114 lines
7 KiB
Markdown
114 lines
7 KiB
Markdown
<!--
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SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2014, microg Project Team
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SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0
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-->
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<img src="http://i.imgur.com/hXY4lcC.png" height="42px" alt="microG" /> Unified Network Location Provider
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==========
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[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.com/microg/UnifiedNlp.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.com/microg/UnifiedNlp)
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The next generation Network Location Provider, based on plugins. Usually abbreviated as UnifiedNlp.
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[![Available on F-Droid](https://f-droid.org/wiki/images/c/c4/F-Droid-button_available-on.png)](https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=com.google.android.gms)
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Installation
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------------
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Release builds may be found on the [release page](https://github.com/microg/android_packages_apps_UnifiedNlp/releases).
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Unified Network Location Provider is provided in 3 variants:
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* NetworkLocation.apk – for the usual configuration of Android 4.4+ without GApps
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* LegacyNetworkLocation.apk – for the usual configuration of Android 2.3 - 4.3.1 without GApps
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* UnifiedNlp.apk – for Android WITH Gapps
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Keep in mind that:
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* All three variants are available on F-Droid as well, but they use different apk names (have a look at app description on F-Droid to check which version to use).
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* There is another repo containing the [deprecated version](https://github.com/microg/NetworkLocation) of NetworkLocation.apk without the plug-in system.
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* [microG GmsCore](https://github.com/microg/android_packages_apps_GmsCore/wiki) project already includes the Unified Network Location Provider.
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### Android 4.4 - 7.1.1 (KitKat / Lollipop / Marshmallow / Nougat)
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Most modern ROMs come with support for non-Google geolocation providers. On these systems installation is easy:
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1. Make sure that no Google geolocation tool is installed (it is usually listed as Google Play Services in Apps)
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2. Download and install `NetworkLocation.apk` as a usual app (you may need to enable "Unknown sources" in Settings->Security)
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3. Reboot and continue at [Usage](#usage)
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Some ROMs, especially those not based on AOSP might have problems using this method. However, if your system has root, you can try installing the hard way:
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1. Download `NetworkLocation.apk`
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2. Mount `/system` read-write (from your PC, call `adb root && adb remount`)
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3. Copy `NetworkLocation.apk` to `/system/priv-app` (from your PC, call `adb push NetworkLocation.apk /system/priv-app/NetworkLocation.apk`)
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4. Reboot (from you PC, call `adb reboot`) and continue at [Usage](#usage)
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**Note:** On Android 7 (or later) an [additional patch](https://github.com/microg/android_packages_apps_UnifiedNlp/blob/master/patches/android_frameworks_base-N.patch) is needed to make it working, or alternatively, you can install it in `/system/priv-app` as explained above.
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### Android 2.3 - 4.3.1 (Gingerbread / Honeycomb / Ice Cream Sandwich / Jelly Bean)
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Older Android versions are no longer officially supported. However I still provide a legacy build, that should be compatible with those systems.
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It is required to have a rooted system to install on Jelly Bean and older.
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1. Download `LegacyNetworkLocation.apk`
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2. Mount `/system` read-write (from your PC, call `adb root && adb remount`)
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3. Copy `LegacyNetworkLocation.apk` to `/system/app` (from your PC, call `adb push LegacyNetworkLocation.apk /system/app/LegacyNetworkLocation.apk`)
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4. Reboot (from you PC, call `adb reboot`) and continue at [Usage](#usage)
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Usage
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-----
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UnifiedNlp alone does not provide any features, but acts as a middleware for multiple backends. Most of them can be downloaded and updated using [F-Droid](https://f-droid.org).
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Here is a list of backends known to me.
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List of backends for geolocation:
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* [AppleWifiNlpBackend](https://github.com/microg/AppleWifiNlpBackend) - Uses Apple's service to resolve Wi-Fi locations. It has excellent coverage but the database is proprietary.
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* [OpenWlanMapNlpBackend](https://github.com/microg/OpenWlanMapNlpBackend) - Uses OpenWlanMap.org to resolve user location but the NLP backend did not reach release-quality, yet. Users interested in a freely licensed and downloadable database for offline use should stick with openBmap for now - *Last updated in 2015*
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* [OpenBmapNlpBackend](https://github.com/wish7code/org.openbmap.unifiedNlpProvider) - Uses [openBmap](https://radiocells.org/) to resolve user location. Community-created, freely licensed database that can optionally be downloaded for offline operation. The coverage [varies from country to country](https://radiocells.org/stats/countries) (it's best in central Europe).
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* [MozillaNlpBackend](https://github.com/microg/IchnaeaNlpBackend) - Uses the Mozilla Location Service to resolve user location. The coverage is OK. Only the cell tower database is free.
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* [LocalWifiNlpBackend](https://github.com/n76/wifi_backend) - Local location provider for Wi-Fi APs using on-phone generated database.
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* [LocalGSMLocationProvider](https://github.com/rtreffer/LocalGSMLocationProvider) - Local opencellid based location provider backend. Has been surpassed by LocalGSMBackend which also has an OpenCellID option - *Last update in 2014*
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* [LocalGSMBackend](https://github.com/n76/Local-GSM-Backend) - Local location provider for GSM cells. It works offline by downloading freely licensed database files from Mozilla, OpenCellID, or lacells.db.
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List of backends for (reverse) geocoding:
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* [NominatimGeocoderBackend](https://github.com/microg/NominatimGeocoderService) - Address lookup backend.
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(...) Create issue or pull request to extend either list :)
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After installing a backend, you can use UnifiedNlp by activating network-based geolocation in Settings->Location.
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Since KitKat, you need to select any mode but "device only", on older Android version this setting is called "Wi-Fi & mobile network location"
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(ignore any misleading texts saying this is for Google's location service, you don't have Google's service installed but UnifiedNlp :smile:)
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Backend development
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-------------------
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The API is available [here](https://github.com/microg/android_external_UnifiedNlpApi). Documentation may be found in the README provided with the API.
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You might also take a look into existing backends, to see how they work out.
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Building
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--------
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UnifiedNlp can be easily built using Gradle.
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git clone https://github.com/microg/UnifiedNlp
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cd UnifiedNlp
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./gradlew build
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Attribution
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-----------
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Some components: Copyright (C) 2013 The Android Open Source Project
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`compat`-folder is extracted from different AOSP versions for cross-version compatibility
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License
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-------
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Copyright (C) 2013-2019 microG Project Team
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Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
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you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
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You may obtain a copy of the License at
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http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
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Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
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distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
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WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
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See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
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limitations under the License.
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