Detect user activity (running, cycling, driving) using Android

Question

Using my Android device how can I detect if the user is walking, cycling or driving? I have checked the Google Fit app. It differentiates between running, cycling and driving. I am puzzled about what algorithms I should use to differentiate between these activities.

I know I would have to use the accelerometer sensor. But still I can't differentiate these activities.

Answer 1

This question is quite old, but since there are new technologies out there, i thought it was worth mentioning, if anyone is still encountering this issue.

I can come up with 3 options :

1. You can implement your own technique for detecting walking, driving, cycling - using Activity recognition and receiving location updates, though i recommend not to do so, don't reinvent the wheel, there are good apis developed already, it's 2016 now.

2. You could use a free sdk of Neura which can send you an event when your user starts/finishes driving, start/finish walking, start/finish running, read more of the events you can get from Neura.

   Check out this git project : Basically, the project has all the events that Nuera can detect. Its very easy to just take this project and make it your own.

   I highly recommend using this Neura sdk option.

3. You could use google's FenceApi in order to declare fences. For example, this is a code for detecting a driving fence.

   Though this approach seems good, i've faced with the fact that this api didn't tell me sometimes when the events happened, and sometimes it took a long time after i started walking/running when the api told me of that event.

   a. include dependency to your app's build.gradle file :

      compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-location:+'
   
      compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-contextmanager:+'
   

   b. Manifest definitions :

   <uses-permission android:name="com.google.android.gms.permission.ACTIVITY_RECOGNITION" />
   <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
   <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />
   
   <application
       android:allowBackup="true"
       android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
       android:label="@string/app_name"
       android:supportsRtl="true"
       android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
   
       <meta-data
           android:name="com.google.android.awareness.API_KEY"
           android:value="PUT_YOUR_AWARENESS_KEY_HERE" />
   
       <activity android:name=".MainActivity" >
           <intent-filter>
               <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
   
               <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
           </intent-filter>
       </activity>
   </application>
   

   PUT_YOUR_AWARENESS_KEY_HERE : You need to generate a key here.

   c. Your MainActivity class - explanations attached to the code :

   public class MainActivity extends Activity {
   
       private GoogleApiClient mGoogleApiClient;
       private PendingIntent mPendingIntent;
       private FenceReceiver mFenceReceiver;
   
       // The intent action which will be fired when your fence is triggered.
       private final String FENCE_RECEIVER_ACTION = BuildConfig.APPLICATION_ID + "FENCE_RECEIVER_ACTION";
   
       @Override
       protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
           super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
           setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
           mGoogleApiClient = new GoogleApiClient.Builder(this).addApi(Awareness.API).build();
           mGoogleApiClient.connect();
           // Set up the PendingIntent that will be fired when the fence is triggered.
           mPendingIntent = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(this, 0, new Intent(FENCE_RECEIVER_ACTION), 0);
           // The broadcast receiver that will receive intents when a fence is triggered.
           mFenceReceiver = new FenceReceiver();
           registerReceiver(mFenceReceiver, new IntentFilter(FENCE_RECEIVER_ACTION));
           createFence(DetectedActivityFence.IN_VEHICLE, "InVehicleFence");
       }
   
       @Override
       public void onDestroy() {
           try {
               unregisterReceiver(mFenceReceiver); //Don't forget to unregister the receiver
           } catch (Exception e) {
               e.printStackTrace();
           }
           super.onDestroy();
       }
   
       private void createFence(int detectedActivityFence, final String fenceKey) {
           AwarenessFence fence = DetectedActivityFence.during(detectedActivityFence);
           // Register the fence to receive callbacks.
           Awareness.FenceApi.updateFences(
                   mGoogleApiClient, new FenceUpdateRequest.Builder().addFence(fenceKey, fence, mPendingIntent)
                           .build()).setResultCallback(new ResultCallback<Status>() {
               @Override
               public void onResult(@NonNull Status status) {
                   if (status.isSuccess()) {
                       Log.i(getClass().getSimpleName(), "Successfully registered.");
                   } else {
                       Log.e(getClass().getSimpleName(), "Could not be registered: " + status);
                   }
               }
           });
       }
   
       // Handle the callback on the Intent.
       public class FenceReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
           @Override
           public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
               FenceState fenceState = FenceState.extract(intent);
               switch (fenceState.getCurrentState()) {
                   case FenceState.TRUE:
                       Log.i(fenceState.getFenceKey(), "Active");
                       break;
                   case FenceState.FALSE:
                       Log.i(fenceState.getFenceKey(), "Not Active");
                       break;
               }
           }
       }
   }
   

   This sample is only for detecting driving state, but, you can call 'createFence' with other activity methods such as :

   createFence(DetectedActivityFence.TILTING, "TiltingFence");
   createFence(DetectedActivityFence.WALKING, "WalkingFence");
   createFence(DetectedActivityFence.ON_FOOT, "OnFootFence");
   createFence(DetectedActivityFence.RUNNING, "RunningFence");