When the plugin detects your user has moved beyond his stationary-region, it engages the native platform's geolocation system for aggressive monitoring according to the configured desiredAccuracy, distanceFilter and locationTimeout. The plugin attempts to intelligently scale distanceFilter based upon the current reported speed. Each time distanceFilter is determined to have changed by 5m/s, it recalculates it by squaring the speed rounded-to-nearest-five and adding distanceFilter (I arbitrarily came up with that formula. Better ideas?).

(round(speed, 5))^2 + distanceFilter

distanceFilter

is calculated as the square of speed-rounded-to-nearest-5 and adding configured #distanceFilter.

(round(speed, 5))^2 + distanceFilter

For example, at biking speed of 7.7 m/s with a configured distanceFilter of 30m:

=> round(7.7, 5)^2 + 30 => (10)^2 + 30 => 100 + 30 => 130

A gps location will be recorded each time the device moves 130m.

At highway speed of 30 m/s with distanceFilter: 30,

=> round(30, 5)^2 + 30 => (30)^2 + 30 => 900 + 30 => 930

A gps location will be recorded every 930m

Note the following real example of background-geolocation on highway 101 towards San Francisco as the driver slows down as he runs into slower traffic (geolocations become compressed as distanceFilter decreases)

Compare now background-geolocation in the scope of a city. In this image, the left-hand track is from a cab-ride, while the right-hand track is walking speed.

NOTE: distanceFilter is elastically auto-calculated by the plugin: When speed increases, distanceFilter increases; when speed decreases, so does distanceFilter.

API

backgroundGeoLocation.configure(success, fail, option)

Parameter	Type	Platform	Description
success	Function	all	Callback to be executed every time a geolocation is recorded in the background.
fail	Function	all	Callback to be executed every time a geolocation error occurs.
option	JSON Object	all
option.desiredAccuracy	Number	all	Desired accuracy in meters. Possible values [0, 10, 100, 1000]. The lower the number, the more power devoted to GeoLocation resulting in higher accuracy readings. 1000 results in lowest power drain and least accurate readings. @see Apple docs
option.stationaryRadius	Number	all	Stationary radius in meters. When stopped, the minimum distance the device must move beyond the stationary location for aggressive background-tracking to engage.
option.debug	Boolean	all	When enabled, the plugin will emit sounds for life-cycle events of background-geolocation! See debugging sounds table.
option.distanceFilter	Number	all	The minimum distance (measured in meters) a device must move horizontally before an update event is generated. @see Apple docs.
option.stopOnTerminate	Boolean	iOS, Android	Enable this in order to force a stop() when the application terminated (e.g. on iOS, double-tap home button, swipe away the app).
option.locationTimeout	Number	Android, WP8	The minimum time interval between location updates in seconds. @see Android docs and the MS doc for more information.
option.notificationTitle	String optional	Android	Custom notification title in the drawer.
option.notificationText	String optional	Android	Custom notification text in the drawer.
option.notificationIconColor	String optional	Android	The accent color to use for notification. Eg. #4CAF50.
option.notificationIcon	String optional	Android	The filename of a custom notification icon. See android quirks. NOTE: Only available for API Level >=21.
option.locationService	Number	Android	Set location service provider @see wiki
option.activityType	String	iOS	[AutomotiveNavigation, OtherNavigation, Fitness, Other] Presumably, this affects iOS GPS algorithm. @see Apple docs for more information

Following options are specific to provider as defined by locationService option

ANDROID_FUSED_LOCATION provider options

Parameter	Type	Platform	Description
option.interval	Number	Android	Rate in milliseconds at which your app prefers to receive location updates. @see android docs
option.fastestInterval	Number	Android	Fastest rate in milliseconds at which your app can handle location updates. @see android docs.
option.activitiesInterval	Number	Android	Rate in milliseconds at which activity recognition occurs. Larger values will result in fewer activity detections while improving battery life.
option.stopOnStillActivity	Boolean	Android	stop() is forced, when the STILL activity is detected (default is true)

Success callback will be called with one argument - location object, which tries to mimic w3c Coordinates interface.

