Configurable Location Polling/Refresh/Update Frequency
Increase / manually set location polling, either in the settings or between a set of time.
This is very handy for alarms based on location, especially when snoozing on the train home.
Update: The design and implementation of the location detection speed enhancements to Locale are underway, although we don't have any specific release schedule to announce at this time. As with all enhancements to Locale, we're also testing the enhancements extensively to make sure they work great!
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By design, Locale has no user-configurable options. The goal is that Locale should "just work" without requiring users to fiddle with various options that could negatively impact the operation of the app. For example, asking Locale to check your location every minute could cause your battery to drain within 2 hours at which point you might miss the train stop anyway.
Although a user-configurable option won't be implemented, I see the underlying goal here as improving how quickly Locale detects that your location has changed. Today, it may take up to 10 minutes. Future versions of Locale will reduce this delay significantly.
I'm therefore repurposing this request for implementing improvements to the speed of the location detection system. Once these improvements are completed, a user-configurable update frequency will no longer be necessary.
Carter
@Mark Meyers: These are already supported. Add a Time condition to your location-based situations to bound when location updates occur.
And launching the Locale UI causes conditions to be refreshed.
Mark Meyers
I think a possible solution would be to offer user-configurable polling based on time. I have no need for less than 10 minutes, but could easily see the need for less frequent polling based on time of day. I do not need locale to poll AT ALL when I am sleeping (whether that be at home, on the road, etc) or while at work (8 AM to 5 PM M-F).
On a similar note, however, I have noticed that Locale has not updated my location and would love to be able to manually trigger/force a Location Detection event.
Carter
@julien: Your suggestion would require *more* power, not less. Reading the accelerometer requires keeping the phone awake for more time.
julian
I still believe, you should make the frequency an option or situation dependent, but, I still want to provide an idea how to improve location detection without using too much battery.
Most of the time (except for driving), my phone does not change location, while it lies flat on a table. So, as long as it lies flat, you do not have to use WIFI/GPS/CELL for positioning. Just check the position of the phone more often and as soon as it is picked up, start the other methods of positioning again.
BigBlack
Yes also I need to modify the pollis interval of GPS... For car use and card dock with charger it's the best to track movement and send SMS!!! I need it guys!
And for the battery consuption, it's necessary only a pop up to alert the user!! Not something so difficult! :) This fuction it's the most important for me!
Si anche io voglio l'intervallo di ricerca del GPS personalizzabile! Per l'uso in macchina, collegato alla car dock e al caribatteria è la soluzione migliore per inviare sms in automatico... more
Yes also I need to modify the pollis interval of GPS... For car use and card dock with charger it's the best to track movement and send SMS!!! I need it guys!
And for the battery consuption, it's necessary only a pop up to alert the user!! Not something so difficult! :) This fuction it's the most important for me!
Si anche io voglio l'intervallo di ricerca del GPS personalizzabile! Per l'uso in macchina, collegato alla car dock e al caribatteria è la soluzione migliore per inviare sms in automatico! E poi per il consumo batteria basta un pop up che avverte l'utente! Dove sta il problema!! Secondo me è fondamentale!
julian
Carter, if this was a free app, I would have no problem with your statement. But if your app is 10$ (the most expensive app I bought) I like your ambition, but if you cannot deliver, please add an advanced option for users. Actually a lot of the requests sit here quite a while now and for a 10$ app I would expect a little more activity.
EarlyMorningHours
I read somewhere a quote something along the lines of "if you design your software so that even idiots can use it, before too long you will only have idiots using your software". I hate to start off a comment with a negative tone like that as Locale pretty much makes my phone what it is for me. However, I do in fact spend an inordinate amount of time "fiddling" with Locale because A) there's no real complete documentation and B) the majority of functionality is supplied by plug-ins.... more
I read somewhere a quote something along the lines of "if you design your software so that even idiots can use it, before too long you will only have idiots using your software". I hate to start off a comment with a negative tone like that as Locale pretty much makes my phone what it is for me. However, I do in fact spend an inordinate amount of time "fiddling" with Locale because A) there's no real complete documentation and B) the majority of functionality is supplied by plug-ins. Seriously, it's like Locale is the base OS and the plug-ins are the software you install into the OS. Also I really have no way of knowing which techniques each dev is using (best practices, etc), if one dev's plug-in is trampling over the plug-in of another, and so on. Further, I sometimes wonder if the resource consumption (of limited resources) would be more efficient if more functionality were baked right into Locale rather than coming in the form of a plug-in. Maybe there would be a case for a "Locale Deluxe" or something along those lines. I'd certainly be willing to pony up an upgrade fee.
