Ionic - Cordova Geolocation

This plugin is used for adding a geolocation plugin to the Ionic app.

Using Geolocation

There is a simple way to use the geolocation plugin. We need to install this plugin from the command prompt window.

C:\Users\Username\Desktop\MyApp>cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-geolocation

The following controller code is using two methods. The first one is the getCurrentPosition method and it will show us the current latitude and longitude of the user’s device. The second one is the watchCurrentPosition method that will return the current position of the device when the position is changed.

Controller Code

.controller('MyCtrl', function($scope, $cordovaGeolocation) {
   var posOptions = {timeout: 10000, enableHighAccuracy: false};
   $cordovaGeolocation
   .getCurrentPosition(posOptions)
	
   .then(function (position) {
      var lat  = position.coords.latitude
      var long = position.coords.longitude
      console.log(lat + '   ' + long)
   }, function(err) {
      console.log(err)
   });

   var watchOptions = {timeout : 3000, enableHighAccuracy: false};
   var watch = $cordovaGeolocation.watchPosition(watchOptions);
	
   watch.then(
      null,
		
      function(err) {
         console.log(err)
      },
	   function(position) {
         var lat  = position.coords.latitude
         var long = position.coords.longitude
         console.log(lat + '' + long)
      }
   );

   watch.clearWatch();
})

You might have also noticed the posOptions and watchOptions objects. We are using timeout to adjust maximum length of time that is allowed to pass in milliseconds and enableHighAccuracy is set to false. It can be set to true to get the best possible results, but sometimes it can lead to some errors. There is also a maximumAge option that can be used to show how an old position is accepted. It is using milliseconds, the same as timeout option.

When we start our app and open the console, it will log the latitude and longitude of the device. When our position is changed, the lat and long values will change.