GPS sensing wasted when accuracy is low

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Dear friends,

I am postgraduate student in Hong Kong, doing research in mobile applications. 
I really like your project, as it is simple yet useful enough.

Recently, we are analyzing sensor data usage in Android applications using a 
research prototype. We found one interesting issue in your project.

If the GPS data is of low accuracy, then the sensed data will not be recorded 
into database. However, it is highly possible that GPS cannot provide accurate 
data in indoor area (especially in Hong Kong). So if users do not stop tracking 
when they are indoor, it is possible that much energy is spent, but the user 
only gets very limited data recorded in database. In some sense, much energy is 
wasted. I wonder whether there could be a better design. For example, when the 
app found that the data provided by GPS is not accurate for a long time (say 5 
mins), then the app unregisters the location listener and starts a timer which 
can re-register the location listener after a period (say 40 mins). Of course, 
we should let users know that the tracking is temporarily stopped because the 
GPS data is noisy.

We hope in this way, this great little app can be more energy efficient. We 
look forward to hearing from you. Thank you!

Original issue reported on code.google.com by yepang...@gmail.com on 28 Jul 2012 at 11:56

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Working on a more energy efficient version. Soon users can download it.

Original comment by yepang...@gmail.com on 13 Apr 2013 at 1:46

• Changed state: Started

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We made a patch. Field testing suggests that this patch helps save energy, 
although no very significant saving observed. We will release a new download 
after further testing.

Original comment by yepang...@gmail.com on 26 Apr 2013 at 4:53

Attachments:

• energy.patch