Display device location

Learn how to display the current device location on a map or scene.

You can display the device location on a map or scene. This is important for workflows that require the user's current location, such as finding nearby businesses, navigating from the current location, or identifying and collecting geospatial information.

By default, location display uses the device's location provider. Your app can also process input from other location providers, such as an external GPS receiver or a provider that returns a simulated location. For more information, see the Show device location topic.

Prerequisites

Before starting this tutorial:

You need an ArcGIS Location Platform or ArcGIS Online account.
Ensure your development environment meets the system requirements.

Optionally, you may want to install the ArcGIS Maps SDK for .NET to get access to project templates in Visual Studio (Windows only) and offline copies of the NuGet packages.

Develop or download

You have two options for completing this tutorial:

Option 1: Develop the code or
Option 2: Download the completed solution

Option 1: Develop the code

To start the tutorial, complete the Display a map tutorial. This creates a map to display the Santa Monica Mountains in California using the topographic basemap from the ArcGIS basemap styles service.

Open a Visual Studio solution

Open the Visual Studio solution you created by completing the Display a map tutorial.
Continue with the following instructions to display the current device location on the map.

Update the tutorial name used in the project (optional)

The Visual Studio solution, project, and the namespace for all classes currently use the name DisplayAMap. Follow the steps below if you prefer the name to reflect the current tutorial. These steps are not required, your code will still work if you keep the original name.

The tutorial instructions and code use the name DisplayDeviceLocation for the solution, project, and namespace. You can choose any name you like, but it should be the same for each of these.

Update the name for the solution and the project.
- In Visual Studio, in the Solution Explorer, right-click the solution name and choose Rename. Provide the new name for your solution.
- In the Solution Explorer, right-click the project name and choose Rename. Provide the new name for your project.
Rename the namespace used by classes in the project.
- In the Solution Explorer, expand the project node.
- Double-click MapViewModel.cs in the Solution Explorer to open the file.
- In the MapViewModel class, double-click the namespace name (DisplayAMap) to select it, and then right-click and choose Rename....
- Provide the new name for the namespace.
- Click Apply in the Rename: DisplayAMap window that appears in the upper-right of the code window. This will rename the namespace throughout your project.
Build the project.
- Choose Build > Build solution (or press <F6>).

Show the current location

Each map view has its own instance of a LocationDisplay for showing the current location (point) of the device. The location is displayed as an overlay in the map view.

Instances of this class manage the display of device location on a map view: the symbols, animation, auto pan behavior, and so on. Location display is an overlay of the map view, and displays above everything else, including graphics overlays.

The location display does not retrieve location information, that is the job of the associated data source, which provides location updates on a regular basis. In addition to the default system location data source, you can use location providers based on external GPS devices or a simulated location source.

Each map view has its own instance of a location display and instances of location display and location data source are not shared by multiple map views. This allows you to start and stop location display independently on multiple map views without affecting each other.

Add code to enable LocationDisplay for the map view and assign a LocationDisplayAutoPanMode that centers the map at the device location.

Expand
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        public MainWindow()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            MainMapView.LocationDisplay.IsEnabled = true;
            MainMapView.LocationDisplay.AutoPanMode = Esri.ArcGISRuntime.UI.LocationDisplayAutoPanMode.Recenter;

        }
Expand

Run the app

Click Debug > Start Debugging (or press <F5> on the keyboard) to run the app. If your app uses user authentication, enter your ArcGIS Online credentials when prompted.

You should see your current location displayed on the map. Different location symbols are used depending on the auto pan mode and whether a location is acquired. See LocationDisplayAutoPanMode for details.

By default, a round blue symbol is used to display the device's location. The location data source tries to get the most accurate location available but depending upon signal strength, satellite positions, and other factors, the location reported could be an approximation. A semi-transparent circle around the location symbol indicates the range of accuracy. As the device moves and location updates are received, the location symbol will be repositioned on the map.

Alternatively, you can download the tutorial solution, as follows.

Option 2: Download the solution

Click the Download solution link in the right-hand panel of the page.
Unzip the file to a location on your machine.
Open the .sln file in Visual Studio.

Since the downloaded solution does not contain authentication credentials, you must first set up authentication to create credentials, and then add the developer credentials to the solution.

Set up authentication

To access the secure ArcGIS location services used in this tutorial, you must implement API key authentication or user authentication using an ArcGIS Location Platform or an ArcGIS Online account.

