The whole thing should have been made illegal anyway. Collecting this kind of data “just because they can” and because there’s no realistic way for a household to prevent that collection should never have been allowed. If we are lucky, governments around the world will shut down Google’s equivalent of MLS i.e. force them to erase all data and start again, this time exclusively where explicit, active, informed consent exists.
The problem is that G**gle has too much power and doesn’t let this legislation pass 
3 Likes
I disagree. It was opt-out. I always have my Location setting private. Settings → Safety&Security → Permissions → Location . IMO it’s up to the user to understand Settings → Safety&Security.
1 Like
I’m running
$ sudo ./agps.py /dev/gnss0
INFO: Checking approximate location...
and nothing more happens. The phone is in clear sky, location service and HKS are enabled.
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If location services don’t work (MLS…), you could hardcode some rough starting location in the script instead - getting it right up to the continent-level precision should already help. You could also skip location-feeding altogether (by commenting out initgps(geoclue.get_location()) in agps.py), though it may make TTFF a bit longer.
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I added some more loggings:
sudo ./agps.py /dev/gnss0
INFO: Checking approximate location...
INFO: running Geoclue.Simple.new_sync() ...
Geoclue.Simple.new_sync() does not return. Why?
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Are you running it from a user shell or a root shell? It needs to be launched with sudo from a user that has location services active.
That said, if you commented the initgps line out, you can just comment out that line as well.
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FWIW I just updated the script to not require Geoclue by default (you can still use it by passing -i argument to it).
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As I wrote I running it from the user purism, ssh’ed into the L5, with sudo and the L5 has “location service” active. Or do you mean something else?
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I modified the script 1207/agps.py with some logging and commented out as recommended:
...
print("$PSTMGPSSUSPEND")
logging.info("Checking approximate location...")
logging.info("skipped Geoclue.Simple.new_sync() ...")
# geoclue = Geoclue.Simple.new_sync('agps', Geoclue.AccuracyLevel.CITY, None)
logging.info("skipped initgps() ...")
# initgps(geoclue.get_location())
logging.info("running almanac.get_almanac() ...")
...
and run it from a SSH session with
sudo ./agps.py 2>&1 | tee /tmp/agps.out
cat /tmp/agps.out
sudo ./agps.py
[sudo] password for purism:
$PSTMGPSSUSPEND
INFO: Checking approximate location...
INFO: skipped Geoclue.Simple.new_sync() ...
INFO: skipped initgps() ...
INFO: running almanac.get_almanac() ...
INFO: Checking the latest Galileo almanac...
INFO: Downloading https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/gps/almanac/current_sem.al3
INFO: Downloading ftp://pub:tarc@ftp2.csno-tarc.cn/almanac/2024/tarc1940.24alc
...
$PSTMEPHEM,331,68,1209fc1cfcdc1a6b0030c00000585627bd7b27004fdc04aab580eb5fab2863e074f5d0bbd87f24266207f61c8e0a2a06f6ff310052c0ff1fc0ebffffd95ff87f00000000*5E
$PSTMEPHEM,333,68,1209e81ce85c1a6b00982f3e8f25be28824b1900d4e904aad82d2c786a969f35396068696a40ff1813055f16a211d70300001100f4c5ff21000600f8aa95030000000000*5D
$PSTMEPHEM,334,68,1209e81ce85c1a6b0020a0003346bc28b5b22e0007db04aa608d870613b38c35e04a435a3c408b1956041d1198153e0303001e00c2c5ff2240d9ffff8afcdf7f00000000*50
$PSTMEPHEM,336,68,1209fc1cfcdc1a6b0034e0002802be28d1a4120040e404aa343a0a5f3bdc9f35a079c927e1402118a1064e12ad1431053100150082c6ff2480a3fffff67cbd7f00000000*52
$PSTMGPSRESTART
The tool sudo ./gnss_test.py needed 150 secs for a Fix, also Maps needs long time to show my location, very exact though.
Is this the expected best result?
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@dos What is the reason that MLS… perhaps does not work for me? What is MLS at all? Please, forgive me my missing knowledge. That’s why I was asking for a comprehensive document explaining the details and its background.
And, can you please spend some word how I could I hardcode some starting location and how I get the values for it? Thanks
2 Likes
Mozilla Location Services:
It is used by geoclue.
In Settings -> Privacy -> Location Service I have it enabled, but it says No Applications Have Asked for Location Access (even while Maps is still running and showing my correct location. What do I miss here.
And, what is geoclue. I have a process running as /usr/libexec/geoclue .
2 Likes
geoclue is used for providing location services with applications that support it. Normally it relies on Mozilla Location Services, but that is currently undergoing retirement:
Adding to that, geoclue is configured via /etc/geoclue/geoclue.conf and that enables / disables all the possible sources of location information that can be used on a computer, of which MLS is one possible source (maps any visible Wireless Access Points to their GPS coordinates).
2 Likes
I think we are talking at cross-purposes. I am talking about a database that maps Wireless Access Points to GPS coordinates.
My point is that I did not ask for, or consent to, or in any way ever get to choose regarding, my WAP being in either Mozilla’s database or Google’s database or anyone else’s database.
In Google’s case, Google just collected it by scooping at the ether.
2 Likes
I removed the un-commenting again and let the proc
sudo ./agps.py
$PSTMGPSSUSPEND
INFO: Checking approximate location...
run, id does so now since two hours. In parallel I watch with strace the geoclue daemon threads and see that from time to time connects to remote server:
33547 connect(12, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(443), sin_addr=inet_addr("35.190.72.216")}, 16) = -1 EINPROGRESS (Operation now in progress)
$ nslookup
> 35.190.72.216
216.72.190.35.in-addr.arpa name = 216.72.190.35.bc.googleusercontent.com.
Authoritative answers can be found from:
2 Likes
Well, you did broadcast it on the electomagnetic spectrum for nearby people to pick up. Apparently if you didn’t broadcast an SSID for everyone to see, Mozilla wouldn’t collect/store your AP’s BSSID.
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Can we please stay focused on the issue of GNSS enquiry, i.e. what can be done and must be configured to get a faster Fix and current location. Thanks
2 Likes
Update the script to its latest version and follow the instructions (remember about keeping the module on during the process). When you’re outside with reasonable sky visibility you should get the first cold fix in under a minute (in good conditions I was sometimes able to get one in just 10 seconds). Subsequent warm fixes should be even faster.
If you’re using an older phone (from 2020-2021), it may be helpful to turn the screen off while it tries to acquire the fix.
I don’t know what sudo ./gnss_test.py does, so can’t help there.
MLS means Mozilla Location Services, which is what Geoclue - the geolocation middleware that apps use to retrieve position information from - used in order to implement cellular- and WiFi-based location. It has recently shut down, breaking these capabilities. That’s why the older version of the script hangs - it tries to approximate your location using MLS, which isn’t online anymore. You can reconfigure Geoclue to use different service than MLS, but realistically the only alternative you have right now with enough data to be useful would be Google.
On other phones people often see WiFi-based location and assume that they got the GPS fix already because it can be really accurate. After configuring Geoclue to use Google on my phone, it places the dot in my backyard right away even with no GPS fix at all. Unfortunately, MLS has shut down (after its quality had been slowly deteriorating for years anyway) and Google’s accuracy comes from vast amounts of data collected from people’s phones that we don’t have access to, so to get accurate position without being worried about privacy and other big-techy concerns you have to let your phone see the sky and wait for a fix from the satellites; there’s no real way around it unless projects like beaconDB gain good worldwide coverage. You can configure Geoclue to submit data there whenever you use GNSS if you want to help.
4 Likes