Can you provide the below requested information to better understand the issue:

Can you please test with latest library and update result here.
https://developer.android.com/topic/libraries/support-library/revisions.html

If possible please provide  a complete sample application.

Expected output
What do you expect to occur?

Current output
What do you see instead?

This seems to be intended according to https://issuetracker.google.com/74278849, the suggestion is to remove the extra logic to deliverResult() in onStartLoading().

@gg..@google.com
Sample project is attached.

Steps to test:
1. Import, build and install apk
2. Notice "Number of 'onLoadFinished' calls: 1"
3. Click "Click me!" button to start Second Activity
4. Notice "Number of 'onLoadFinished' calls: 2"

EXPECTED: At stap 4 "Number of 'onLoadFinished' calls" should be 1.
ACTUAL: It's 2.

@ha...@gmail.com
That's not the solution because developers are not in control of all Loaders. For example CursorLoader from support libaray should be then fixed by google, not by developers.
And this is behavior change which is not documented, so suggestion on issuetracker is not good enough.

We have shared this with our engineering team and will update this issue with more information as it becomes available.

Do you have any news ?

@6 I think they changed the way it works, without much information about the change.
Try this solution I've written about (read the last part of the text too, as it talks about the changes) :
https://stackoverflow.com/a/22675607/878126

@7 Thank you for your information. I still get the error when orientation change

@8 I can't confirm. It works fine without any error .
Attached sample project, that "loads" content, and after 5 seconds returns a result, that will be returned on the current Activity.

OK I'll check it again. Thx a lot!

@9 Hello man, when orientation change  the "onLoaderFinished" method, called again. Do you know how to stop calling this method?

@11 It is called only once after onCreate is called, just as intended.
The reason is that after you load something, you wish to use it. After orientation change, all is destroyed, but the result is still available, so you can use it.

If you don't want to use the result, either ignore it, or check whether the loader (if existing) has a result or not.
But this loses the whole point of using a loader. By using a loader, you are supposed to use its result, even after an orientation change.

Pity, wanted to integrate this with Google Home so my kids could ask where I was, and also how long till I was home. Come on Google! Just give us the same functionality via API that we have via your website and OS!

Do you imagine that the PMs involved in this decision think that they're protecting privacy (or protecting google from bad pub) by not providing an API to access data that could be gleaned from a browser plugin?
Obscurity provides NO security.

Adding my voice to this one -- would love to see this feature.

SOOOO. IT WILL BE IMPLEMENTED OR NOT?? GOOGLE, SAY SOMETHING.
(need in Java API)

In order to display user data the Maps API will need to have an option to sign in. The Google Maps API had a signed in API which has been deprecated more than a year ago due to developer disinterest:
https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/signedin

Given that currently after the signed in deprecation we lack a way to identify users, we will not be able to share user information, e.g. shared devices from a user.

I stumbled across this yesterday https://github.com/costastf/locationsharinglib

It isn't official and I guess prone to breakages, but provides a method for getting shared location data.

Dear Mr. Google,

You could also incorporate a way in which the user will share his position without telling who he is and for a short period of time. More or less the way you do it now with a hashed URI.

As a response to #19, if you get the user willing to share their location, you can build this yourself:

We have a tutorial:
https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/firebase
which shows how you can manage location data between devices, and have them expire over time. HTML5 has an geolocation API: https://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_geolocation.asp
Perhaps combining these two will give you the ability for a solution for now.

Plus1 on this feature.

I would love to have API access to my shared location via google.  This will also be a great feature for tracking apps on android. Cause now only google maps has to send location updates vs several apps doing the same thing.

+1

+1

+1

It would be nice to at least have a deep link where the user would be sent to Google Maps to automatically start sharing his location for (15 or 30 min) then prompted if he wants to share his location with the app, and if he does (while Google Maps be open), a web hook be called sending a token, valid for 15 min, to consume the user's location.

In that case there would not be necessary to implement any fancy authentication.

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1

+2

+1

Waiting for a location sharing API!!
I want to implement that running locally could be able to get input from my google home mini, send it to a local server that push a response to the google home...
"Ok google, where is [name]?"
google home send the request to a local server (nodered?), request the person location (if shared, via the missed API), send the response back to google home that speak it.

