Convert cellLocation to real location (Latitude and Longitude), using "http://www.google.com/glm/mmap"

The post "Get cell location on a GSM phone, getCellLocation()" get cell id and location area code. It's not a useful info with converted to real location.

"http://www.google.com/glm/mmap" is a non-public API to convert cellLocation to latitude and longitude. Some nice guy developed the method to retrieve location from cellLocation.



We need the following permission in this example:

• android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION
• android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION
• android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE
• android.permission.INTERNET

package com.AndroidTelephonyManager;

import java.io.DataInputStream;
import java.io.DataOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
import java.net.URL;
import java.net.URLConnection;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Context;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.telephony.TelephonyManager;
import android.telephony.gsm.GsmCellLocation;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class AndroidTelephonyManager extends Activity {

int myLatitude, myLongitude;

  /** Called when the activity is first created. */
  @Override
  public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
      super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
      setContentView(R.layout.main);
      TextView textGsmCellLocation = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.gsmcelllocation);
      TextView textCID = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.cid);
      TextView textLAC = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.lac);
      TextView textGeo = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.geo);
    
      //retrieve a reference to an instance of TelephonyManager
      TelephonyManager telephonyManager = (TelephonyManager)getSystemService(Context.TELEPHONY_SERVICE);
      GsmCellLocation cellLocation = (GsmCellLocation) telephonyManager.getCellLocation();
    
      int cid = cellLocation.getCid();
      int lac = cellLocation.getLac();
      textGsmCellLocation.setText(cellLocation.toString());
      textCID.setText("gsm cell id: " + String.valueOf(cid));
      textLAC.setText("gsm location area code: " + String.valueOf(lac));
    
      if(RqsLocation(cid, lac)){
       textGeo.setText(
            String.valueOf((float)myLatitude/1000000)
            + " : "
            + String.valueOf((float)myLongitude/1000000));
      }else{
       textGeo.setText("Can't find Location!");
      }
   
  }

  private Boolean RqsLocation(int cid, int lac){
  
   Boolean result = false;

   String urlmmap = "http://www.google.com/glm/mmap";

      try {
       URL url = new URL(urlmmap);
          URLConnection conn = url.openConnection();
          HttpURLConnection httpConn = (HttpURLConnection) conn;      
          httpConn.setRequestMethod("POST");
          httpConn.setDoOutput(true);
          httpConn.setDoInput(true);
  httpConn.connect();
 
  OutputStream outputStream = httpConn.getOutputStream();
        WriteData(outputStream, cid, lac);
      
        InputStream inputStream = httpConn.getInputStream();
        DataInputStream dataInputStream = new DataInputStream(inputStream);
      
        dataInputStream.readShort();
        dataInputStream.readByte();
        int code = dataInputStream.readInt();
        if (code == 0) {
         myLatitude = dataInputStream.readInt();
         myLongitude = dataInputStream.readInt();
          
            result = true;
          
        }
 } catch (IOException e) {
  // TODO Auto-generated catch block
  e.printStackTrace();
 }

 return result;
  
  }

  private void WriteData(OutputStream out, int cid, int lac)
  throws IOException
  {    
      DataOutputStream dataOutputStream = new DataOutputStream(out);
      dataOutputStream.writeShort(21);
      dataOutputStream.writeLong(0);
      dataOutputStream.writeUTF("en");
      dataOutputStream.writeUTF("Android");
      dataOutputStream.writeUTF("1.0");
      dataOutputStream.writeUTF("Web");
      dataOutputStream.writeByte(27);
      dataOutputStream.writeInt(0);
      dataOutputStream.writeInt(0);
      dataOutputStream.writeInt(3);
      dataOutputStream.writeUTF("");

      dataOutputStream.writeInt(cid);
      dataOutputStream.writeInt(lac);   

      dataOutputStream.writeInt(0);
      dataOutputStream.writeInt(0);
      dataOutputStream.writeInt(0);
      dataOutputStream.writeInt(0);
      dataOutputStream.flush();    
  }

}

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  android:orientation="vertical"
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="fill_parent"
  >
<TextView
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  android:text="@string/hello"
  />
<TextView
  android:id="@+id/gsmcelllocation"
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  />
<TextView
  android:id="@+id/cid"
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  />
<TextView
  android:id="@+id/lac"
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  />
<TextView
  android:id="@+id/geo"
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  />
</LinearLayout>

It's another open source project, OpenCellID, which provide tools, and database to retrieve location informations of CellID worldwide.

Related Post:
- Get location of Cell ID, from opencellid.org using HttpGet().