How can I become MORE trackable by GPS?
October 29, 2010 8:35 PM Subscribe
Is it possible for two iOS 4 apps to access and use GPS information at the same time? Specifically, would iOS let me use RunKeeper to track a run in the foreground, and let an app like PlaceTrack update Google Latitude in the background?
I'm running a 10K on Sunday, and I'm a pretty huge RunKeeper user; for those not in the know, RK is an iOS (and now Android) app that uses GPS to track runs and give you a bunch of stats. My wife wants to track where I am so she and the kiddo can come out and see me at one or two points along the route... and while RunKeeper has the ability to send live updates of your position to their web-based service, she tells me that being able to see the info on their website is challenging at best on her Droid. But Google Latitude works fantastically on Android, so if I were able to *also* have Latitude updating in the background, all would be perfecto.
Does anyone know if I'll be able to have RunKeeper and Google Latitude both get my GPS info at the same time from my iPhone?
I'm running a 10K on Sunday, and I'm a pretty huge RunKeeper user; for those not in the know, RK is an iOS (and now Android) app that uses GPS to track runs and give you a bunch of stats. My wife wants to track where I am so she and the kiddo can come out and see me at one or two points along the route... and while RunKeeper has the ability to send live updates of your position to their web-based service, she tells me that being able to see the info on their website is challenging at best on her Droid. But Google Latitude works fantastically on Android, so if I were able to *also* have Latitude updating in the background, all would be perfecto.
Does anyone know if I'll be able to have RunKeeper and Google Latitude both get my GPS info at the same time from my iPhone?
Right, you're on iOS and I'm assuming you're already using the runkeeper app. The PlaceTrack app is only a couple of dollars, can't you just run both, and see what happens? I would assume that both can access the GPS API, the GPS itself is run by the iPhone, apps just ask for the position data from that API AFAIK.
posted by defcom1 at 5:21 AM on October 30, 2010
posted by defcom1 at 5:21 AM on October 30, 2010
Response by poster: Defcom1, I'll try it out today -- the only reason I hadn't is because most of the Latitude-compatible iOS apps get moderate to poor ratings, so I didn't want to buy one to test THIS specific functionality and then find that that one sucked in other ways and have to start buying other ones to then find the best... but alas, I guess I'll have to try it out.
posted by delfuego at 8:38 AM on October 30, 2010
posted by delfuego at 8:38 AM on October 30, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
There's a feature in iOS 4 where a background app can do that, but it has to be written to take advantage of it - for example, the TomTom navigation app will continue to speak out directions when in the background while you use other apps, even if those foreground apps also use GPS.
I have no idea if RunKeeper and/or Google Latitude do this.
posted by DreamerFi at 2:29 AM on October 30, 2010