Android - Reliably getting the current location

Question

My app checks at a specific time whether a user is at a given location. I use the alarm manager to start a service that makes this call:

locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(bestProvider, 0, 0, listener);

And also checks:

 locationManager.getLastKnownLocation(bestProvider);

But I'm having problems when running on a real device. For one thing, getLastKnownLocation is most likely the last place the GPS was on, which could be anywhere (i.e., it could be miles from the user's current location). So I'll just wait for requestLocationUpdates callbacks, and if they aren't there within two minutes, remove the listener and give up, right?

Wrong, because if the user's location is already stable (i.e., they've used GPS recently and haven't moved) then my listener will never be called because the location doesn't change. But the GPS will run until my listener is removed, draining the battery...

What is the right way to get the current location without mistaking an old location for the current location? I don't mind waiting a few minutes.

EDIT: It's possible that I'm wrong about the listener not being called, it may just take a little longer than I thought... Hard to say. I'd appreciate a definitive answer still.

Answer 1

The code may be something like that:

public class MyLocation {
    Timer timer1;
    LocationManager lm;

    public boolean getLocation(Context context)
    {
        lm = (LocationManager) context.getSystemService(Context.LOCATION_SERVICE);
        lm.requestLocationUpdates(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER, 0, 0, locationListenerGps);
        timer1=new Timer();
        timer1.schedule(new GetLastLocation(), 20000);
        return true;
    }

    LocationListener locationListenerGps = new LocationListener() {
        public void onLocationChanged(Location location) {
            timer1.cancel();
            lm.removeUpdates(this);
            //use location as it is the latest value
        }
        public void onProviderDisabled(String provider) {}
        public void onProviderEnabled(String provider) {}
        public void onStatusChanged(String provider, int status, Bundle extras) {}
    };

    class GetLastLocation extends TimerTask {
        @Override
        public void run() {
             lm.removeUpdates(locationListenerGps);
             Location location=lm.getLastKnownLocation(LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER);
             //use location as we have not received the new value from listener
        }
    }
}

We start the listener and wait for update for some time (20 seconds in my example). If we receive update during this time we use it. If we don't receive an update during this time we use getLastKnownLocation value and stop the listener.

You can see my complete code here What is the simplest and most robust way to get the user's current location on Android?

EDIT (by asker): This is most of the answer, but my final solution uses a Handler instead of a Timer.

Answer 2

If the user's location is already stable, then getLastKnownLocation will return the current location. I'd call getLastKnownLocation first, look at the timestamp (compare Location.getElapsedRealTimeNanos() with SystemClock.elapsedRealTimeNanos()) then register a listener if the fix is too old.