Please.. location api!!!

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1

A beautiful application for sheepherding

Thanks for the requests everyone. Please make sure you're starring this issue as we can measure stars much more easily than "+1" comments.

We do really value your comments to help us investigate these requests, and the most helpful kind of comment is one where you tell us why exactly you are requesting a feature. i.e.
1) What problem you're trying to solve
2) How this feature would help you solve it

(no more +1 guys... they're honestly pointless, and just prove you can't read... and they're annoying)

A case where I would use this feature is on my domotic system at home. I've a tablet mounted on the wall, and it should be awesome if my girlfriend can see me drive home when I share my location with her. An extra feature would be too see the time of arrival as well, but the current location would be awesome. I've the traffic view of maps already added to the tablet, but no location is present.

Specifically,  home automation -- I want to ask my system "where is <name>" and it'll tell me where my family members are, if they're heading home, or how long it will take them to get home.  You guys are already sending out an email notification to those people who have already shared their location to remind them of privacy, so what's the big deal???  Just expose the API to get latitude and longitude, OR just tell us you're not going to do it and let us move on with our lives.  Yeesh!

+1

Starred +1

Incidentally, note that "+1" is not appropriate and muddles the conversation. Just use the star.

I would like to use this feature for geo-fencing notifications with family members.
I have actually tried an implementation (https://github.com/costastf/locationsharinglib) which worked great, but I got banned very soon and then every google page required a captcha.
I think similar implementation in google maps would be an also very useful feature. e.g. sending me push notification when a family member leaves home or getting close to a location e.g they will be home in 5 minutes.
I hope you guys consider implementing it, or at least make an official api available.
Thank you!

Where is the star? :)

Starred +1

I would like to be able to turn on location sharing on a batch of tablets distributed to our service technicians, and retrieve the records for those tablets locations at any given moment via api. One of the things I would like to do with the results of the api is run each tablets location through the distance matrix to see who's closest to a destination.

+1

Use case:
Have a Home automation system that residents can share their location with. The home automation system must have a separate google account, so it can be found by the residents as a separate user, plus it can send out and receive mails to the residents. A resident has the initiative to share their location, and can stop sharing the location with the system at any time. The home automation system must have a means to iterate the residents sharing their location with it, to enable it to generate a list of all residents sharing. The home automation system gets a push notification when a resident's location changes "significantly" (*). When a residents' shared location changes, the new location is compared to the home automation's location (which is most likely static, but could be retrieved through f.e. gps). The home automation system then has following uses for the location data:
- if the resident is less than x meters away from the home automation system's location, this resident is reported 'at home', when the resident is less than y kilometers away, he is reported as 'in the neighborhood' and otherwise he is reported 'away'. So multiple rings around the home location can be defined for different applications: the lights can be turned of when all residents are outside of the house, but turning the heating from comfort into eco-mode is only lucrative when all residents are likely not to return soon, i.e. are more than several kilometers away from home.
- if a resident's status changes, appropriate action(s) are taken: for example: heating is switched on or off, lights are switched on or off or the coffee maker is started or whatever the resident needs. Actions may be also be triggered when the last resident leaves the house, or when the first resident comes home. Most home automation systems should be able to implement this grouping themselves, however the API  must deliver notifications to support tracking individual residents, if it can also support notification on group level, like 'first resident entered', 'last resident left', that is an added bonus.
- an address nearby the resident's location is shown in a dashboard. This can be used to see teh location of each resident (very helpfull when you have kids that forget to mention they go out to play at a friend's)

(*) When a location change is significant is preferably configurable: depending on the location of the home (in town/in the country), greater precision may be required, or less exact gps positioning in other areas may require to allow a greater tolerance in those locations.

+1

+1

+1 !!! This would be so useful for organising family and friends. Could also have applications to community games. :)

So we do see that there is some enthusiasm here, but just to set expectations, this is not currently on our agenda, as this requires a signed in Maps API, which was deprecated due to developer desinterest.
However most of the uses cases that are described above here, could be implemented with a realtime database, for which we have a tutorial online:
https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/firebase
The physical geo location can be acquired from within JS with HTML5
https://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_geolocation.asp

It's very discouraging that users are volunteering their location data to Google, who in turn is not offering a way to get that data back out from Google. If it's not via the Maps Javascript API, then surely there is some other authenticated request that you could leverage?

