Feature: Widget or background operation

[matthijskooijman]

I'm planning to keep this app handy to answer "where am I?" in an emergency (e.g. when having to call an ambulance). The typical usecase would be to fire off this app to get my location, and while it searches, call the emergency services (and switch back to the app later to read the address).

However, it seems that once you switch away from the app (e.g. to start a phone call), it stops the location search and the GPS is disabled again. It would be helpful if it could continue searching in the background (perhaps with a notification that can be used to cancel?). Not sure if Android has limitations here, though?

Alternatively, having a widget that can start a search and has a cancel button might be interesting. One such app exists here:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.futonredemption.mylocation&hl=en
https://code.google.com/archive/p/futonic-mylocationwidget/

That app has a few downsides:

• It is unmaintained
• It only shows address, not coordinates
• It does not show how recent the address shown is and does not allow clearing an address once shown
• The widget interface is minimal (showing the address and possibly position and a button to open up a bigger window is probably bettter).

Still, a similar feature might be useful to add to this app, possibly reusing some code from that app?

Related to this request, it would be helpful if the app would show a notification when the position is found, ideally showing the coordinates and address directly for quick reference.

[gjedeer]

This app used to stay in background, not intentionally: #4

I have a need for a similar feature too (if you get a fix every X hours, the next fix is faster. if you don't get a fix for a long time and start an app like osmand, it takes ages before it gets a fix) so this may actually be implemented soon.

[matthijskooijman]

Thanks for the quick reply, would be great to see this feature.

I did just realize a workaround to use until then: I can use the other widget app to get a fix in the background, and once it has got a fix, start this app to see the detailed results (which works because this app shows the most recent results right away, which is helpful).

[gjedeer]

0151883 implements something like this.

Press the location button (target icon) on Action Bar - foreground service is started, looking for location
Press it again - the service is stopped.

When it finds location - the service stops itself and removes notification.

It could be made better: it could show the number of satellites and tapping the notification could stop scanning. But that's for another year :)