Callback parameter	Type	Description
locationId	Number	ID of location as stored in DB (or null)
serviceProvider	String	Service provider
debug	Boolean	true if location recorded as part of debug
time	Number	UTC time of this fix, in milliseconds since January 1, 1970.
latitude	Number	latitude, in degrees.
longitude	Number	longitude, in degrees.
accuracy	Number	estimated accuracy of this location, in meters.
speed	Number	speed if it is available, in meters/second over ground.
altitude	Number	altitude if available, in meters above the WGS 84 reference ellipsoid.
bearing	Number	bearing, in degrees.

backgroundGeoLocation.start()

Start background geolocation.

backgroundGeoLocation.stop()

Stop background geolocation.

backgroundGeoLocation.isLocationEnabled(success, fail)

NOTE: Android only

One time check for status of location services. In case of error, fail callback will be executed.

Success callback parameter	Type	Description
enabled	Boolean	true/false (true when location services are enabled)

backgroundGeoLocation.showLocationSettings()

NOTE: Android only

Show system settings to allow configuration of current location sources.

backgroundGeoLocation.watchLocationMode(success, fail)

NOTE: Android only

Method can be used to detect user changes in location services settings. If user enable or disable location services then success callback will be executed. In case or error (SettingNotFoundException) fail callback will be executed.

Success callback parameter	Type	Description
enabled	Boolean	true/false (true when location services are enabled)

backgroundGeoLocation.stopWatchingLocationMode()

NOTE: Android only

Stop watching for location mode changes.

backgroundGeoLocation.getLocations(success, fail)

NOTE: Android only

Method will return all stored locations.

Success callback parameter	Type	Description
locations	Array	collection of stored locations

Locations are stored when:

1. config.stopOnTerminate is false and main activity was killed by the system or
2. option.debug is true

Debug locations can be filtered:

[].filter.call(locations, function(location) {
    return location.debug === false;
});

backgroundGeoLocation.deleteLocation(locationId, success, fail)

NOTE: Android only

Delete stored location by given locationId.

backgroundGeoLocation.deleteAllLocations(success, fail)

NOTE: Android only

Delete all stored locations.

Example config

Android:

backgroundGeoLocation.configure(callbackFn, failureFn, {
    desiredAccuracy: 10,
    notificationIconColor: '#4CAF50',
    notificationTitle: 'Background tracking',
    notificationText: 'ENABLED',
    notificationIcon: 'notification_icon',
    debug: true, // <-- enable this hear sounds for background-geolocation life-cycle.
    stopOnTerminate: false, // <-- enable this to clear background location settings when the app terminates
    locationService: backgroundGeoLocation.service.ANDROID_FUSED_LOCATION,
    interval: 60000, // <!-- poll for position every minute
    fastestInterval: 120000
});

iOS:

backgroundGeoLocation.configure(callbackFn, failureFn, {
    desiredAccuracy: 10,
    stationaryRadius: 20,
    distanceFilter: 30,
    activityType: 'AutomotiveNavigation',
    debug: true, // <-- enable this hear sounds for background-geolocation life-cycle.
    stopOnTerminate: false // <-- enable this to clear background location settings when the app terminates
});

Quirks

iOS

On iOS the plugin will execute your configured callbackFn. You may manually POST the received GeoLocation to your server using standard XHR. The plugin uses iOS Significant Changes API, and starts triggering callbackFn only when a cell-tower switch is detected (i.e. the device exits stationary radius). The function changePace(isMoving, success, failure) is provided to force the plugin to enter "moving" or "stationary" state.

stationaryRadius

Since the plugin uses iOS significant-changes API, the plugin cannot detect the exact moment the device moves out of the stationary-radius. In normal conditions, it can take as much as 3 city-blocks to 1/2 km before stationary-region exit is detected.

WP8

Keep in mind that it is not possible to use start() during the pause event of Cordova/PhoneGap. WP8 suspend your app immediately and our start() will not be executed. So make sure you fire start() before the app is closed/minimized.

stationaryRadius

In WP8 the frequency of position polling (while in stationary mode) is slowed down to once every three minutes.

desiredAccuracy

In Windows Phone, the underlying GeoLocator you can choose to use 'DesiredAccuracy' or 'DesiredAccuracyInMeters'. Since this plugins default configuration accepts meters, the default desiredAccuracy is mapped to the Windows Phone DesiredAccuracyInMeters leaving the DesiredAccuracy enum empty. For more info see the MS docs for more information.

