Configuring Mock Location on Android with your Arrow GNSS receiver

In order for location-aware apps to have access to the more accurate position of your Arrow GNSS receiver, Mock Location must first be enabled on your Android device. Once Mock Location is enabled, the free Eos Tools Pro app will take care of populating the Android “Location Service” on your device with the Arrow GNSS position. 

Mock Location is available in the “hidden” Developer Mode menu on your Android device. Here is how to enable it:

For all Android device versions

First, go to “Settings” → navigate to “System”  → then to “About Device” → and finally  tap multiple times on “Build number” to activate the Developer Mode.

Now, a new “Developer Options” menu will be available under “Settings” → “System” 

In this “Developer Options” menu, scroll down to “Debugging”, and activate the “Allow mock locations”. For Android 5 and 6 users, you are almost set. For Android 7 devices and later, you will need to select Eos Tools Pro as the mock Location app. 

The next step is to enable Mock Location in Eos Tools Pro. To enable this option, open Eos Tools Pro and tap on the three dots at top right corner to access the pull-down menu. Activate the “Enable Mock Location” checkbox. Note: A reboot of the app will be necessary after enabling Mock Location for the first time. Simply close and re-launch Eos Tools Pro.

Validating Mock Location activation with your Arrow

In the “Map View” menu of Eos Tools Pro, you will be able to confirm that the Android Location Service is indeed being populated by the Arrow coordinates. But first, you will need to select and then connect to your Arrow receiver. Here is how to proceed:

After you have Bluetooth-paired your Arrow to your Android device, launch Eos Tools Pro. From the pull-down menu, select your Arrow receiver by choosing it in “Select GPS Device”. 

Make sure there’s a check mark beside your Arrow model with the proper serial number (in case other Arrow receivers were previously paired with the same device). 

Again, from the Eos Tools Pro pull-down menu, tap on “Start GPS” to start the Bluetooth connection to your Arrow (the Arrow Bluetooth LED state should change from blinking to solid at this point). A message on Eos Tools Pro saying “Connected to Arrow” will appear at the bottom of the screen. 

To validate that your Android device’s Location Service is being populated by the Arrow, navigate to the Map View menu from the Status menu. There you will see two sets of coordinates in two columns: “Mock Location” and “Eos Receiver”. When the mock location is operating properly with a valid position from your Arrow receiver, coordinate values in both columns will be identical.

A Note on Altitude Reference

The type of elevation reported by your Arrow in the device’s location depends on your altitude reference setting of Eos Tools Pro. For example, if Orthometric (along with a geoid model for your area) is selected, the altitude of your device’s Location Service will be Orthometric.