Using Geolocator to Communicate with the GPS and Build a Map in Dart's Flutter Framework

What Will I Learn?

• You will learn about the Geolocator Flutter plugin
• You will learn how to ping the GPS in a Flutter application
• You will learn how to use Google's static map API to build a map in Flutter
• You will learn how to use Streams to fetch Channel Messages

Requirements

• IDEA intellij or Visual Studio Code with the Dart/Flutter Plugins
• The Dart SDK and the Flutter SDK
• A fair understanding of Mobile development and Imperative or Object Oriented Programming

Difficulty

• Intermediate

Description

In this Flutter video tutorial, we look at the various applications of the Geolocation plugin. We also look at how the Google Static Map's API can be used in conjuncture with Geolocation to build a map. The Geolocation makes calls to the native platforms, iOS and Android, to their GPS APIs and then feeds that information into the Flutter layer of our application using Channel Messages. As with many Flutter plugins, we can take advantage of existing APIs from the native platforms to build our applications.

We first build a list application that periodically pings out to the GPS to fetch the current location of the device. As we change the location of the device the latitude and longitude of the location also changes. We make use of a Stream Subscription to fetch the data in a continuous manner. We then build out a map application using the Google Static Map API to generate a network image for us. By fetching the Latitude and Longitude from our device's GPS, we can then make a request to the network to re-generate the map and make it look as though the map is seminative. Various features could be added to this map to make it feel more fluid such as a gesture detector and a more consistent polling method.

The source code for this project can be found here

Video Tutorial

Projects and Series

Stand Alone Projects:

• Dart Flutter Cross Platform Chat Application Tutorial
• Building a Temperature Conversion Application using Dart's Flutter Framework

Building a Calculator

• Building a Calculator Layout using Dart's Flutter Framework
• Finishing our Calculator Application with Dart's Flutter Framework

Movie Searcher Application

• Building a Movie Searcher with RxDart and SQLite in Dart's Flutter Framework (Part 1)
• Building a Movie Searcher with RxDart and SQLite in Dart's Flutter Framework (Part 2)
• Building a Movie Searcher with RxDart and SQLite in Dart's Flutter Framework (Part 3, Final)

Minesweeper Game

• Building a Mine Sweeper Game using Dart's Flutter Framework (Part 1)
• Building a Mine Sweeper Game using Dart's Flutter Framework (Part 2)
• Building a Mine Sweeper Game using Dart's Flutter Framework (Part 3)
• Building a Mine Sweeper Game using Dart's Flutter Framework (Part 4, Final)

• How to Monetize Your Flutter Applications Using Admob (Extra)

Curriculum

• Building a Multi-Page Application with Dart's Flutter Mobile Framework
• Making Http requests and Using Json in Dart's Flutter Framework
• Building Dynamic Lists with Streams in Dart's Flutter Framework
• Using GridView, Tabs, and Steppers in Dart's Flutter Framework
• Using Global Keys to get State and Validate Input in Dart's Flutter Framework
• The Basics of Animation with Dart's Flutter Framework
• Advanced Physics Based Animations in Dart's Flutter Framework
• Building a Drag and Drop Application with Dart's Flutter Framework
• Building a Hero Animation and an Application Drawer in Dart's Flutter Framework
• Using Inherited Widgets and Gesture Detectors in Dart's Flutter Framework
• Using Gradients, Fractional Offsets, Page Views and Other Widgets in Dart's Flutter Framework
• Making use of Shared Preferences, Flex Widgets and Dismissibles with Dart's Flutter framework
• Using the Different Style Widgets and Properties in Dart's Flutter Framework
• Composing Animations and Chaining Animations in Dart's Flutter Framework
• Building a Countdown Timer with a Custom Painter and Animations in Dart's Flutter Framework
• Reading and Writing Data and Files with Path Provider using Dart's Flutter Framework
• Exploring Webviews and the Url Launcher Plugin in Dart's Flutter Framework
• Adding a Real-time Database to a Flutter application with Firebase
• Building a List in Redux with Dart's Flutter Framework
• Managing State with the Scoped Model Pattern in Dart's Flutter Framework
• Authenticating Guest Users for Firebase using Dart's Flutter Framework

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Posted on Utopian.io - Rewarding Open Source Contributors

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