/**************************************************************************** ** ** Copyright (C) 2012 Nokia Corporation and/or its subsidiary(-ies). ** All rights reserved. ** Contact: http://www.qt-project.org/ ** ** This file is part of the documentation of the Qt Toolkit. ** ** $QT_BEGIN_LICENSE:FDL$ ** GNU Free Documentation License ** Alternatively, this file may be used under the terms of the GNU Free ** Documentation License version 1.3 as published by the Free Software ** Foundation and appearing in the file included in the packaging of ** this file. ** ** Other Usage ** Alternatively, this file may be used in accordance with the terms ** and conditions contained in a signed written agreement between you ** and Nokia. ** ** ** ** ** $QT_END_LICENSE$ ** ****************************************************************************/ /*! \page location-positioning.html \title Location Positioning \previouspage {qtlocation-cpp.html}{QtLocation} \brief The Location Positioning API enables location positioning by means of GPS or an NMEA data source. \section1 Location Positioning Location data involves a precisely specified position on the Earth's surface \unicode {0x2014} as provided by a latitude-longitude coordinate \unicode {0x2014} along with associated data, such as: \list \o The date and time at which the position was reported \o The velocity of the device that reported the position \o The altitude of the reported position (height above sea level) \o The bearing of the device in degrees, relative to true north \endlist This data can be extracted through a variety of methods. One of the most well known methods of positioning is GPS (Global Positioning System), a publicly available system that uses radiowave signals received from Earth-orbiting satellites to calculate the precise position and time of the receiver. Another popular method is Cell ID positioning, which uses the cell ID of the cell site that is currently serving the receiving device to calculate its approximate location. These and other positioning methods can all be used with the Location API; the only requirement for a location data source within the API is that it provides a latitude-longitude coordinate with a date/time value, with the option of providing the other attributes listed above. Location data sources are created by subclassing QGeoPositionInfoSource and providing QGeoPositionInfo objects through the QGeoPositionInfoSource::positionUpdated() signal. Clients that require location data can connect to the \l{QGeoPositionInfoSource::positionUpdated()}{positionUpdated()} signal and call \l{QGeoPositionInfoSource::startUpdates()}{startUpdates()} or \l{QGeoPositionInfoSource::requestUpdate()}{requestUpdate()} to trigger the distribution of location data. A default position source may be available on some platforms. Call QGeoPositionInfoSource::createDefaultSource() to create an instance of the default position source; the method returns 0 if no default source is available for the platform. The QGeoAreaMonitor class enables client applications to be notified when the receiving device has moved in or out of a particular area, as specified by a coordinate and radius. If the platform provides built-in support for area monitoring, QGeoAreaMonitor::createDefaultMonitor() returns an instance of the default area monitor. Satellite information can also be distributed through the QGeoSatelliteInfoSource class. Call QGeoSatelliteInfoSource::createDefaultSource() to create an instance of the default satellite data source for the platform, if one is available. Alternatively, clients can subclass it to provide a custom satellite data source. \section2 Requesting location data from data sources To receive data from a source, connect to its \l{QGeoPositionInfoSource::positionUpdated()}{positionUpdated()} signal, then call either \l{QGeoPositionInfoSource::startUpdates()}{startUpdates()} or \l{QGeoPositionInfoSource::requestUpdate()}{requestUpdate()} to begin. Here is an example of a client that receives data from the default location data source, as returned by QGeoPositionInfoSource::createDefaultSource(): \code class MyClass : public QObject { Q_OBJECT public: MyClass(QObject *parent = 0) : QObject(parent) { QGeoPositionInfoSource *source = QGeoPositionInfoSource::createDefaultSource(this); if (source) { connect(source, SIGNAL(positionUpdated(QGeoPositionInfo)), this, SLOT(positionUpdated(QGeoPositionInfo))); source->startUpdates(); } } private slots: void positionUpdated(const QGeoPositionInfo &info) { qDebug() << "Position updated:" << info; } }; \endcode \section2 Controlling aspects of data sources The