termux; termux-api; termux-location

NOTES.md

termux-location

install

1. install termux app
2. install termux-api app
3. open termux terminal and install:

   pkg install termux-api
   

run it

On the first attempt you are going to get a permission error, and that will trigger a GUI dialog where you can allow termux-api to access the GPS subsystem.
Alternativelly you can setup this permission beforehand.

~ $ termux-location

{
  "error": "Please grant the following permission to use this command: android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION"
}

use it

~ $ termux-location

{
  "latitude": 48.90542000000001,
  "longitude": 18.187695,
  "altitude": 352.0,
  "accuracy": 5.5,
  "vertical_accuracy": 57.29999923706055,
  "bearing": 289.95001220703125,
  "speed": 0.33714306354522705,
  "elapsedMs": 12884902019,
  "provider": "gps"
}

~ $ echo "Poliklinika TN"
Poliklinika TN
~ $
~ $ termux-location

{
  "latitude": 48.88806833333333,
  "longitude": 18.031871666666667,
  "altitude": 252.20000000000002,
  "accuracy": 6.199999809265137,
  "vertical_accuracy": 21.899999618530273,
  "bearing": 358.1000061035156,
  "speed": 0.6397997140884399,
  "elapsedMs": 12884902040,
  "provider": "gps"
}

visual test 👀

• https://openstreetmap.org/?mlat=48.88806833333333&mlon=18.031871666666667&zoom=19&layers=N

REFERENCES

• https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Main_Page
• https://github.com/HyTurtle/plyer/
• Linux version: https://gist.github.com/mbohun/14d222ae1ed9b120c390a6416c2ab490
• TODO

record_gps.sh

#!/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/sh

termux-wake-lock

running=true;

trap 'running=false;' 2

SESSION_DIR=~/record_gps-`date +%s`
mkdir ${SESSION_DIR}

while ${running}; do
    loc_json=`termux-location`

    if [ `echo "${loc_json}" | grep -c latitude` -ne 0 ]; then
        ts=`date +%s`;
        echo "${loc_json}" > ${SESSION_DIR}/${ts}.json;
    fi

    sleep 3;
done

echo "DEBUG: finnished";
exit 0;

satellite_out_test.geojson

track-2026-07-24_17.45.13.geojson

INPUT:

~/record_gps-1764392293 $ ls
1764392303.json  1764392353.json  1764392398.json
1764392316.json  1764392368.json  1764392417.json  1764392328.json  1764392380.json  1764392430.json       1764392340.json  1764392390.json 

Turn the filenames into a JSON array/file:

$ ls *.json \
    | xargs \
    | sed -e 's/\.json//g' \
    | jq -s '[ .[]|{"timestamp":.}]' \
> ts.tmp

Merge the GPS JSON files into one JSON array/file:

$ cat *.json | jq -s > gps.json 

$ mv ts.tmp ts.json

Merge timestamps and gps into one JSON array/file:

$ jq -s '[ .[0][] + .[1][] ]' \
    ts.json \
    gps.json \
> session.json

TODO:

1. for_each GPS JSON file insert in the timestamp (filename)
2. Then merge the GPS JSON files into one JSON array/file

Test this:

#!/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/sh

termux-wake-lock

# Create a persistent notification
termux-notification --id gps_tracker --ongoing --priority high --title "GPS Tracker" --content "Starting GPS tracking..."

SESSION_DIR=~/record_gps-`date +%s`
mkdir ${SESSION_DIR}

counter=0
while true; do
    loc_json=`termux-location`

    if [ `echo "${loc_json}" | grep -c latitude` -ne 0 ]; then
        ts=`date +%s`;
        echo "${loc_json}" > ${SESSION_DIR}/${ts}.json;
        # Update notification every 10 iterations (every 30 seconds) to show it's alive
        counter=$((counter+1))
        if [ $((counter % 10)) -eq 0 ]; then
            termux-notification --id gps_tracker --ongoing --priority high --title "GPS Tracker" --content "Tracking GPS at $(date +%H:%M:%S)"
        fi
    fi

    sleep 3;
done

# Remove notification when script exits (if it ever does)
termux-notification-remove gps_tracker

cat record_gps-1765558485.geojson \
    | jq '[ .features[].properties.timestamp | strflocaltime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S") ]'

[
  "2025-12-12 17:54:46",
  "2025-12-12 17:54:50",
  "2025-12-12 17:54:55",
  "2025-12-12 17:54:59",
  "2025-12-12 17:55:03",
  "2025-12-12 17:55:07",
  "2025-12-12 17:55:11",
  "2025-12-12 17:55:15",
  "2025-12-12 17:55:19",
  "2025-12-12 17:55:23"
]