How to Use Geolocation and Geocoding in React Native Apps
Tags: reactnative
Published: 2019-12-21 07:43:07

In this post, we will learn, how to implement Geolocation in a React Native application

Geolocation will find your current location and Geocoding gives your address (like City Name, Street Name, etc) by Coordinates (Latitude and Longitude).

<b>What Is Geolocation?</b>

The most famous and familiar location feature — Geolocation is the ability to track a device using GPS, cell phone towers, WiFi access points, etc. Geolocation uses positioning systems to trace an individual’s whereabouts right down to latitude and longitude, or more practically, a physical address. Both mobile and desktop devices can use Geolocation.

<b>What Is Geocoding and Reverse Geocoding?</b>

Geocoding is the method of remodelling an address or alternative description of a location into a (latitude, longitude) coordinate.

Reverse geocoding is the method of remodelling a (latitude, longitude) coordinate into a (partial) address. The amount of detail in a very reverse geocoded location description might vary. For example, one would possibly contain the complete address of the closest building, whereas another could contain only a city name and postal code.

<b>Post Structure</b>

We will go step-by-step to explore Geolocation.

<b>Steps</b>
<ol>
<li>Create a simple <a href="https://codersera.com/blog/first-react-native-app-stopwatch/">React Native app.</a></li>
<li>Install Plugins for Geocoding and Geolocation and get user location.</li>
<li>Get a user's current location (Geocoding).</li>
<li>Convert user Geolocation into an address (Reverse Geocoding).</li></ol>

<b>Three Major Objectives</b>
<ul>
<li>Get user location in latitude and longitude (Geolocation).</li>
<li>Convert that latitude and longitude to street address (Reverse Geocoding).</li>
<li>Install plugins for Geocoding and Geolocation and get user location.</li></ul>

<h2>Step 1: Create a Simple React Native App</h2>

If you’re aware of native development, you’ll be familiar with React Native user interface.
It needs Xcode or Android Studio to get started.  If you already have one of these tools installed, you should be able to get up and running in minutes.

If they’re not installed, you should expect to spend about an hour installing and configuring them.

React Native CLI Quickstart

Assuming that you just have Node 10+ installed, you’ll be able to use npm to install the React Native cli command-line utility:

 npm install -g react-native-cli  

Then, run the following commands to create a new React Native project known as AwesomeProject:

 react-native init AwesomeProject

For details, you can check this link.

Step 2: React Native Geolocation Service

This library is created in an attempt to fix the location timeout issue on Android with the React Native implementation of Geolocation API. This library tries to solve the issue by using Google Play Service’s new FusedLocationProviderClient API, which Google strongly recommends over Android’s default framework location API. Which provider to use is based on your request configuration; it automatically decides and prompts you to change the location mode if it doesn’t satisfy your current request configuration.

Note: Location requests can still timeout, since many Android devices have GPS issues on the hardware level or in the system software level.

for more details about step 3 and 4 you can <a href="https://dzone.com/articles/how-to-use-geo-location-geo-coding-in-react-native">read this link</a>

More related:-https://codersera.com/blog/hiring-react-native-top-developer/
https://codersera.com/blog/deep-diving-into-react-native-tutorial-for-beginners/