iOS: Get current location coordinates without using MKMapView

Question

I'd like to be able to get my current user's location without actually having a map view on my view controller.

At the moment I do have a map view and get the user location by calling one of the delegate methods....

- (void)mapView:(MKMapView *)mapView didUpdateUserLocation:(MKUserLocation *)userLocation
{
    userlatitude = userLocation.location.coordinate.latitude;
    userlongitude = userLocation.location.coordinate.longitude;
}

Answer 1

CLLocationManager is the class that is responsible for keeping user's location values. CLLocationManagerDelegate is another class that gets real time location data from iDevice's GPS and notifies CLLocationManager instance about the change in location and various other events, via it's delegate methods. It would be very helpful if you would read the related documentation.

You must implement CLLocationManagerDelegate protocol inside your class. You must also have CLLocationManager instance within your class that should monitor the location.

In your project, you must also add Core Location framework in Link Binaries section.

The simplest way would be:

Your .h file:

@interface MyViewController : UIViewController<CLLocationManagerDelegate>
{
    CLLocation * currentLocation;
    CLLocationManager * locationManager;
}
@end

Your .m file:

- (void) viewDidLoad
{
    locationManager = [[CLLocationManager alloc] init];
    locationManager.delegate = self;
    [locationManager startUpdatingLocation];
}

//remember to stop before you are done, either here or in view disappearance.
- (void) dealloc
{        
    [locationManager stopUpdatingLocation];       
}

- (void)locationManager:(CLLocationManager *)manager 
     didUpdateLocations:(NSArray *)locations
{
    currentLocation = (CLLocation *)[locations lastObject];
}