QGeoPositionInfoSource::setUpdateInterval() method can be used to control the rate at which position updates are received. For example, if the client application only requires updates once every 30 seconds, it can call \c setUpdateInterval(30000). (If no update interval is set, or \l {QGeoPositionInfoSource::}{setUpdateInterval()} is called with a value of 0, the source uses a default interval or some other internal logic to determine when updates should be provided.) QGeoPositionInfoSource::setPreferredPositioningMethods() enables client applications to request that a certain type of positioning method be used. For example, if the application prefers to use only satellite positioning, which offers fairly precise outdoor positioning but can be a heavy user of power resources, it can call this method with the QGeoPositionInfoSource::SatellitePositioningMethods value. However, this method should only be used in specialized client applications; in most cases, the default positioning methods should not be changed, as a source may internally use a variety of positioning methods that can be useful to the application. \section2 Reading NMEA data \l {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NMEA_0183}{NMEA} is a common text-based protocol for specifying navigational data. For convenience, the QNmeaPositionInfoSource is provided to enable client applications to read and distribute NMEA data in either real-time mode (for example, when streaming from a GPS device) or simulation mode (for example, when reading from a NMEA log file). In simulation mode, the source will emit updates according to the time stamp of each NMEA sentence to produce a "replay" of the recorded data. \section2 Example: Creating a custom location data source Generally, the capabilities provided by the default position source as returned by QGeoPositionInfoSource::createDefaultSource(), along with the QNmeaPositionInfoSource class, are sufficient for retrieving location data. However, in some cases developers may wish to write their own custom location data sources. The \c LogFilePositionSource class in \c examples/logfilepositionsource shows how to subclass QGeoPositionInfoSource to create a custom location data source. This example class reads location data from a text file, \e log.txt. The file specifies location data using a simple text format: it contains one location update per line, where each line contains a date/time, a latitude and a longitude, separated by spaces. The date/time is in ISO 8601 format and the latitude and longitude are in degrees decimal format. Here is an excerpt from \e log.txt: \code 2009-08-24T22:25:01 -27.576082 153.092415 2009-08-24T22:25:02 -27.576223 153.092530 2009-08-24T22:25:03 -27.576364 153.092648 \endcode The class reads this data and distributes it via the \l{QGeoPositionInfoSource::positionUpdated()}{positionUpdated()} signal. Here is the definition of the \c LogFilePositionSource class: \quotefromfile logfilepositionsource/logfilepositionsource.h \skipto class LogFilePositionSource \printuntil }; The main methods overrided by the subclass are: \list \o \l{QGeoPositionInfoSource::startUpdates()}{startUpdates()}: called by client applications to start regular position updates \o \l{QGeoPositionInfoSource::stopUpdates()}{stopUpdates()}: called by client applications to stop regular position updates \o \l{QGeoPositionInfoSource::requestUpdate()}{requestUpdate()}: called by client applications to request a single update, with a specified timeout \endlist When a position update is available, the subclass emits the \l{QGeoPositionInfoSource::positionUpdated()}{positionUpdated()} signal. Here are the key methods in the class implementation: \quotefromfile logfilepositionsource/logfilepositionsource.cpp \skipto LogFilePositionSource::LogFilePositionSource \printuntil /^\}/ \skipto LogFilePositionSource::startUpdates \printuntil /^\}/ \skipto LogFilePositionSource::stopUpdates \printuntil /^\}/ \skipto LogFilePositionSource::requestUpdate \printuntil /^\}/ \printuntil LogFilePositionSource::readNextPosition \printuntil /^\}/ The \l {Log File Position Source Example}{example} includes a \c ClientApplication class that requests updates from the \c LogFilePositionSource class. Run the example to see the data that is received by \c ClientApplication. Before running the example, make sure you have done both \tt make and \tt {make install}. \section1 Examples \section3 \bold{Flickr Example} The \l{Declarative Flickr}{Flickr Example} uses the Location to download thumbnail images from Flickr relevant to the current location. \section1 Location Position classes \annotatedlist QtLocation-positioning */