Google Maps: New Android feature will increase the accuracy of maps on mobile phones

Google Maps will soon be more accurate in terms of mobile phone directions. Gigante das Buscas announced a practically new API, the Fused Orientation Provider (FOP). more consistent and accurate device location identification. The news was announced at: Android Developers Blog this Thursday (7).

Sometimes Google Maps can have trouble determining the direction you’re facing, which can make the map less efficient to use. According to Google, This is not an issue specific to your particular application, as the information provided by GPS is not entirely accurate.

FOP API trying to meet demand from developers (and possibly Google itself) Greater accuracy in detecting direction and movement. “A mapping app should show the right direction to go when the user goes to an interesting restaurant in a foreign city,” emphasizes Google.

FOP provides “more consistent high-performance behavior across devices” by returning information such as guidance with a lower chance of error. To do this, the API takes advantage of various sensors present on the device (accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer) to detect motion and compensate for errors caused by low-quality sensors.

Additionally, the API takes advantage of access to the mobile phone’s hardware to synchronize sensors with different times, add measurements from the accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer, and compensate for gyro errors in movement.

Available to developers

According to Google, the new feature will be distributed to all mobile phones via Google Play Services (compatible with Android 5 or newer). However, since it is an API, map app developers need to implement it manually.

Since it is a structural innovation and not an end-user ready feature, you do not need to do anything to have the new feature on your mobile phone. But you will have to wait until improvements are made to your favorite app.