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Initialize the SDK

Navigation applications require many types of data that are constantly updated to provide information to the user. To being accessing this data you need to initialize the Navigation SDK and start a trip session. Then, you can use this data to power two kinds of navigation experiences: passive navigation (also known as free-drive mode) or active guidance (or turn-by-turn navigation).

Initialize the Navigation SDK

There are two steps you need to complete to initialize the Navigation SDK and begin receiving data:

  • Create a MapboxNavigation object, which is the entry point for interacting with the Navigation SDK.
  • Start a trip session, which allows you to start consuming and processing data.

Create the MapboxNavigation object

The MapboxNavigation object is the primary entity of the Navigation SDK and the producer of the majority of the data needed in a navigation application.

MapboxNavigation instance
MapboxNavigation is a singleton-like object, there should only be one instance running per application process. This object can be safely used across different activities and fragments, or accessed from a ViewModel.The instance can also be safely destroyed and recreated if needed.

To create the object use the MapboxNavigationApp and pass the NavigationOptions. MapboxNavigationApp is essentially, a lifecycle reference counter. When an attached lifecycle is CREATED, MapboxNavigationApp will construct an instance of MapboxNavigation and notify all registered MapboxNavigationObserver.

1. Set up MapboxNavigationApp

You have many options for when or how to setup MapboxNavigationApp. The easiest solution is to add it to your Application.onCreate. The NavigationOptionsProvider will request NavigationOptions when an attached LifecycleOwner is at least CREATED.

if (!MapboxNavigationApp.isSetup()) {
MapboxNavigationApp.setup {
NavigationOptions.Builder(context)
.accessToken("YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN")
// additional options
.build()
}
}

2. Attach LifecycleOwner

MapboxNavigationApp will create MapboxNavigation when at least one attached LifecycleOwner is CREATED. This accepts any LifecycleOwner, like Activities or Fragments. It will also accept custom LifecycleOwners if you need a custom experience. MapboxNavigationObserver will stay attached until both the car and app are destroyed, this makes for a seamless experience when your users change their Android Auto connection.

In this example, MapboxNavigation will be attached when MyFragment is CREATED.

class MyFragment : Fragment {
override fun onCreateView() {
if (!MapboxNavigationApp.isSetup()) {
MapboxNavigationApp.setup {
NavigationOptions.Builder(context)
.accessToken("YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN")
.attach(lifecycleOwner = this)
.build()
}
}
}
}

In this example, MapboxNavigation will be attached when the MyActivity is RESUMED.

class MyActivity : Activity {
init {
lifecycle.addObserver(object : DefaultLifecycleObserver {
override fun onResume(owner: LifecycleOwner) {
MapboxNavigationApp.attach(owner)
}

override fun onPause(owner: LifecycleOwner) {
MapboxNavigationApp.detach(owner)
}
})
}

override fun onCreate() {
if (!MapboxNavigationApp.isSetup()) {
MapboxNavigationApp.setup {
NavigationOptions.Builder(context)
.accessToken("YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN")
.build()
}
}
}
}

3. Registering MapboxNavigationObserver

Register the MapboxNavigationObserver inside Lifecycle callbacks, that will give MapboxNavigationObserver the ability to control a specific definition. Following this pattern will also avoid memory leaks. For each lifecycle state, there is a corresponding destruction event that you can use to unregister the MapboxNavigationObserver.

Registering to the Application
When registering observers to the Application, you do not unregister the observer. The MapboxNavigationApp will call MapboxNavigationObserver.onDetached when the Application is stopped. The Android system will destroy the application process and reclaim resources used by the MapboxNavigationObserver. You can control when the MapboxNavigationObserver is attached with MapboxNavigationApp.attach(lifecycleOwner = *).
MapboxNavigationApp.registerObserverMapboxNavigationApp.unregisterObserver
Application.onCreateunregister is optional
onCreateonDestroy
onStartonStop
onResumeonPause

MapboxNavigationObserver can be registered when the resources are available.

class MyApplication : Application() {
init {
// The application context can be found in onAttached through
// mapboxNavigation.navigationOptions.applicationContext
MapboxNavigationApp.registerObserver(MyObserver())
}

override fun onCreate() {
super.onCreate()

// Or you can pass the applicationContext directly after the application is created
val observer = MyObserverWithContext(applicationContext)
MapboxNavigationApp.registerObserver(observer)
}
}

In this example, MapboxNavigation will be attached when the LifecycleOwner is RESUMED.

private val myObserver = MyMapboxNavigationObserver()

lifecycle.addObserver(object : DefaultLifecycleObserver {
override fun onResume(owner: LifecycleOwner) {
MapboxNavigationApp.registerObserver(myObserver)
}

override fun onPause(owner: LifecycleOwner) {
MapboxNavigationApp.unregisterObserver(myObserver)
}
})

4. Implement MapboxNavigationObserver

The MapboxNavigationObserver is a lifecycle aware object. You can control when the onAttached / onDetached calls will be triggered with MapboxNavigationApp.setup, MapboxNavigationApp.attach(lifecycleOwner), and MapboxNavigationApp.register(mapboxNavigationObserver). The MapboxNavigationObserver implementation handles declaring what it will do while it is attached. For example, the observer below will register onto the location observer.

class MyMapboxNavigationObserver : MapboxNavigationObserver {
private val locationObserver = MyLocationObserver()
val location: Flow<Location> = locationObserver.location()

override fun onAttached(mapboxNavigation: MapboxNavigation) {
mapboxNavigation.registerLocationObserver(locationObserver)
}

override fun onDetached(mapboxNavigation: MapboxNavigation) {
mapboxNavigation.unregisterLocationObserver(locationObserver)
}
}

Once the MapboxNavigation object is initialized, the Navigation SDK starts in an internal idle state. There's no location data being consumed or processed and no updates are generated.

Start a trip session

To start consuming and processing data, you need to start a trip session using startTripSession(). You can also use MapboxNavigationApp to access MapboxNavigation synchronously anywhere in your application using the current() function.

MapboxNavigationApp.current()?.startTripSession()
Location permissions
Starting a trip session requires user location permissions. Read more about how to request the permissions in the Android developer documentation.

When you start a session, the MapboxNavigation object will:

  1. Request raw location updates from the LocationEngine provided in the NavigationOptions. Read more about using default and custom location engines in the Device location guide.
  2. Process the incoming raw location updates and deliver various data observers updates with processed data.

When a trip session is running, there's also an Android foreground service running and displaying a notification so the Navigation SDK can keep receiving raw location updates, even if the app is minimized.

To shutdown the foreground location service and stop data processing, you need to stop a session by calling:

MapboxNavigationApp.current()?.stopTripSession()
Pricing and trip sessions
Learn what is a billable lifecycle of a session, how sessions are counted, and how does that impact your usage costs in the Pricing documentation.
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