Android

Android WILL execute your configured callbackFn. This is the main difference from original christocracy plugin. Android is using intents to do so.

On Android devices it is required to have a notification in the drawer because it's a "foreground service". This gives it high priority, decreasing probability of OS killing it. Check wiki for explanation.

If main activity is killed by the system and stopOnTerminate option is false, plugin will store locations into database. Stored locations can be retrieved later with getAllLocations method. Locations are also stored, when debug option is true. However in this case all stored locations, are flagged with debug: true and can be easily filtered.

Custom ROMs

Plugin should work with custom ROMS at least ANDROID_DISTANCE_FILTER. But ANDROID_FUSED_LOCATION provider depends on Google Play Services. Usually ROMs don't include Google Play Services libraries. Strange bugs may occur, like no GPS locations (only from network and passive) and other. When posting issue report, please mention that you're using custom ROM.

Multidex

Note: Following section was kindly copied from phonegap-plugin-push. Visit link for resolving issue with facebook plugin.

If you have an issue compiling the app and you're getting an error similar to this (com.android.dex.DexException: Multiple dex files define):

UNEXPECTED TOP-LEVEL EXCEPTION:
com.android.dex.DexException: Multiple dex files define Landroid/support/annotation/AnimRes;
    at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.readSortableTypes(DexMerger.java:596)
    at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.getSortedTypes(DexMerger.java:554)
    at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.mergeClassDefs(DexMerger.java:535)
    at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.mergeDexes(DexMerger.java:171)
    at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.merge(DexMerger.java:189)
    at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.mergeLibraryDexBuffers(Main.java:502)
    at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.runMonoDex(Main.java:334)
    at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.run(Main.java:277)
    at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.main(Main.java:245)
    at com.android.dx.command.Main.main(Main.java:106)

Then at least one other plugin you have installed is using an outdated way to declare dependencies such as android-support or play-services-gcm. This causes gradle to fail, and you'll need to identify which plugin is causing it and request an update to the plugin author, so that it uses the proper way to declare dependencies for cordova. See this for the reference on the cordova plugin specification, it'll be usefull to mention it when creating an issue or requesting that plugin to be updated.

Common plugins to suffer from this outdated dependency management are plugins related to facebook, google+, notifications, crosswalk and google maps.

Android Permissions

Android 6.0 "Marshmallow" introduced a new permissions model where the user can turn on and off permissions as necessary. When user disallow location access permissions, error configure callback will be called with error code: 20.

notificationIcon

NOTE: Only available for API Level >=21.

To use custom notification icon eg. new_icon, you need to put icons new_icon_small.png and new_icon_large.png into res/drawable directory of your app. You can automate the process as part of after_platform_add hook configured via config.xml. Check SampleApp config.xml and scripts/resource_files.js for reference.

With Adobe® PhoneGap™ Build icons must be placed into locales/android/drawable dir at the root of your project. For more information go to how-to-add-native-image-with-phonegap-build.

Intel XDK

Plugin will not work in XDK emulator ('Unimplemented API Emulation: BackgroundGeoLocation.start' in emulator). But will work on real device.

Debugging sounds

	ios	android	WP8
Exit stationary region	Calendar event notification sound	dialtone beep-beep-beep	triple short high tone
GeoLocation recorded	SMS sent sound	tt short beep	single long high tone
Aggressive geolocation engaged	SIRI listening sound
Passive geolocation engaged	SIRI stop listening sound
Acquiring stationary location sound	"tick,tick,tick" sound		double long low tone
Stationary location acquired sound	"bloom" sound	long tt beep	double short high tone

NOTE: For iOS in addition, you must manually enable the Audio and Airplay background mode in Background Capabilities to hear these debugging sounds.

Geofencing

There is nice cordova plugin cordova-plugin-geofence, which does exactly that. Let's keep this plugin lightweight as much as possible.

Changelog

See CHANGES.md

Licence

Apache License

Copyright (c) 2013 Christopher Scott, Transistor Software

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.