Flutter Course: Installing the Geolocator Package

In this course, we will learn how to install the Geolocator package in a Flutter application. The Geolocator package is a useful Flutter package that tracks the user’s location and provides various GPS-based features. With this package, the application can easily utilize the user’s location information and implement various features such as maps and location-based services.

1. What is the Geolocator package?

Geolocator is a package that helps easily navigate and utilize location in Flutter applications. By using this package, you can obtain the user’s location in real time via GPS, network, or other sensors. Geolocator works on both Android and iOS, supporting features such as:

• Getting the current location
• Receiving location updates
• Managing location permissions
• Calculating distances and verifying location distances

2. How to install the Geolocator package

To install the Geolocator package, you need to follow these steps.

2.1 Creating a Flutter project

If you haven’t created a Flutter project yet, create a new Flutter project with the following command:

flutter create my_location_app

Navigate to the project directory:

cd my_location_app

2.2 Adding the Geolocator package

Open the project’s pubspec.yaml file and add geolocator to the dependencies list. You should check for the latest version and add the appropriate version. Here is an example:

dependencies:
  flutter:
    sdk: flutter
  geolocator: ^9.0.0

After adding it, run the following command to install the dependencies:

flutter pub get

3. Setting up the Geolocator package

After installing the Geolocator package, you need to add some settings to use it in your application.

3.1 Android settings

To request location permissions on Android, open the AndroidManifest.xml file and add the following permissions:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION"/>

3.2 iOS settings

For iOS, modify the Info.plist file to add a message for requesting location permissions. Please add the following:

<key>NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription</key>
<string>Permission is required to use the user's location.</string>

4. Implementing basic location code

Now let’s write the basic code to get the user’s location using the Geolocator package.

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:geolocator/geolocator.dart';

void main() {
  runApp(MyApp());
}

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      home: LocationScreen(),
    );
  }
}

class LocationScreen extends StatefulWidget {
  @override
  _LocationScreenState createState() => _LocationScreenState();
}

class _LocationScreenState extends State {
  String locationMessage = "";

  @override
  void initState() {
    super.initState();
    getLocation();
  }

  Future getLocation() async {
    Position position = await Geolocator.getCurrentPosition(desiredAccuracy: LocationAccuracy.high);
    setState(() {
      locationMessage = "Latitude: ${position.latitude}, Longitude: ${position.longitude}";
    });
  }

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
      appBar: AppBar(
        title: Text('Location Information'),
      ),
      body: Center(
        child: Text(locationMessage),
      ),
    );
  }
}

Using the code above, you can create a Flutter application that retrieves the user’s current location (latitude and longitude).

5. Conclusion

We learned how to install and set up the Geolocator package. This allows us to efficiently utilize the user’s location information in a Flutter application. Additionally, you can use various methods of the Geolocator package to implement location tracking and other features.