Ensuring Reliable GPS Tracking and Distance Estimation
Our background location tracking ensures accurate real-distance estimation during a round. While we take all necessary steps to maintain tracking reliability, certain factors can impact accuracy. Here’s how it works, what can interfere with tracking, and how to improve accuracy.
How Background Location Tracking Works
•When a driver starts a round or opens the map, background location tracking is activated.
•This is handled by a long-running foreground service, which keeps running even when the app is open in the background.
•You can verify this by checking the notifications on your device.
•If GPS is disabled, the driver will be prompted to enable it every time they try to open the round.
•If the device is offline, tracking data is stored and sent to our servers once the driver is back online.
The tracking service automatically stops when:
•The driver completes the round.
•The round is automatically completed by our system at midnight.
What Can Interrupt Tracking?
While we optimize settings to keep tracking active, certain factors may stop the service:
User Actions:
•Manually closing the app (e.g., swiping it away in recent apps).
•Disabling GPS while the app is in the background (GPS will be required again upon reopening the app).
Device & System Limitations:
•Running heavy apps: Some devices suspend background apps due to memory constraints.
•Battery saver settings: If battery-saving mode is enabled, tracking may be stopped.
•Battery optimization settings: Some devices restrict background services unless the app is whitelisted.
Network & GPS Limitations:
•If the device is offline, location updates won’t appear on the dashboard until the connection is restored.
•Urban areas with tall buildings or indoor environments can cause GPS accuracy issues.
Understanding the Confidence Level in Distance Estimation
In the Round General view, the confidence level indicates the reliability of real-distance estimation. It can be:
•High – Sufficient location tracking data was received.
•Low – Limited location tracking data was received, reducing accuracy.
Since 100% accuracy cannot be guaranteed, a low confidence level may appear in some rounds.
How to Improve Tracking Accuracy and Confidence Level
If many rounds show a low confidence level, here are a few steps to improve tracking reliability:
•Check GPS Coverage % in the round audit for insights into location tracking performance.
•Keep the Urbantz app updated to the latest version.
•Update the Android/iOS operating system regularly.
•Consider phone model differences – Higher-end phones typically have better GPS performance than budget models.
•Avoid force closing the app – The app should not be manually closed or killed by the system when running other CPU-intensive apps (e.g., Waze).
By following these best practices, you can ensure accurate tracking and improve the confidence level in real-distance estimation.