Same use case as #50 here. If the workaround by realtime db + geo location means installing another app/asking the other user who's sharing location with me then it's not really a workaround.

Like many said, the data is already there, just provide us with an API to access it.

To #50, the answer is here (log to your google account before) :
https://www.google.com/maps/preview/locationsharing/read?authuser=0&hl=fr&gl=fr&pb=
Your automation système need to send request with your authenticated cookies en it will get a WTF
almost json with all the data.
French POC here : https://www.dkomputer.com/googleHome.html

THIS is great! Google, can we get some acknowledgement of this URL? Maybe a hint that it's not going to disappear without warning?

oh wow, thank you!

Nice, what about the cookies from the POC.
If I save my google account cookies how long can be used this before expire?

Is this solution (#66) against Google TOS in any way?

Sadly, I have a strong feeling that #66 is a bug that will be patched soon. Even though it is exactly what we need (minus the odd format).
So I wouldn't build your wrapper around it just yet..

How does Whatsapp implemented sharing your location and viewing it in the Google Maps app?

I'm sure they have their own totally separate system than the Google Location Sharing system. They keep track of Lat/Long separately I bet, and simply display their own stored data on top of the regular Google Maps API map.

Hello.

Thanks for sharing that URL.
I was able to get the data I was looking for.
If it can help someone, below is a quick an dirty bash script that output data from 1 or several accounts into csv format. Just drop one or more cookie in the cookies array.
As I was unable to figure out every entry of that weird json, I had to scrape the data by line number once formated. So I get user id, profile image url, user name, latitude, longitude, time, current address, country code and battery level.

If someone figure out the meaning of other lines, please advise me.

#!/bin/bash
cookies=("cookie1" "cookie2")
tmp1=`mktemp /tmp/gsl.XXXX`
tmp2=`mktemp /tmp/gsl.XXXX`
echo "user id;profile image;user;latitude;longitude;time;address;country code;battery level"
for i in "${cookies[@]}"; do
        cookie="$i"
        curl -s "https://www.google.com/maps/preview/locationsharing/read?authuser=0&hl=en&gl=en&pb=" --compressed -H "$cookie" > $tmp1
        tail -n +2 $tmp1|python -mjson.tool|sed '/^    ],/,+100 d'|tail -n +3 > $tmp2
        size=`wc -l $tmp2|cut -d" " -f1`
        iteration=`expr $size / 46`
        z=0
        while ! [ $z == $iteration ]; do
                m=`expr $z \* 46`
                userid=$(awk "FNR==$(expr $m + 3)" $tmp2|sed 's|,$||g'|sed -e 's/^ *//')
                profile_image=$(awk "FNR==$(expr $m + 4)" $tmp2|sed 's|,$||g'|sed -e 's/^ *//')
                user=$(awk "FNR==$(expr $m + 6)" $tmp2|sed 's|,$||g'|sed -e 's/^ *//')
                long=$(awk "FNR==$(expr $m + 16)" $tmp2|sed 's|,$||g'|sed -e 's/^ *//')
                lat=$(awk "FNR==$(expr $m + 17)" $tmp2|sed 's|,$||g'|sed -e 's/^ *//')
                ts=$(awk "FNR==$(expr $m + 19)" $tmp2|sed 's|,$||g'|sed -e 's/^ *//'|sed 's|...$||g')
                time=`date -d @$ts`
                address=$(awk "FNR==$(expr $m + 21)" $tmp2|sed 's|,$||g'|sed -e 's/^ *//')
                cc=$(awk "FNR==$(expr $m + 23)" $tmp2|sed 's|,$||g'|sed -e 's/^ *//')
                bat=$(awk "FNR==$(expr $m + 44)" $tmp2|sed 's|,$||g'|sed -e 's/^ *//')
                echo "$userid;$profile_image;$user;$lat;$long;$time;`echo -e $address`;$cc;$bat"
                ((z++))
        done
done
rm -f $tmp1
rm -f $tmp2

the URL that was provided here is great, no doubt. but does anyone know what exactly has to be inside this cookie ? which keys, which values ? if the cookie expires, i don´t want to get all the data manually from my chrome, would be nice to know if there is better way to set the needed cookie-data. thanks !