My personal opinion on the philosophical issue of what functionality and options to expose to the user or not is that as an end user it is always desirable to have as much available as possible - with one caveat - if there is the appropriate documentation. Something else that might be helpful would be a central location like this where users could input their own experiences of what works and what does not for the different models of phone, different versions of Android itself, GSM vs. CDMA, etc. It would be helpful for both users and likely for developers as well (both Locale and plug-in developers).
marnoldster
Although I like your philosophy of "just work" - this does not preclude customisable options!!
Have it under "advanced" - include a warning of "for advanced users" and that it may "negatively affect battery life" - do NOT take the power away from the users because you do not trust them... that's just insulting.
Royalness
I agree with my statement 10 months ago.
Billy Barnes
Combine this with calendar conditions (which should be builtin like was promised rather than a paid plugin, but i digress) and you can turn off location polling when you're in class or a meeting.
marnoldster
In my opinion, this is a MUST HAVE. I like many of the dynamic ideas in these comments, but ultimately I'd like to override everything and *just have it up date more frequently*. I imagine being able to adjust it via condition would be the best - for example, I could have a wide location (my suburb) that would increase the polling to every 30 seconds, so that my location will up date to "home" immediately (and wake-on-lan turns on my computer)
nicola di maria
when I'm home or @ work I will probably stay there for at least one of more hours, so why should locale check evry 10 minutes where I am ?
it drains battery and resources
jagguar7
I think this is a great idea. It could also poll GPS location based on cell tower triangulation location. For example, if I'm at work all day in the same building, tower triangulation is all my phone needs to know that I haven't gone anywhere and can also recognize when I do start to go somewhere. Once my location starts to change, Locale could start polling GPS location more frequently to keep track of my location. And then it could start polling less frequently again when I stop moving.
taupan
I have a similar idea:
How about increasing the polling frequency if you get closer to a target area? Let's say the fastest you will probably go is around 200km/h (for the fastest passenger train you will actually use, since you can't enable locale on a plane), which means you go 4 km in one minute. So if you're 40km away, set detection frequency to 9 minutes, etc. Maximum speed assumption could be configurable for those who use faster or slower transport. Go down to 1 minute if you're getting close.
... more
I have a similar idea:
How about increasing the polling frequency if you get closer to a target area? Let's say the fastest you will probably go is around 200km/h (for the fastest passenger train you will actually use, since you can't enable locale on a plane), which means you go 4 km in one minute. So if you're 40km away, set detection frequency to 9 minutes, etc. Maximum speed assumption could be configurable for those who use faster or slower transport. Go down to 1 minute if you're getting close.
I haven't really thought this through, but maybe there's a way to make this work.
Bill Roberts
Ability to set the time between polling location would ROCK.
moldy
I would like it if Locale would only poll for location when the phone is plugged in, on a situational basis.
In my case, I've set up a situation as following:
Conditions:
Battery: Plugged In
Location: <home address>
Settings:
Astrid Tag Alert (items tagged 'home')
This is the only situation I have configured with a location. The way I want it to operate is IF Battery is Plugged In AND Location is <home address> DO Astrid Tag Alert <home>; DONE.
It is checking for loca... more
I would like it if Locale would only poll for location when the phone is plugged in, on a situational basis.
In my case, I've set up a situation as following:
Conditions:
Battery: Plugged In
Location: <home address>
Settings:
Astrid Tag Alert (items tagged 'home')
This is the only situation I have configured with a location. The way I want it to operate is IF Battery is Plugged In AND Location is <home address> DO Astrid Tag Alert <home>; DONE.
It is checking for location regardless of the first condition and is a waste of battery over the course of the day.
Christopher Andersen
Polling frequency is my biggest gripe on this so far great program. The time I notice polling time becoming an issue is when traveling in a car. I move around quite a bit during the day and need to notify several people of where I am. This program is right up my ally. I'd like to see polling time down to a minute if the unit is plugged in to a dock, car charger or PC.
Keep up the good work!
Billy Barnes
It would be nice to be able to set polling based on the time. Odds are I'm not going anywhere between about 2am and 7am, but at about 4pm I might be traveling all over the city running errands. I'd like to set location polling to every half hour or longer at night and as short as a minute or two when I'm running errands.
oldmanryan
YES! Always try to give user more control! Thanks for everything though that you've already included, yet this would be a wonderful addition!
thetree
This feature should definitely be in the next release if at all possible. Several of my location settings are for places I run in and out of in 3 or 4 minutes. I'd love to be able to set the refresh rate to something more often. (If you can't make the location refresh at different rates based on different situations right away (as some others here have suggested), please consider at least letting us change the refresh rate universally in the settings as a stop-gap measure.) Thanks for the great app!