Distance calculation error by using GPS even though phone is on high accuracy

Question

I am having issues in calculation of distance in KM for one of my app P-Cab. For driver application, I put pickup location and then driver starts driving the car. And based on the "KM" travelled, user is charged taxi fare. For best results I am calculating distance every one minute such that pickup location I get every one minute and I add the distance covered during every one minute. The issue I am getting is most times, GPS is taking wrong location and hence for a 5km ride, it gives results as 10KM or 15KM.

Below is the service which I am using for getting GPS:

// The minimum distance to change Updates in meters
private static final long MIN_DISTANCE_CHANGE_FOR_UPDATES = 4; // 10 meters

// The minimum time between updates in milliseconds
private static final long MIN_TIME_BW_UPDATES = 1000 * 10 * 1; // 1 minute

// Declaring a Location Manager
protected LocationManager locationManager;

public GPSTracker(Context context) {
    this.mContext = context;
    getLocation();
}

public Location getLocation() {
    try {
        Criteria criteria = new Criteria();
        criteria.setAccuracy(Criteria.ACCURACY_FINE);
        locationManager = (LocationManager) mContext
                .getSystemService(LOCATION_SERVICE);
        String provider = locationManager.getBestProvider(criteria, true);
        if (ActivityCompat.checkSelfPermission(this, Manifest.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED && ActivityCompat.checkSelfPermission(this, Manifest.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {

        }
        // getting GPS status
        isGPSEnabled = locationManager
                .isProviderEnabled(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER);

        // getting network status
        isNetworkEnabled = locationManager
                .isProviderEnabled(LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER);

        if (!isGPSEnabled && !isNetworkEnabled) {
            // no network provider is enabled
        } else {
            this.canGetLocation = true;
            // First get location from Network Provider
            if (isNetworkEnabled) {
                locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(
                        LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER,
                        MIN_TIME_BW_UPDATES,
                        MIN_DISTANCE_CHANGE_FOR_UPDATES, this);
                Log.d("Network", "Network");
                if (locationManager != null) {
                    location = locationManager.getLastKnownLocation(provider);
                    if (location != null) {
                        latitude = location.getLatitude();
                        longitude = location.getLongitude();
                    }
                }
            }
            // if GPS Enabled get lat/long using GPS Services
            if (isGPSEnabled) {
                if (location == null) {
                    locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(
                            LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER,
                            MIN_TIME_BW_UPDATES,
                            MIN_DISTANCE_CHANGE_FOR_UPDATES, this);
                    Log.d("GPS Enabled", "GPS Enabled");
                    if (locationManager != null) {
                        location = locationManager.getLastKnownLocation(provider);
                        if (location != null) {
                            latitude = location.getLatitude();
                            longitude = location.getLongitude();
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }

    } 
    return location;
   }
}

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 27 '17 at 10:53

The method by which you are calculating the distance gives aerial distance. Straight from source to destination, not the route distance. You will have to use google places API:

String url=https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/distancematrix/json";

Here three params origin, destinations,and mode need to be passed, origin: origin location, destination: destination location, mode: in your case it will be driving.

The complete url will be:

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/distancematrix/json?units=imperial&origins=Washington,DC&destinations=New+York+City,NY&key=YOUR_API_KEY

Hi Nitesh, I tried this method too, but wasn't giving perfect results, the issue is coming in picking up of location I think. — Sandip Singh, Jun 28 '17 at 04:19

Distance calculation error by using GPS even though phone is on high accuracy

1 Answers1