Just tried to play with the cookie. It expires as soon as you logout from the browser you took it from. So I expect it have the same validity mechanisms as any Google cookie.

I would like to have access to such an api for Home Automation.

Really nice to have it

+1 would be awesome to have an API for things like tasker, home automation etc... or just query "where is X?" or "how far is X from here?"

+1 would be awesome to have an API for things like tasker, home automation etc... or just query "where is X?" or "how far is X from here?"

+1 would be awesome to have an API for things like tasker, home automation etc... or just query "where is X?" or "how far is X from here?"

+1, would definitely be very useful!

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1 !!!

+1

+1

Please stop commenting on this to say "+1". It's annoying for everyone interested, and for the devs as well. If you want to show you're interested in this and subscribe to updates, star the issue at the top.

How many +1's do we need to get this request higher on the todo-list of the Developers at Google?

Another way to implement this could be to have it as part of Google Maps API and a Firebase service. So Google could charge as a service the same way they do with other functionality of Google Maps like search autocomplete, geocoding, etc.

+1 :)

As stated previously, please stop replying with "+1" It does not add to the conversation and provides no useful metrics for Google to gauge user interest. If you want to encourage Google to develop this idea, please "star" this issue. Only 192 people have done so thus far, so I understand why Google hasn't exactly leapt to make it a reality.

A typical use case is for home automation. Based on users location, we can trigger automation scripts, eg: if a user is, say, 5 km from home and closer, turn on air conditioner and unlock garage’s door.
Other great experience is on cargo tracking. Eg: if a truck is close to a potentially dangerous area(eg: affected by floods and the weather service is reporting rain condition), send an alert to driver to stop or avoid that area.

+1

> the URL that was provided here is great, no doubt. but does anyone know what exactly has to be inside this cookie ? which keys, which values ? if the cookie expires, i don´t want to get all the data manually from my chrome, would be nice to know if there is better way to set the needed cookie-data. thanks !

I got it to work using HSID, SSID and SID only

+2

Would have posted plus one but comments above suggested I add something

It would be a very useful feature.

A must have feature.

+1

+1

+1. This API would be fantastic to enable automated alerting about family members (e.g. aging parents) if they do not show at appropriate locations at appropriate times, without having to manually check on google maps.

+1. This API would be fantastic to enable automated alerting about family members (e.g. aging parents) if they do not show at appropriate locations at appropriate times, without having to manually check on google maps.

If this isn't exposed as an API endpoint as it should be, we should at least be able to set up alerts for when a shared location leaves a certain area.

Any possible JS implementation for https://www.google.com/maps/preview/locationsharing/read?authuser=0&hl=en&gl=en&pb= ?

Some of the earlier comments have talked about location sharing in the context of the Maps API. I would suggest that one of the weaknesses of Location Sharing is that it is so closely associated with Google Maps. It desperately needs its independence as an API. Yes it is very useful that I can see locations on Google Maps. It is not so useful that it has to be in the Google Maps app or Google Maps in a full browser window rather than in an iframe or popped up in a dialog window or embedded in any other way that is actually a lot more useful much of the time. It is not at all useful that the information is not available except via a map. Anyone would think Google Assistant doesn't exist. There is so much that could be done with the raw data. By all means let users limit their shared data so it is only used in Google Maps as at present, but let them trust their own family.

It just needs a single authenticated call to a URL that returns a list of usernames together with the relevant timestamp, latitude and longitude, accuracy and (ideally) battery status.

How would I use it? Well the obvious Google Assistant response to 'Where is <person>?' is one option, although it is baffling that hasn't been implemented out of the box. Otherwise I can look at a home automation dashboard and see someone isn't present, tap on their name, and discover where Google thinks they actually are in my choice of ways, which wouldn't include any way that caused my dashboard to disappear. Given that the shared locations can be off the wall bonkers a map wouldn't be first choice either, at least not by itself, as I for one find it easier to recognise the word Finland rather than a map of the outskirts of Helsinki (and that is a real example, and the person was in south London at the time).

