UTracker - Android Jogging Application

Run Project

Download the repository and open the project in Android Studio. If necessary, install all necessary dependencies as AS suggests to you. Create your own GoogleMaps and OpenWeatherMap API keys and include in your code.

Introduction

UTracker is a running application build for Android devices that includes the implementation of location services to track the running activities and content provider as user's database to display information (achievements, history). This README summarizes the running tracker application that was implemented for Mobile Device Programming module (COMP3059) at UNNC as one of the courseworks.

Components

The core functionality of the application consists of four main Android components, most of which are focused on location updates and user data control:

• Activity

• Service

• Content Provider

• Broadcast Receiver

The application presents itself as a running tracker application, where the user is able to start a workout (running, walking, mixed), set goals and view the results. Additionally outside libraries were used to enhance the performance of the application and simplify the readability of the code for a possible next reader.

Figure below represents a UML class diagram of the project. The diagram was auto-generated by Visual Paradigm software. If some part of the diagram is not clear to you, please refer to the methods in the according code segments; all project code is well-documented.

There are six activities in the application, where MainActivity is a launcher class. The main class works as a menu to navigate around the application. Five additional classes work as features of the application: Weather.class shows the current weather with additional information, History.class presents the past workout sessions, etc.

The main functionality behind the application was to build the workout class which would use a location service and receive the location updates by using Broadcast Receiver. Additionally, Content Provider component performs all CRUD operations in different classes.

All components are interacting with each other, but split into separate packages to simplify the readability of the code and alleviate the confusion for a possible next person to work on the project.

Location Service

Location package only consists of one class - LocationService.class. Sheriff permissions library was used as a third-party tool to ask the users for location permissions in an easier way.

Location service can be launched from two classes: StartWorkout.class and Weather.class. Workout class is using broadcast receiver to update the information during the workout every three seconds. Location service uses Intent to pass the data (location, speed, distance). Additionally, workout class uses Google Maps to display the current location in real-time. Weather class uses only the passed location to retrieve the weather information at the specified location. Berko's OpenWeatherMap Android library was used to simplify the process of weather retrieval.

It is worth noting that location service uses GPS Provider and does not work all the time to save the battery power. The service is only started when the workout or weather classes are launched. When the user finishes with any of those classes, the service is deactivated (stopService()), and the broadcast receiver gets unregistered.

Content Provider

Content provider is responsible for creating a database and tables for the user on the first launch and performing CRUD operations on the tables. Database package contains three classes: DBHelper, WorkoutProvider and WorkoutProviderContract. DBHelper only instantiated once on the first run of the application after the installation and it creates the database with one table. Table below describes the contents of the history table which provides the information about user's workout.

Name	Type	Description
date	long	Start time of the workout (epoch time)
duration	long	Duration of the workout
avgSpeed	double	Average speed of the user during the workout
activityType	String	Running, Walking or Mixed activity types
distance	double	The distance in meters from the start to the end of the workout
note	String	Additional note from the user about the workout
goal	int	A distance in meters that is set as a goal for the workout

WorkoutProviderContract works as a helper class for every other classes which need to use the database because all the variables in this class are final and directly linked to the table.

Features & Challenges

This section describes the features of the application in more details, specifically the design and the UI choices in the activities. Some of the challenges were met during the implementation of several features, all of which described below.

MainActivity.class

The launchers class was build using Rich Path library. Rich path allows to create views and animations for XML paths, from which I got an idea to build the menu in form of a puzzle. The buttons that you see on Figure below are custom XML vectors which were drawn by hand. Basic math, geometry and knowledge of different path techniques were used to create the main menu of the application.

However, path elements are not allowed to include text, thus I had to manually place the names of the classes on the UI view of the launcher class. Since the application was tested on emulated device (1080 x 1920 420dpi) running Android API version 29 (Android 10.0), everything shows correct. However, other devices with larger or smaller screens need some adjustments.

Weather.class

As you can see on the Figure below, the Weather class displays the weather forecast with additional information according to current location. If the emulator's location changes, the weather class will be updated as intended. However, it was noticed that the time for sunset and sunrise is not valid, according to values of the city, but to the current time. For example, if you are located in Russia and change your location to somewhere in the US, sunset and sunrise time will display correctly, but in the format of the local time.

History.class

History class uses CardView from Material Design and RecyclerView with corresponding adapter to display the past workouts. CardItem is a supporter class for the history class to easily interact with the data. Additionally, the user can annotate their workouts by adding a note. This is performed in a separate dialog when the user pushes "View More" button on the workout card of their choice. After the note is changed, the database and adapters are updated. No challenges were encountered with the classes.

Analytics.class & Goals.class

Analytics shows the user's data about their workouts divided by all time, current month, and current week. Calendar package handles the calculations for the database query selections.

Goals class was implemented with an idea of adding fitness gamification to the application to motivate the users. Achievements encourage the users to participate more and be more active during their workouts. Currently there are 12 possible trophies to receive and the user can tap on them to see the requirements on how to achieve them.

StartWorkout.class & Location Service

StartWorkout class is one of the largest classes in the application which is responsible for tracking the user's location and saving it in the database using Content Provider. The user can choose the type of the workout they want to perform, set the goal, and leave a note for the workout session.

Some of the challenges were considered when used GPS Provider. As the service runs only in the foreground of the application and stops if the user closes it (background location is not implemented), it poses a question whether the collected data is valid. For example, a user can run laps around UNNC track and launch the process at the start, then close the application. Assuming one lap is 1000 meters and the user has run 5 laps, the application would show the distance around 0--1000 meters depending on the end point of the user. GPS Provider in the application does not update the location in the background (as it is not implemented on a background thread), thus the distance that the user has run could be invalid in the end. The solution for this is to use the accelerometer sensor and track the steps, later converting it to meter distance. However, due to the lack of the physical device with the accelerometer (emulators are incapable or tracking that type of data), this solution was not implemented.

Overall UI

Overall, the UI is responsive and follows the Android guides on the UI design. Considering that ConstraintLayout was used in almost every activity, the separate -land, -xlarge and -small layouts were not added to the application. Workout and History class were constrained to only portrait mode due to the problems with pop up dialogues and saved instances states.

All text strings are located in strings.xml, and only log texts have hard-coded strings, as they do not need to be included in the locale files of the application.

Drawables for the application classes were taken from Flaticon, icons8 and Material Design websites. All icons are licensed as free to be used with the accreditation to the author or the company.

It is worth noting that the application was also tested on a real device, but due to unknown reasons, neither Google Map for workout class or weather details were loaded. Internet connection was stable and all permissions were given. My assumption was that the physical device needs a separate sets of API keys, but the tests with newly created keys did not solve the problem.

Summary & Future Work

Some of the future considerations were to include the location updates running on a background thread. However, implementing that would drain the battery faster for the user and therefore might need another solution.

Updating the database and including separate tables for achievements would be another addition to the project.

Using accelerometer and other health sensors is another future consideration of the project to improve its functionality.

All in all, this project presented a running tracker application which allows the user to record, save, and annotate their data. Additionally, the user has weather forecast information and gamification features, such as achievements.