Challenges in determining the user location in Android Location Apps

Android location framework provide the multiple location providers to determine the user location based on his device.

The android frameworks classify the location based providers in two categories

1) GPS Based Location Providers

2) Network Location Based Providers

The determination of the user location is not easy and has many challenges due to the mobile nature of the user device.

The three main issues with user position determination are as follows

1) Multiple sources for location determination - The GPS, Cell-ID, Wi-Fi (Network Locations) provide the user locations in different timeframe and different accuracy. The different methods of determining the user location consumes a good amount of battery power. The different methods and there selection depends on the requirement of the application and provides challenge to create a balance between the accuracy, time and performance.

2) User Movement - The user location changes frequently which needs a frequent updates for the user location. The application which needs the exact location of the user device needs to use multiple providers to determine the users exact location.

3) Varying Accuracy - Location estimates coming from each location source are not consistent in their accuracy. A location obtained 10 seconds ago from one source might be more accurate than the newest location from another or same source.

All the above points create challenges for applications to determine the accurate position of the user device within the time range and minimal use of the battery.

The application sensitive to the exact location of the user position needs more methods to implement the accurate user position.