May
Features and Cost of a Geolocation Android App Development
Introduction
Geolocation is a new technology being implemented into modern smartphones as well as PC applications. It helps in determining the current location of a particular device once the technology is launched. It has a wider usage in the development of updated applications for modern operating systems such as Android. It offers new features with different functions which weren’t available to the users in the past. These applications offer users with the various abilities.
They can check-in at restaurants, hotels, bars, cafes, offices or at any different place to share their current location with different people who they now or whomever they have allowed the access to this particular information. Mobile application development utilizing this technology has picked up in recent years. There are few things that need to be considered in order to develop apps using this technology
Features of Geolocation app
To keep the users more interested, these applications should provide points for the check-ins as well as build statistics. This helps in creating a type of competition among the users. Later, the users can get real bonuses from simply pushing few buttons on the smartphone. For instance, discounts and free drinks, since a lot of companies around the world encourage the customers to check-in in their establishment. It helps them in increasing their brand awareness and also attract new customers.
The most reliable recommendation occurs when people view the high rating which is given by other people. Among the different interesting ideas for developers, there are countless possibilities. For instance, they can offer custom tours across a particular site as well as interesting places in the city.
This particular feature is realized in an application called Gowalla. It can also make human interaction with the mobile apps and games a lot easier. Only the number of things one can do is limited on the imagination of the users along with the size and type of the business.
There are vast opportunities that are possible with this modern technology. Even now, some retailers utilize the location information to look after their various sales activities in their stores and also ask the customers to provide feedback in order to get information about the shortages in their businesses. It also helps them in evaluating demand for a particular product in particular areas and also helps in improving the success chances of their outlets.
This has led to massive application development of geolocation apps. To hire the android app developer, a company should consider its budget as well as features that it wants in its app.
Now, to understand the development of geolocation app, first, we need to learn about how geolocation app works.
Working of Geolocation App
Basically, the geolocation apps perform three basic functions. It includes determining the current location of the user, sharing the information with other people and connecting the locations to the location of different other objects around the user.
Each modern smartphone comes with a Global Positioning System or GPS chip installed in it. This particular chip receives the information regarding the timing as well as a location which is sent by the satellites and utilizes it to find the location of the device.
The phone has to receive the data from at least four different satellites in order to provide its accurate location. In case GPS in unavailable for some particular reason, then the smartphone’s Cell ID can then help by means of comparing the user data with the database of the station, and it does work well in bigger cities.
Sometimes both types of methods are used in combination to improve the precision. Wi-Fi technology can also be used to find the position of the user in a similar way as Cell ID, but it is important to take into account since this tech is realized quite precisely due to the smaller coverage areas of Wi-Fi. The Receive a Signal Strength Indicator or RSSI also increases the accuracy by a considerable margin.
The Google Maps can also be utilized to determine the location of the user in quite a comprehensible way. There is a particular Google Maps API for Android which allows different advanced features and offers great performance which makes it quite an important tool when it comes to geolocation.
Geofencing is utilized to determine the distance of the user from a given point. There are three different kinds of geofencing: static, dynamic and combined. The first one corresponds to the position of the user from a particular point such as a restaurant or a store.
The second point is determined by the location of the user in the changing stream of data. For instance, the notifications about available latest offers in a nearby store. The combined approach is more about interactions with the different other users like check-ins with the apps offered by Facebook and different social networks.
Development of Geolocation App
When it comes to the development of Geolocation app for Android, few things need to be considered. Each application cooperates with the smartphone’s operating system by utilizing the APIs or the Application Programming Interface. Typically, there are two different APIs which are used to integrate the geolocation the mobile app as per their functionality.
The first one is utilized to find the location of the user or a particular object in the case a user decides to enter the address of device or coordinates manually. The second API is used to find the nearest cafes, restaurants etc. around a particular location on the application’s map. In this case, the previously mentioned API is not used as it is not required for offering this function.
Geolocation is integrated into the Android mobile app by the use of Google Play Services API. One can use IntelliJ IDEA IDE or even Android Studio IDE in order to develop the application for the Android and hence implement the Google location service within it.
Cost of a Geolocation Android App Development
Building a geolocation app can take up to 400 hours. A mobile app development company usually charges at $50 to $100 depending features and functionalities of the apps. It has to hire the Android developer at the top android app development company who can inculcate these features into the app and create the app within the budget. Therefore an average cost of development of Geolocation app can range from $20,000 to $40,000
