Google unveils three new location APIs for developers

Save battery life and improve location data for every app

We're live here at the Google I/O 2013 keynote, where Google has started off with talking about APIs for Android. As one of its first announcements, Google is rolling out three new APIs  for developers to access the location of a device. First up is "Geofencing", which lets apps define virtual fences around areas to then do actions when the user enters or leaves the area. Every app will be able to set up to 100 different geofences.

Next, we now have "Activity Recognition", which tracks movement without the use of GPS. Using different sensors like the accelerometer, apps can track the location and movement of a device. Finally, we have a new service called "Fused Location Provider", which sounds fancy but the end result is that it improves GPS efficiency for apps. GPS will drain no more than 1-percent per hour when locking to a user's location.

We'll keep on bringing you more from Google I/O 2013 as we see it!

Andrew Martonik

Andrew was an Executive Editor, U.S. at Android Central between 2012 and 2020.