Show User's Location aka. Blue Dot

In this tutorial we will show how you can show a blue dot on the map, representing the users location. The position will be served from a mocked positioning provider and displayed on a map in a view controller.

We will start by creating our implementation of a positioning provider.

Create a class MyPositionProvider that inherits from NSObject and implements MPPositionProvider.

class MyPositionProvider : NSObject, MPPositionProvider {

Add some member variables to MyPositionProvider.

• delegate: The delegate object

• running: A running state boolean flag

• latestPositionResult: The latest positioning result

• preferAlwaysLocationPermission: A boolean that indicates whether this provider requires Apple Location Services to always be active

• locationServicesActive: A boolean that indicates whether Apple Location Services is currently active

• providerType: A provider type enum, convenient when working with multiple positioning providers in the same application

var delegate: MPPositionProviderDelegate?
private var running = false
var latestPositionResult: MPPositionResult?
var preferAlwaysLocationPermission: Bool = false
var locationServicesActive: Bool = false
var providerType: MPPositionProviderType = .GPS_POSITION_PROVIDER
var heading:Double = 0

Create a method called updatePosition. This will be our "loop" constantly posting a new position to the delegate.

• Check if the provider has a running state

• Assign a new MPPositionResult to latestPositionResult

• Assign a new position point

• Optionally specify that heading is available and set a heading

• Notify the delegate by calling onPositionUpdate passing the new position as argument

• Schedule a new delayed call of this method

private func updatePosition() {
    if running {
        latestPositionResult = MPPositionResult.init()
        latestPositionResult?.geometry = MPPoint.init(lat: 57.057964, lon: 9.9504112)
        latestPositionResult?.provider = self
        latestPositionResult?.headingAvailable = true
        heading = (heading + 10).truncatingRemainder(dividingBy: 360)
        latestPositionResult?.setHeadingDegrees(heading)

        if let delegate = self.delegate, let latestPositionResult = self.latestPositionResult {
            delegate.onPositionUpdate(latestPositionResult)
        }

        DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 1) {
            self.updatePosition()
        }
    }
}

Implement the requestLocationPermissions method. In this example we will just set the locationServicesActive to true.

func requestLocationPermissions() {
    locationServicesActive = true
}

Implement the updateLocationPermissionStatus method. In this example we will just set the locationServicesActive to true.

func updateLocationPermissionStatus() {
    locationServicesActive = true
}

Implement the startPositioning method. We set the running boolean to true and call updatePos.

func startPositioning(_ arg: String?) {
    running = true
    updatePosition()
}

Implement the stopPositioning method. We set the running boolean to false.

func stopPositioning(_ arg: String?) {
    running = false
}

Implement the startPositioningAfter method. This is just a convenience method that should support a delayed start.

func startPositioning(after millis: Int32, arg: String?) {
    DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + (0.001 * Double(millis))) {
        self.startPositioning(arg)
    }
}

Implement the isRunning method. Return the value of running.

func isRunning() -> Bool {
    return running
}

See the sample in MyPositionProvider.swift

Create a view controller displaying a map that shows the user's "mocked" location​

Create a class ShowMyLocationController that inherits from UIViewController.

class ShowMyLocationController: UIViewController {

Add a GMSMapView and a MPMapControl to the class

var map: GMSMapView? = nil
var mapControl: MPMapControl? = nil

override func viewDidLoad() {

    super.viewDidLoad()

Inside viewDidLoad, setup the map so that it shows the demo venue and initialise mapControl

self.map = GMSMapView.init(frame: CGRect.zero)
self.view = self.map
self.map?.camera = .camera(withLatitude: 57.057964, longitude: 9.9504112, zoom: 20)
self.mapControl = MPMapControl.init(map: self.map!)

Inside viewDidLoad, optionally add a special icon for the user location

let myLocationRule = MPLocationDisplayRule.init(name: "my-location", andIcon: UIImage.init(named: "MyLocationDirection"), andZoomLevelOn: 0)
myLocationRule?.iconSize = CGSize(width: 30, height: 30)
self.mapControl?.add(myLocationRule!)

Inside viewDidLoad, finally

• Tell mapControl to show the users location

• Assign your position provider MyPositionProvider to MapsIndoors.positionProvider

• Start positioning

self.mapControl?.showUserPosition(true)
MapsIndoors.positionProvider = MyPositionProvider()
MapsIndoors.positionProvider.startPositioning(nil)

See the sample in ShowMyLocationController.swift