Location

Revision 9 as of 2014-04-08 15:07:30

Clear message

Location services in Ubuntu are provided by GeoClue and the Ubuntu GeoIP Provider, and presented by the Location Indicator.

Phone

System Settings

phone-location.png
Erratum: “wi-fi” should be “Wi-Fi”.

phone-location.mockup.png
Erratum: “wi-fi” should be “Wi-Fi”.

In System Settings, “Location” should be part of “Security & Privacy”, though the “GPS” switch should also be part of the quick access area.

The text of the caption for the “Location detection” switch should depend on which location providers have been implemented, and for the non-GPS providers, whether they are currently powered on.

If just GPS is implemented: “Uses GPS to detect your rough location. When off, GPS turns off to save battery.”

If GPS and Wi-Fi is implemented:

Wi-Fi is on

Wi-Fi is off

Uses Wi-Fi and GPS to detect your rough location. Turning off location detection saves battery.

Uses Wi-Fi (currently off) and GPS to detect your rough location. Turning off location detection saves battery.

If GPS, Wi-Fi, and cell tower triangulation is implemented:

Wi-Fi is on

Wi-Fi is off

Cellular connection is on

Uses Wi-Fi, cell tower locations, and GPS to detect your rough location. Turning off location detection saves battery.

Uses Wi-Fi (currently off), cell tower locations, and GPS to detect your rough location. Turning off location detection saves battery.

Cellular connection is off

Uses Wi-Fi, cell tower locations (no current cellular connection), and GPS to detect your rough location. Turning off location detection saves battery.

Uses Wi-Fi (currently off), cell tower locations (no current cellular connection), and GPS to detect your rough location. Turning off location detection saves battery.

The “Allow access to location:” list should be present whenever “Location detection” is on. It should include only currently-installed apps that have ever requested access to location data.

“Location access” indicator

phone-location-menu.png

The “Location access” indicator should appear in the status bar whenever an app has accessed your location in the past five minutes. It should list all apps that have accessed your location in the past five minutes, most recent first.

Each app item should have, as its value, the period since that app last accessed your location, using “now” if it is less than 5 seconds. Selecting any app should switch to that app, so that you may control whichever functions in that app are accessing location.

Changing an app’s access to location altogether, or turning off location access as a whole, can be done via the “Location Settings…” item.