Creating a blank location object

A couple of other people and me are working on an app for android. It requires locating the device in latitude and longitude. We've been able to create a location object, but the object is always blank. We even tried recreating the code in a completely empty project, but that also failed. Here's our root activity:

package com.app.Locationtest;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Context;
import android.location.Location;
import android.location.LocationManager;
import android.os.Bundle;

public class locationtest extends Activity {
    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
        LocationManager locman =(LocationManager)getSystemService(Context.LOCATION_SERVICE); 
        Location loc = locman.getLastKnownLocation(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER);
        if (loc==null)
        {
           finish();
        }
    }
}

Here's the Manifest:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      package="com.app.Locationtest"
      android:versionCode="1"
      android:versionName="1.0">
      <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION" />
      <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />
      <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_GPS" />
    <application android:icon="@drawable/icon" android:label="@string/app_name">
        <activity android:name=".locationtest"
                  android:label="@string/app_name">
            <intent-filte开发者_运维百科r>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>

    </application>
    <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="8" />

</manifest> 

How do we fix this problem?

getLastKnownLocation() javadoc says: ".. If the provider is currently disabled, null is returned."

So it relies on GPS but it does not turn it on. It is used to piggyback on other applications using GPS.

Sometimes the device needs too much time to retrieve the location, this is the flow for retrieving locations listed on the android site:

1. Start application.
2. Sometime later, start listening for updates from desired location providers.
3. Maintain a "current best estimate" of location by filtering out new, but less accurate fixes.
4. Stop listening for location updates.
5. Take advantage of the last best location estimate.

I use a custom location listener and start listening for location updates, since my app is initialized, even if I'm not showing the map:

locationManager = (LocationManager) this.getSystemService(LOCATION_SERVICE);
locationListener = new CustomLocationListener(); 
locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER, 0, 0, locationListener);
locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER, 0, 0, locationListener);

I have a thread that is listening the locations, so when a user taps and calls my mapview, if the location is null, we send a msg to the user, to wait while we are retrieving his location.

You might want to develop a method to choose the better location, because the last location maybe is not the best location, try with this:

private static final int TWO_MINUTES = 1000 * 60 * 2;

/** Determines whether one Location reading is better than the current Location fix
  * @param location  The new Location that you want to evaluate
  * @param currentBestLocation  The current Location fix, to which you want to compare the new one
  */
protected boolean isBetterLocation(Location location, Location currentBestLocation) {
    if (currentBestLocation == null) {
        // A new location is always better than no location
        return true;
    }

    // Check whether the new location fix is newer or older
    long timeDelta = location.getTime() - currentBestLocation.getTime();
    boolean isSignificantlyNewer = timeDelta > TWO_MINUTES;
    boolean isSignificantlyOlder = timeDelta < -TWO_MINUTES;
    boolean isNewer = timeDelta > 0;

    // If it's been more than two minutes since the current location, use the new location
    // because the user has likely moved
    if (isSignificantlyNewer) {
        return true;
    // If the new location is more than two minutes older, it must be worse
    } else if (isSignificantlyOlder) {
        return false;
    }

    // Check whether the new location fix is more or less accurate
    int accuracyDelta = (int) (location.getAccuracy() - currentBestLocation.getAccuracy());
    boolean isLessAccurate = accuracyDelta > 0;
    boolean isMoreAccurate = accuracyDelta < 0;
    boolean isSignificantlyLessAccurate = accuracyDelta > 200;

    // Check if the old and new location are from the same provider
    boolean isFromSameProvider = isSameProvider(location.getProvider(),
            currentBestLocation.getProvider());

    // Determine location quality using a combination of timeliness and accuracy
    if (isMoreAccurate) {
        return true;
    } else if (isNewer && !isLessAccurate) {
        return true;
    } else if (isNewer && !isSignificantlyLessAccurate && isFromSameProvider) {
        return true;
    }
    return false;
}

/** Checks whether two providers are the same */
private boolean isSameProvider(String provider1, String provider2) {
    if (provider1 == null) {
      return provider2 == null;
    }
    return provider1.equals(provider2);
 }

This code is provided on the same page I linked.

Hope this helps!