How to Build a Location-Based Аpp?

According to one of the latest surveys, every 3rd American adult uses geolocation services at least once a week. Where do my friends usually hang out? How can I get to…? Where is the most delicious pizza in the city baked?

More and more people expect their smartphones to answer these and plenty of other questions, and you can make it possible for them. How? You are going to reveal it right now.

📍 Location-Based Mobile App: What Is It and What Technologies Does It Use?

Location-based apps provide both users and entrepreneurs with an exciting experience that is impossible to gain somehow else. What exactly they can do? Take a look at the three key features:

1. With its help, users can identify their position and share it with others.
2. These apps can measure a distance between objects.
3. A lot of apps with geolocation are also able to build optimum routes from one point to another.

Sounds familiar to you, right? But what is behind this “technological magic”? Let’s review the most common technologies that help modern smartphones to successfully determine user’s location.

Which technologies are a core part of a geolocation app development?

Ofttimes a definition “GPS apps” is used along with “location-based apps”, but don’t confound these two. Geolocation basically comprises mapping and location services. For this purpose, you will need one of the following technologies.

• GPS

GPS stands for the Global Positioning System which is a part of any modern smartphone or tablet. It allows your device to gather data regarding time, location and moving from satellites.

Interesting fact: wherever you are on the Earth, there are no less than 4 GPS satellites flying above you. During a process called trilateration your device calculates the distance to every satellite by receiving radio signals from them. That’s how your location is pinpointed.

📱 Top 10 Ideas How to Implement Geolocation in a Mobile App

I bet the first thing you think about when you hear the word “geolocation” is Google Maps. However, it’s just a tip of the iceberg. There is a dozen of other ways to implement geolocation in your app. Let's review proven and the most popular ones.

Mapping and navigation

Examples: Google Maps, Waze.

Some people like an obscurity, but majority prefers to have their vacation thought out and well-planned. Where to stay, what to see, and a bunch of other similar questions doesn’t scare travelers anymore due to this group of apps.

E-commerce

Examples: eBay, Asos, Zara.

Sometimes users may not even know about geolocation in a mobile app, but still benefit from it. For example, e-commerce apps often use it to provide their customers with optimum and fast delivery.

🛠️ Development Process

You are already able to choose a business idea and suitable for it mapping and locating technology. That’s why I want to pay an attention now to some key moments related to a geolocation app development.

A location-based mobile app is still an app, so it should have all the common features, such as:

• user interface;
• business logic;
• protected backend database.

Along with all above you shouldn’t forget about specific elements of apps with geolocation. For example:

• map integration;
• locations detecting;
• route searching;
• GPS coordinates.

You will also need some special SDK’s to create a location based app. For both platforms these are Google Maps SDK (adds maps in the app) and Google Places API (detects location). Also on iOS you can use Apple’s native MapKit instead of Google Maps SDK for adding maps to the app.

Our developers suggest you building a native app with geolocation. Such custom apps usually provide users with a better experience. However, it may be too expensive to develop an application for every single platform, so you can try cheaper alternatives.

For instance, it’s possible to build a cross-platform app on the basis of HTML5 and JavaScript libraries or use React Native app development services. If you consider only a native development but don’t know which platform to choose, we may advise you to read our article “Android vs iOS Development: Which Platform is Better?”.

💰 Costs

So, now you have a business idea, a technology to make it real and some development tips. What’s missing? Estimated costs. As always, it’s difficult to give you a concrete figure because too many factors influence it.

💡 Conclusion

Location-based apps significantly changed different spheres of our life. Despite it’s not a brand new technology, these apps attract more and more users every year. So don’t hesitate to use this advantage for your own profit. Let's underline the key ideas: