If an app only uses indoor location, then you don't need to enable GPS or define the GPS activation location.
The activation location must be defined for any GPS positioning. Without an activation location, no GPS data will be generated. This applies to navigation while the app is in the foreground, as well as background data collection.
If you want to gather data over an entire country or continent, then a suitably large activation location must still be defined.
Activation locations can be made up of two data precision levels.
Site
This area should encompass your main site where you will collect data. There is a minimum of a 50m radius for the site. You can select how frequently GPS locations should be gathered.
Wide Area
You can optionally add a wide area circle that is designed for tracking users further afield. It can be used for areas of interest near to your site such as transport links, with devices polling GPS data less frequently within this area, reducing battery usage in areas where users may cover large distances. It can also be used to enable low-level GPS data over an entire state or country, with higher-level data just for the site itself. There is a minimum radius for the nearby area of the site radius + 50m.
Adding a site area
- Navigate to the Positioning Configuration module with the web console. Toggle 'GPS Activation Locations' to on and confirm the change. Then click on 'Configure GPS activation locations'.
- Pan/zoom to where your venue is.
- Click on 'Define site area', then click on the center of your venue's location and draw the circle to encompass it all, plus a buffer if wanting to include the area immediately surround the venue.
- You can then either save your changes or modify the site or nearby circles.
GPS data frequencies
You are able to specify the frequency at which GPS data should be collected. You may wish to change these values from the defaults. Below is a table detailing potential use cases of the different frequencies.
Frequency | Site area | Nearby | Use |
Every second | ✅ | ❌ | Highest accuracy data reporting |
Every 10 seconds | ✅ | ✅ | |
Every 30 seconds | ✅ | ✅ | Typical on-site data collection |
Once a minute | ✅ | ✅ | Typical on-site data collection |
Every 5 minutes | ✅ | ✅ | |
Every 10 minutes | ✅ | ✅ | |
Every 30 minutes | ✅ | ✅ |
Useful for tracking users across very wide areas |