# UsbGps4Droid - A USB GPS provider for Android
UsbGps4Droid is a USB GPS provider application for the Android operating system,
providing GPS support for devices down to android 4.0
[Download latest release](../../releases)
## About
The application provides location updates to Android which allows devices without
an internal GPS to still use applications which require GPS (Google Maps navigation).
I use this USB Gps with my Android Tablet Headunit, because the internal GPS does
not work reliably. I have a [main controller](https://github.com/freshollie/AndroidHeadunitController/)
which automatically starts this application's background service when my car starts
The application is designed to work with any SiRF USB GPS device, however it has been
tested as working with [GlobalSat BU-353-S4](http://usglobalsat.com/p-688-bu-353-s4.aspx) and
[a device based on the UBLOX LEA-M8P chip](../../issues/7).
## Features
- Android 6.0+ Permission handling
- Ability to pick which USB device is the GPS
- Automatic start on reboot
- User interface with readings from the USB GPS and a log showing NMEA data coming from the GPS
- Abilty to sync android device time with GPS time (Requires root)
- Support for any SiRF USB GPS device
## Usage
### USB Permissions Popup
**Unless your ROM is modified then Android will ask permission to use your USB GPS device
everytime you reconnect it**
If your device is rooted, then you can follow [this tutorial](https://stackoverflow.com/a/30563253/1741602)
in order to surpress the USB permission popup system wide and grant permission everytime automatically.
If your device is not rooted, then there is nothing I can do. This is unfortunately a limitation of
the android operating system. If this is for an embedded system I highly recommend rooting the device
and following the tutoial.
### Connecting a USB GPS to your device
- A USB GPS device can connect to an Android device's charging port, with a USB OTG adapter, if your device supports
[USB OTG](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_On-The-Go)
- If your device has normal USB ports (Raspberry PI, computer...) then an OTG adapter is not required.
### Disclaimer
This app has only been tested on 2 of my devices, running Android 5.1 and 6.0. Any issues with
this app on your device, please create a [github issue](../../issues) and I will resolve the
problem as soon as possible.
### Service behaviour
The application's background service can be set to start when the device turns on.
Currently the service does not automatically start when the GPS device is plugged
into the Android device due to more unwanted usb popups.
For now the background service can be manually started with a start service intent.
```java
Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.setComponent(
new Component(
"org.broeuschmeul.android.gps.usb.provider",
"org.broeuschmeul.android.gps.usb.provider.driver.USBGpsProviderService"
)
)
intent.setAction("org.broeuschmeul.android.gps.usb.provider.action.START_GPS_PROVIDER")
```
Or via a shell command as root.
```bash
am startservice -a org.broeuschmeul.android.gps.usb.provider.action.START_GPS_PROVIDER -n org.broeuschmeul.android.gps.usb.provider/.driver.USBGpsProviderService
```
The background service will automatically close itself when the USB device is disconnected for too long.
## Contributing
Any contributions welcome. Please fork this repository and create a pull request notifying your changes and why.
## Screenshots
### Landscape tablet