+1

+1

I am building a delivery type app and i want to track drivers.  They would initially share their location with the app, and then they can be tracked.

It would be a very useful feature.

just wanted to point out that a working proof of concept is hidden here on post #66:
https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/62938530#comment66

and I've just found this other very promising page! https://www.home-assistant.io/components/device_tracker.google_maps/

more here:
https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/12301

☝️ This implementation seems to be based on this Python library... Excited to try this out.

https://github.com/costastf/locationsharinglib

+1

For #116, there's a very specific Google service for that use case, see https://developers.google.com/maps/solutions/transport-tracker/

+1

+1

Oops i've just read "no more +1 guys comment"
But instead i've starred the topic.

A use-case that springs to mind is a Harry Potter-style location clock like the Weasleys have. Sure there are other ways to subscribe to and update location info, but why use another service when we're already using this one - and are likely to continue to too.
The Firebase/HTML5/JS notion is OK, but would require manual location updates by the user, whereas I'd like to be able to use the native Google location service which is friction-free to implement.

I agree with #125, Another use case is a simple gps directional finder.  In particular, a "I'm Lost / Where's my family?" app on my kid's phone.  Using GPS Google location I can home in on a general area and then use Bluetooth to home in on his/her device and hopefully them.  In the reverse,  
I also would love to have the ability to use it within Tasker to alert me when a family member is almost home ect.

EDIT: In the mean time, I'm looking into using the Google transport-tracker for my own simple use case and to test with.

+1

+1

+1

++1

+1

Removing my 'starred' to this thread. I is not worth receiving so many +1's

Same for me

You're right, it's getting ridiculous.

Same opinion

Given the number of interested parties, would this be worth looking into
outside of Google Maps?

+1

+1 Badly need this!

+1

+1

The home automation possibilities are endless once this is implemented.

For everyone removing their stars due to the +1 issue, you can now choose to be notified only on major updates.

+1 please add

+1

+1

Please note that starring this issue equates to a +1, while posting +1 does not. The latter sends an update to EVERYBODY, but has no other effect.

+1

Is it really that hard to read the thread *before* posting any +1? Star the thread if you are interested.
Please read at least  #95, #99, #102, ..., #150

+1, because I have to use multiple apps for properly handling my location (e.g OwnTracks) in Home Assistant.

+1

+1

+1

Do not post "+1".

It works like a comment, which then alerts everybody who's watching this thread. Everybody, except Google, that is.
If you star the issue, then Google gets the message, while nobody else is bothered.

Also, read threads before you post. Especially post 153.

What's worse: The people who are making lots of noise at the library, or the people shushing them even more loudly?

Obviously those people who can't read the request for 'silence' at the entrance.

I eventually got tired of waiting for any movement on this and switched to Owntracks - see https://owntracks.org/booklet/ and https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/owntracks for more info.  Seems to have all I need and it uses your own private MQTT broker for data exchange.

+1

That's enough, this issue is dead for a long time and will never be brought back to Google's todo list because *they're selling this feature*.

I'm the one who created it with another account and I'm un-starring it because of all your brainless "+1" (and also Google won't do anything about if).

Awesome community, please unplug your router.

You don't have to unstar the issue to stop getting notifications of the (brainless) "+1" comments. Just hit the "default" bell symbol button on top and select "Closure Only" (only receive email when issue is closed).

+1

CLICK ON THE STAR INSTEAD OF COMMENTING WITH A "+1"  !!!!!

 #165  :D

The next person who puts a "+1"  is a moron

How to share location use by api map

Will be a very usefull feature

@170
Do you think you're alone in having this opinion, on this thread?
@169
There is no API, which is the reason for the whole thread.

I'm counting both of these as "+1". Please only post if you have something to add that others will be interested in, and only after reading the other posts.
If you want to join the club of people who want this feature, click the star. The star is how Google gets a sense of the 'need' for this feature.

Posting +1 or variants thereof only irritates other uses, and makes you look stupid and/or lazy. Please don't.

+1

+1