Location sharing with other apps

Trimble Mobile Manager enables you to allow third-party apps running on the device to use high-quality positions from the connected GNSS receiver.

Example third-party apps are:

Location sharing does not apply to Esri ArcGIS Field Maps software, where you connect the Field Maps software directly to the receiver rather than through Trimble Mobile Manager.

If you are using an iOS device, and the connected Trimble or Spectra Geospatial GNSS receiver sends high-quality location information directly to the iOS Location Service. The third-party app uses the location information from the operating system as usual, but instead of receiving information from the device's internal GPS chip, the high-quality GNSS positions output from the connected GNSS receiver are used.

Trimble Mobile Manager provides GNSS correction data to the receiver. It is important to ensure that Trimble Mobile Manager is connected to the receiver to ensure you are getting the best positions provided from the receiver to the operating system.

If the third-party app uses the location information directly from the iOS Location Service, then not all of the position data from Trimble Mobile Manager is available. The iOS operating system always reports the position accuracy no better than 5 meters, and GNSS output transformation parameters applied in Trimble Mobile Manager and are not used.

To avoid confusion, Trimble recommends disabling GNSS output transformation parameters in Trimble Mobile Manager (using the Transformation Off setting) when using the iOS Location Service with a third-party app. See Configure GNSS output.

If the third-party app receives position data from a WebSocket via Trimble Mobile Manager, then the third-party app can use all of the position data from Trimble Mobile Manager, including GNSS output transformation parameters.

On an Android device, Trimble Mobile Manager makes location information from the connected Trimble or Spectra Geospatial GNSS receiver available to the device operating system. The third-party app uses the location information from the operating system as usual, but instead of receiving information from the device's internal GPS chip, the app receives the high-quality GNSS positions output from Trimble Mobile Manager.

Trimble Mobile Manager adds metadata to location extras. For a list of all available keys, see Android location extras.

In this workflow, use Trimble Mobile Manager to connect to the receiver and to configure receiver settings such as the antenna height and the real-time corrections source.

To enable third-party apps to use positions from Trimble Mobile Manager

  1. Enable Developer options on your Android phone or tablet. To do this, tap the Developer options item in the Apps / Settings screen and then set Developer options to ON.

    If you are unable to locate the Developer options on your phone, in the Apps / Settings screen tap the Search icon and enter developer. For more information, refer to your device manufacturer's documentation on how to enable this mode.

  2. In the Developer options screen, tap Select mock location app and then tap Trimble Mobile Manager to select it as the application to provide locations to your device.

  3. Ensure that you have disabled battery optimization for Trimble Mobile Manager. See Battery optimization.

    If you do not disable battery optimization for Trimble Mobile Manager, the Android operating system may put the application to sleep, which will prevent you receiving high-accuracy positions from the connected GNSS receiver.