GPS/location services don't work with Maps after Bookworm upgrade

[Anna]

Maps used to work OK on my phone. I could not really use it for navigation but it would show the current location (sometimes it took quite a while, sometimes it was 50 Kilometers off the mark, but it sort of worked.)

After upgrading to Bookworm a few weeks ago I noticed that Maps cannot find my location anymore. When I tap on the respective button in the lower left corner of Maps, a dialogue box opens that tells me to "turn on location services to find your location". The only  button (besides "Cancel") is "Location Settings" and it does not do anything.

However, the "Location Services" (when opened via Settings/Privacy) on my phone are switched on and tell me that "No Applications Have Aksed for Location Access".

How can I make Maps work again?

[bcnaz]

In recent releases of Mobian it seems they usually fix anything they do break, within one or two following nightly releases.
*(maybe you can just 'update' past this problem ?)

I have not tried the GPS Apps recently, * I am waiting for a GPS App that has no need for internet what-so-ever.

[wibble]

It's probably worth reporting the regression - I didn't spot any issues that seemed like they would cover it.

[Anna]

It's probably worth reporting the regression - I didn't spot any issues that seemed like they would cover it.

Well, I am not sure whether it is a common problem that actually has to do with Bookworm -- I just happenend to notice it after the upgrade. Since I did not find anything on the topic in this forum I guess it might just be me who experiences the problems.

Could there be any settings I might change to connect Maps to the location services?

[l_gyuri]

It's probably worth reporting the regression - I didn't spot any issues that seemed like they would cover it.

Well, I am not sure whether it is a common problem that actually has to do with Bookworm -- I just happenend to notice it after the upgrade. Since I did not find anything on the topic in this forum I guess it might just be me who experiences the problems.

Could there be any settings I might change to connect Maps to the location services?

No, I dont think. Maps switches on the location services, as I see.
It can be checked using mmcli.
Before Maps started:
---

Code:

[+85%]root@mobian:~#mmcli --list-modems
    /org/freedesktop/ModemManager1/Modem/0 [Quectel] EG25
[+85%]root@mobian:~#mmcli -m 0  --location-get
[+85%]root@mobian:~#

After Maps started:

Code:

[+85%]root@mobian:~#mmcli -m 0  --location-get
  --------------------------
  3GPP |      operator code: 216
      |      operator name: 01
      | location area code: 0000
      | tracking area code: 001401
      |            cell id: 00003E16
[+85%]root@mobian:~#

[Anna]

No, I dont think. Maps switches on the location services, as I see.

I always get the "3GPP | operator code:" result you posted whenever I do "--location-get" on Bookworm, no matter if I start Maps or not.

With Bullseye it is different: There I get the 3GPP result you posted only when Maps is NOT active.

When Maps is active, there is an additional "GPS | nmea:" section below the 3GPP section.

[wibble]

You may need to dig through the changes to ModemManager and eg25-manager between Bullseye and Bookworm then, and perhaps geoclue. I think there has been work on enabling GPS only when needed rather than all the time, and around AGPS data loading, so behaviour has probably changed and perhaps regressed.

[l_gyuri]

No, I dont think. Maps switches on the location services, as I see.

I always get the "3GPP | operator code:" result you posted whenever I do "--location-get" on Bookworm, no matter if I start Maps or not.

With Bullseye it is different: There I get the 3GPP result you posted only when Maps is NOT active.

When Maps is active, there is an additional "GPS | nmea:" section below the 3GPP section.

I use Bookworm and I flashed Biktorg's latest modem firmware.

https://github.com/Biktorgj/pinephone_modem_sdk

After boot, the mobile 3GPP location service is on. After I start maps, the GPS is started and I see the 3GPP and the NMEA sentences.
Getting my location with maps works. After I quit maps, both services, the 3GPP and the GPS stop.

You can find info about the location services in the Mobian wiki:

https://wiki.mobian-project.org/doku.php?id=location

[Anna]

At Gitlab someone reposted a solution from yet another forum. It works:

"https://git.alpinelinux.org/aports/commit/community/geoclue?id=d23b02bcd7baf5f825df6cbe334bbf01d74c8231
Just add this here to the /etc/geoclue/geoclue.conf

Code:

whitelist="already existing stuff";sm.puri.Phosh

Then, above "epiphany"

Code:

[sm.puri.Phosh]
allowed=true
system=true
users=

Restart geoclue.service"

That solved the problem on my phone -- geolocation in Maps works again.

(That I still cannot really use Maps because since a few months mobile Internet usually does not work is another issue... )

[biketool]

before I try the fixes I want to see if my problem is normal, seems like permissions but not sure where to whitelist the modem/GPS.

Code:

mobian@mobian:~$ mmcli -m 0 --location-enable-gps-raw --location-enable-gps-nmea
error: couldn't setup location gathering: 'GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.ModemManager1.Error.Core.Unauthorized: PolicyKit authorization failed: not authorized for 'org.freedesktop.ModemManager1.Device.Control''

this is a clean bookworm install with /etc/apt/sources set to unstable.


(edit)
I appended 'org.freedesktop.ModemManager1.Device.Control' with a ; as a separator to the whitelist of desktop IDs in /etc/geoclue/geoclue.conf 
I see I can get a short and correct GPS fix on gnome maps now.


(edit 2)
yet when I

Code:

mobian@mobian:~$ watch -n 5 mmcli -m any --location-get

I get:

Code:

error: couldn't get location from the modem: 'GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.ModemManager1.Error.Core.Unauthorized: PolicyKit authorization failed: not authorized for 'org.freedesktop.ModemManager1.Location''

so in gnome maps there was a moment where I had location within a few meters, then a telephone network general location within a few km, finally only a fix based upon my regional IP address; what is going on?

I will take a break and see if there are ideas; this is permissions I think, but where else can I fix them?

I feel like we either need to build-in the geolocation to the Mobian builds, maybe with a true/false enable toggle in a conf file or we need a Bookworm specific tested solution instructions in the wiki to get us everyday-drivers a working GPS solution. Right now there is too much incompatible mix of versions in most wiki how-to guides.