GPSTest Database articles

[Sean Barbeau]

Hi all,

The ability to upload device GNSS capabilities to the GPSTest Database is now live for all GPSTest users, and I wanted to share a few articles I wrote that explain the feature.

Here is the article describing the motivation and how-to, and a description of the fields that are uploaded:

https://barbeau.medium.com/crowdsourcing-gnss-capabilities-of-android-devices-d4228645cf25

...and here is the article describing the implementation:
https://barbeau.medium.com/implementing-the-gpstest-database-a-serverless-architecture-c61a2084965

Thanks to everyone who helped test this feature and who has contributed their device details!

Thanks,

Sean

[V. Kelly Bellis]

RE: https://barbeau.medium.com/crowdsourcing-gnss-capabilities-of-android-devices-d4228645cf25

Hi Sean,

Many thanks for doing all that you've been steadfastly working on. I can't say thank you enough.

My reasons in joining the group just minutes ago is to provide some feedback:

1) GPSTest, Status, Share, Device, and its inability to actually upload anything. What am I missing?

2) Is buying you a coffee worth bothering with setting up PayPal? I really don't want to enter my credit card information, but would like to buy you a cup.

3) RE: GPSTest Database

GNSS hardware model name <column G>

Consider inserting another column, perhaps before it: GNSS Device

Much of arcane model naming schema are primarily related to phones, but there may come a day when more tablets have dual frequency; e.g., L1/L5, E1,E5, B1/B5, etc.

Having the field to sort on would help potential testers and consumers in winnowing their dual frequency choices.

There may also be outside of OEM-body chipset testers doing mad scientist experiments.

There may also be some variants; e.g., Android app on phone or tablet paired with external GNSS receiver; this I may also be testing at some future time.

Kind regards,

Kelly

[gpsfan]

Well done !

One thing though you say " After uploading, you’ll see a new record at the bottom of the spreadsheet with the data that you contributed:" but I can't see an indication of how long that takes ? Is it instant ?

BTW the Xiaomi M2012K11AG is both the Pocofone F3 and the Redmi K40, the F3 being the "global variant".

PS - Still hoping to see a feature showing in RT if Raw and ADR are available ;-)

[Sean Barbeau]

Kelly,

>1) GPSTest, Status, Share, Device, and its inability to actually upload anything. What am I missing?

There is a known issue I'm working to resolve where on some Android devices you may be given the option to upload even after getting a GNSS fix:

https://github.com/barbeau/gpstest/issues/495

Hopefully I'll get a fix for this out sometime within the next week. It would be great if you could join the beta testing group, if you're not already a member, so you could test this while still in beta to make sure it's actually fixed. It's a tricky one because I can't actually reproduce it on any of the Android devices I have access to.

>2) Is buying you a coffee worth bothering with setting up PayPal? I really don't want to enter my credit card information, but would like to buy you a cup.

Thanks for being interested in supporting my work! What form of payment would work for you? I'm new at this crowd-funding stuff, and buymeacoffee.com seemed to have the least amount of friction in terms of payment options for users:

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/barbeau

But if there is another method/platform that you'd prefer it's something I can look into.

>Consider inserting another column, perhaps before it: GNSS Device

That info would be nice to have! I assume options would be something like "Phone (integrated), Tablet (integrated), Phone (Bluetooth external), ...)". The only problem is being able to populate this info - I've been trying to stick to things that can be automated to be able to scale it. If you know anywhere to find this info where it could be paired with model number or device name please let me know.

Sean

[Sean Barbeau]

>Consider inserting another column, perhaps before it: GNSS Device

Just to further clarify - the data I'd be looking for is the "phone/tablet" info. When GPSTest supports Bluetooth devices I would know if a Bluetooth devices was connected, and I could automatically report that data.

[Sean Barbeau]

gpsfan,

>One thing though you say " After uploading, you’ll see a new record at the bottom of the spreadsheet with the data that you contributed:" but I can't see an indication of how long that takes ? Is it instant ?

Yes, the upload is immediate - you should see the new record appear in the Sheet within a second or two of getting success message in the app.

>BTW the Xiaomi M2012K11AG is both the Pocofone F3 and the Redmi K40, the F3 being the "global variant".

Thanks, I opened https://github.com/barbeau/gpstest/issues/497 for this.

>PS - Still hoping to see a feature showing in RT if Raw and ADR are available ;-)

Yes, I have this planned next on the list in https://github.com/barbeau/gpstest/issues/313#issuecomment-513276069, although implementation likely won't be quick. UIs take a while to design/implement, plus I need to deal with sharing data across app components, which has some larger architectural implications.

Sean

[V. Kelly Bellis]

Hi Sean,

I've clicked onto the beta option. Should I expect to receive a pushed notification from anywhere once a given (beta) build is released? Also, where are verbose feedback reports to be sent?

RE:: >1) As for the issue as it may pertain to the Moto E4 Plus XT1770, Platform 7.1.1 API Level 25, from the perspective of making a meaningful contribution to L1-L5 hardware database, we knew beforehand that the device really is barely worth even mentioning. The main point: reporting how v3.9.10 behaved while I played, fumbled, and am learning to use GPSTest.

RE:: >2) I've no idea about how Google Pay works, but know that I generally have no issue whatsoever paying the play.google app developer through the app itself. Usually, it's to remove ads, or in the case of GPS Essentials, Michael has a "donation plug-in" which works well enough; however, the icon, a penny, is removed once the donation plug-in has been purchased through Google Pay. Ideally, you would present the opportunity to make a donation available anytime, even after having made the first donation, through a single tap from the About screen. Google Pay might require the value fixed, so think about who your coffee drinkers are.

RE:: >3) My bad. I should have read more about the sheet's genesis before posting. Automated snagging is a great idea, but I've no better idea than the consolidated .csv listing you're already using.  Maybe instead of using the word phone or the word tablet, it might be better to apply the automated scraping idea to finding an image file and introduce a thumbnail/ icon linked to a larger image of the specific device in your hardware Google Sheet. The downside is that 1) automated imaging mining based on hardware specifics may not be all so easy, and 2) an image doesn't enhance sorting.

Kind regards,

Kelly

[Sean Barbeau]

>I've clicked onto the beta option. Should I expect to receive a pushed notification from anywhere once a given (beta) build is released? Also, where are verbose feedback reports to be sent?

After you join the beta group, app updates will be downloaded like any other app update. Google Play will just unlock the updates I mark as beta so they are visible to you. I just released v3.9.11 today, which should be available now and hopefully fix the issue. If you go to the Google Play store it should show it as available to download if your phone hasn't already downloaded it:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.android.gpstest

This was definitely an implementation issue on my end, but apparently only impacted a small number of devices that tweak Android to behave differently than the main variants I'm guessing most OEMs use and that I tested on. More details at https://github.com/barbeau/gpstest/issues/495.

>2) I've no idea about how Google Pay works, but know that I generally have no issue whatsoever paying the play.google app developer through the app itself. 

Got it, thanks for the feedback! I'll look into this, likely as a separate stand-alone entry on Google Play so the main GPSTest app remains ad-free and in-app purchase free.

>Automated snagging is a great idea, but I've no better idea than the consolidated .csv listing you're already using.

Yeah, this is a tough one. I'm open to adding more info if we can figure out a way to automate the info. I can do more searching too to figure out if there is a newer Android API that would help differentiate phones/tablets from within the app itself.

Sean