Switch off GPS between low resolution measures

[cdugeai]

Hi,

Is there any option that allow GPS to switch off between measures. This would be great for saving battery in case of low resolution use ( 1 point every 5 minutes). By now, GPS icon in status bar is displayed during the whole sharing.

Some GPS logging apps have this feature and that is great to see here too !

[bilde2910]

Hi, and thanks for the suggestion! According to the Android docs, setting a long update interval should already help conserve battery usage:

The location update interval can be controlled using the minimum time parameter. The elapsed time between location updates will never be less than this parameter, although it may be more depending on location availability and other factors. Choosing a sensible value for the minimum time parameter is important to conserve battery life. Every location update requires power from a variety of sensors. Select a minimum time parameter as high as possible while still providing a reasonable user experience.

The Hauk app changes the minimum time parameter to match your configured preference, in your case 5 minutes. My guess is that the location icon is still displayed in the status bar because the location updater still exists and is running, even though it isn't actively checking for your location at any given time.

[cdugeai]

Thanks for your answer. I opened this issue because I am also using the app GPSLogger. In this app, the GPS icon is only displayed in the status bar during the measure, which is a very short duration. Still in this app, the option Keep GPS on between fixes seems to impact on the battery life in a very significant way :

Be careful, this will dramatically decrease the battery life. Use only for higher precision with low frequencies.

Their Quick Tour also reads that it saves battery (even if it can create some errors in the measures) :

Keep GPS on between fixes - Normally, the app stops using GPS between points, to save battery. This means when it's time to log the next point, the GPS needs to be 'woken up' again and this takes a little time. Keeping GPS on between fixes causes this 'wake up' time to be reduced.

So I don't know if you will try to see if battery is actually saved by turning off the GPS, but I think I'll test by myself what is more efficient between the two.

[bilde2910]

Interesting. It shouldn't really have much effect, but if you're curious, it could be interesting to test in Hauk what happens with different intervals. Setting a minimum update distance in Hauk will keep the GPS active but won't send data (if you're stationary), so network traffic to the Hauk server is ruled out. Then you could compare 5 minutes to e.g. 5 seconds. If I have time to do this testing, I can see if I get any noticeable differences between the two settings. I have a spare phone I could use for this purpose.

[cdugeai]

Ok, I'll maybe try this, thanks !