You can implement API key authentication or user authentication in this tutorial. Compare the differences below:

API key authentication

Users are not required to sign in.
Requires creating an API key credential with the correct privileges.
API keys are long-lived access tokens.
Service usage is billed to the API key owner/developer.
Simplest authentication method to implement.
Recommended approach for new ArcGIS developers.

Learn more in API key authentication.

User authentication

Users are required to sign in with an ArcGIS account.
User accounts must have privilege to access the ArcGIS services used in application.
Requires creating OAuth credentials.
Application uses a redirect URL and client ID.
Service usage is billed to the organization of the user signed into the application.

Learn more in User authentication.

Create a new API key access token with privileges to access the secure resources used in this tutorial.

Complete the Create an API key tutorial and create an API key with the following privilege(s):
- Privileges
  - Location services > Basemaps
Copy and paste the API key access token into a safe location. It will be used in a later step.

Create a new OAuth credential to access the secure resources used in this tutorial.

Complete the Create OAuth credentials for user authentication tutorial.
Copy and paste the ClientID and RedirectURL into a safe location. They will be used in a later step.

All users that access this application need account privileges to access the basemap styles service.

Set developer credentials in the solution

To allow your app users to access ArcGIS location services, use the developer credentials that you created in the Set up authentication step to authenticate requests for resources.

In Visual Studio, in the Solution Explorer, click App.xaml.cs to open the file.

Set the ArcGISEnvironment.ApiKey property with your API key access token.

App.xaml.cs
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        protected override void OnStartup(StartupEventArgs e)
        {
            base.OnStartup(e);

            // Set the access token for ArcGIS Maps SDK for .NET.
            Esri.ArcGISRuntime.ArcGISRuntimeEnvironment.ApiKey = "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN";

            // Call a function to set up the AuthenticationManager for OAuth.
            UserAuth.ArcGISLoginPrompt.SetChallengeHandler();

        }

Remove the code that sets up user authentication.

App.xaml.cs
Use dark colors for code blocks
        protected override void OnStartup(StartupEventArgs e)
        {
            base.OnStartup(e);

            // Set the access token for ArcGIS Maps SDK for .NET.
            Esri.ArcGISRuntime.ArcGISRuntimeEnvironment.ApiKey = "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN";

            // Call a function to set up the AuthenticationManager for OAuth.
            UserAuth.ArcGISLoginPrompt.SetChallengeHandler();

        }

Best Practice: The access token is stored directly in the code as a convenience for this tutorial. Do not store credentials directly in source code in a production environment.

From the Visual Studio Solution explorer window, open the ArcGISLoginPrompt.cs file.

Set your values for the client ID (OAuthClientID) and the redirect URL (OAuthRedirectUrl). These are the user authentication settings you created in the Set up authentication step.

ArcGISLoginPrompt.cs
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    internal static class ArcGISLoginPrompt
    {
        private const string ArcGISOnlineUrl = "https://www.arcgis.com/sharing/rest";
        // Specify the Client ID and Redirect URL to use with OAuth authentication.
        // See the instructions here for creating OAuth app settings:
        // https://developers.arcgis.com/documentation/security-and-authentication/user-authentication/tutorials/create-oauth-credentials-user-auth/

        private const string AppClientId = "YOUR_CLIENT_ID";
        private const string OAuthRedirectUrl = "YOUR_REDIRECT_URL";

In Visual Studio, in the Solution Explorer, click App.xaml.cs to open the file.

Remove the line of code that sets an API key access token.

App.xaml.cs
Use dark colors for code blocks
        protected override void OnStartup(StartupEventArgs e)
        {
            base.OnStartup(e);

            // Set the access token for ArcGIS Maps SDK for .NET.
            Esri.ArcGISRuntime.ArcGISRuntimeEnvironment.ApiKey = "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN";

            // Call a function to set up the AuthenticationManager for OAuth.
            UserAuth.ArcGISLoginPrompt.SetChallengeHandler();

        }

Best Practice: The OAuth credentials are stored directly in the code as a convenience for this tutorial. Do not store credentials directly in source code in a production environment.

Run the solution

Click Debug > Start Debugging (or press <F5> on the keyboard) to run the app. If your app uses user authentication, enter your ArcGIS Online credentials when prompted.

You will see your current location displayed on the map.

What's next?

Learn how to use additional API features, ArcGIS location services, and ArcGIS tools in these tutorials: