live update of waypoints from the gsak database addon does not work anymore ;-(

[marujave]

Yesterday I updated my Samsung Galaxy S7 to Android 8.0.0 (Oreo).

After this, live update of waypoints from the gsak database addon does not work anymore, manual update is still working fine.

Is this a known problem with android 8.0.0? Do I have to configure somethin different or what will be the solution for this problem?

My Locus version is up to date (3.32.1).

Best regards
marujave

[Menion]

Hello,
usually, the base problem with the work of these add-ons with GC databases happen in the case, user place database file on SD card. Is this your case? If so, try to place your database file into internal memory.

[marujave]

Hello
Thanks for the quick answer.

Yes, my GSAK Db was on the external flash, this worked well with Android 7 (before the update to Android 8 ).

I tried to copy the DB to the internal flash and select this GSAK DB but live update still does not work.

[c.s.g.]

Just a guess .... I am no specialist in this case at all .... but because "Locus - addon GSAK Database" add-on is no longer being supported the AddOn running on Android 8 is no longer be able to login at geocaching.com because of some changes there.

I only guess this because marujave is talking about "live update" which means to me that there must be some kind of loggin in geocaching.com via the api by the GSAK AddOn in order to get the newest geocache data.

[marujave]

No, live update has nothing to do with loggin in to Groundspeak servers, it means that the geocaches in locus map are updated from the GSAK DB that s stored on the mobile when you move the map.

when you try to import geocaches manually from the GSAK DB, this would also work (but only in a specified radius around the actual map position.

The problem seems to be that locus doesn't get (or read) the updates when the map is moved...

[c.s.g.]

Ah .... ok .... I see ....

Next try:
There have to be set a switch called Connect with add-ons in the settings of Locus in order the addons can communicate with Locus. Maybe this setting is missing.

[marujave]

Yes, I know this switch, it's set to on (double checked it, tried to disable and enable it -> still not working).

[Menion]

Interesting. Last question: are you using only one version of app? Like only Locus Map Pro or Free? If you have both, disable Free version, just for sure.

Since Android 8, it is also not possible to have a running service in the background without visible foreground notification. Because of the age of this add-on, it definitely does not have this condition and it may be also the reason that it does not react to information from Locus.

I just tested it and Locus Map correctly sends data out to add-on. But even on my device, nothing appears on the map and nothing is returned back. Live map when enabled in Geocaching4Locus works correctly, so it looks more like as a problem in the age of this add-on.

Because author already a few years ago wrote, that this add-on won't be updated, best is to use direct import if still works.

[marujave]

I use only Locus Map Pro.

That's then bad news, because only using direct import is way not that comfortable than using the live update...

[marujave]

Another question: why is Locus Map able to get the geocaches from the addon for the direct import but not for the live update?

In both cases, the geocache data is delivered by the gsak db addon.

[Menion]

You have to ask the developer of this add-on (anyway both methods use the different technique).

[bongo]

hi menion

this sounds quite strange to me - can you be a bit more specific?
there are a few things i really don't understand...

import or live update:
according to my understanding, when importing from locus, locus sends a request to the addon with the actual center coords and gets back a set of waypoints to display on the map.
when using live update within locus, so whenever the map is moved around, locus periodically sends a request to the addon with the actual center coords and gets back a set of waypoints to display on the map.
this does not look that much different to me. do i completely misunderstand?

<<it is also not possible to have a running service in the background without visible foreground notification>>:
according to my understanding, the "background service without foreground notification" you mention is the gsak addon.
so why does this seem to run when importing data (as it obviously works then), but shall not run when trying to do a live update?

if the addon is blocked by android in any way, why should this be blocked for live update, but not for manual import?

i remember that there was a similar behaviour 1 or 2 years ago, when live update did not work anymore after a locus update. i think something went wrong then as some code was missing within this locus version. right?
is it possible that the dataformat you get from the addon is inconsistent in any way because of "bad coding" in the addon, resulting in slightly different formatted data when arriving within locus (after passing some android functions). then locus does reject this data because format check fails?
i think you've already checked if we don't have such a problem?

thinking further...
if there are really 2 different interfaces for importing and live update, and only the interface for importing works for android 8, why not using this interface too for live update?

sorry for asking that many questions... ;-)

regards
bongo

[c.s.g.]

Hi bongo,

I am no Android specialist but I found this article. Look at the first two sentences:

"In an effort to reduce power consumption, Android 8.0 (API level 26) limits how frequently background apps can retrieve the user's current location. Apps can receive location updates only a few times each hour."

So live updates via the gsak addon may works but only a few times each hour no matter how often Locus sends such a request with the newset coordinates info to the addon.

c.s.g.

[bongo]

hi c.s.g.
sounds interresting, but i really don't think that this problem has something to do with this "improvement".
i don't think that the gsak addon retrieves the user's location, as it doesn't really need to know it.
the gsak addon has to provide waypoints around the location actually shown on the map, and not around your actual position. so i think that the gsak addon get's the coords to be used from locus, and from nowhere else!
...but menion would really know how this works...
regards
bongo

[marujave]

I'm also no Android specialist, but I don't think, that the gsak addon has to get the location, the location is given from Locus Map.

I made a short test, I got 20 times in perhaps one minute manual caches from the addon (different map center, 3km radius), this worked without problems. But the live update works never.

I don't know, how this live update works, perhaps this can be changed (according to bongos proposal) in a way, similar to the manual import...