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Excessive data usage in version 4.10.0

Arne Ansper shared this problem 21 months ago
Solved

Locus keeps communicating and creates excessive traffic. In couple of hours it used 5GB. It happened several times. I closed the app, made sure that I have no WMS layers activated, etc - but still it creates traffic. Last time when it happened the app wasn't even active!

It seeme to start in June, so I suppose new version has something to do with. Phone is Pixel 5 with all updates installed. I've restarted the phone and enabled Data Saver and disallowed Locus to do any data exchange in background - no time to investigate the problem so I try to keep my phone usable meanwhile. So I do not know if the reset helped.

Anybody experienced something similar? Any tips how to investigate it? Are there any logfiles?

Replies (17)

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I don't have problems. could you use something like GlassWire or NoRootFirewall to check for more details that Locus is really the cause? the latter will log every single data packet between app & internet, so excellent diagnostic. I'm sure there are similar tools too.

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No suspicious data usage of my Locus version either.

I compared the WLAN and mobile data usage of Locus tracked by my Android OS with the size of maps I downloaded in the past few weeks and the data amounts match quite well.

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2.5 M(!!)B only for all of June on my device, where Locus app (as a service) is active 99% of time (day&night in fact).

And just checked: WiFi only connection is switched OFF on that device. Hence Andrew's advice seems the only way to shed light into your special situation.

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This is before and after screenshot of the network usage. I ordered extra 5GB around 23:00 and by 03:42 it was consumed by Locus.

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With a file manager (e.g. Dateimanager+) you can quickly analyze your phone's storage and find large files. This way you can spot if you downloaded a large offline map or similar.

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Good advice.


Does Dateimanager+ have AFA privileges? That is needed to investigate the private folders in Android 11+.

X-plore is my favorite one that can do.

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As a long term user of Locus (about 10 years) I have never seen any data consuming function in Locus at that level - EXCEPT downloads of mass data, like maps, POIs, routing.

Have you set "WiFi only connection" mode in Locus? (Go to Settings, search for WiFi, this is quickest)

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I do not think that this was meaningful usage done on purpose. I think that there is a bug somewhere - in Locus or in Android that in my case caused this massive network traffic. I don't know if it was download or upload.

I suspect that WMS overlays might have something to do with this - sometimes I switch them on, to see more detailed map. Perhaps something was not turned completely off after I disabled the layer.

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Such is the reason I have Network Monitor Mini Pro installed.

Provides current upload/download traffic in tiny font somewhere near the boundaries of the screen.

In case of perceived hang of an online app you see if there is traffic at all (wanted), while in your case you would see traffic you do not expect (unwanted), and can intervene before you are out of credits ...

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Hi guys,

everything is possible. Locus Map has many features that need an online connection and it is of course possible there is a problem somewhere. I'm anyway (of course) not aware of any. If you may Arne use some app as Michael B. suggested and check if there will be any situation when unexpected traffic occurs, please let me know. Key here is really information that may help me simulate the same problem on my own device! Thank you and sorry for the trouble!

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I will try to investigate because it happened again. I think it is related to usage of WMS overlays. I had to look at some maps with WMS. I turned on the layer, saw what I needed, turned off the layer and killed the app (swiped up to reveal the tasklist end then swiped the app up again so that it was not visible). After some time I received the message, that 5GB has been consumed. I checked and Locus was not active, but Android attributed the data usage to Locus. Is it possible that Locus initiated some OS level service that was transferring data? Perhaps it's a problem with specific WMS server? It is from Locus map directory of WMS servers: Maa-ameti aluskaardid / Estonian Land Board. I used layers "Reljeefvarjutusega põhikaart" and "Ortofoto".

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I checked and Wifi-only connection is active (and has always been active) in Settings menu. But Locus still works over mobile data connection.

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I'm pretty sure I entered another comment, but I cannot see it :( I will try to recall what I wrote earlier.

I shared the Internet connection from my laptop, connected the phone to hotspot and run Wireshark to see the traffic. I found several things:

1) even with WMS layer turned off Locus will make many requests to WMS server (in my case kaart.maaamet.ee). This is not needed (WMS is off) and should not happen.

2) when I started I had situation where Locus was making many requests to WMS server without me doing anything in UI. I cannot reproduce it - tried many different things, but it didn't work. But the problem was there.

For me it started in the beginning of June, so I suppose WMS related changes in June release should be checked.

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And it is not specific to this WMS server. I tried out some others and the behavior was same - without any visible WMS layers the app was still making requests to WMS server.

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Maybe it could really have something to do with the WMS overlays: When I tried this (https://help.locusmap.eu/topic/please-add-topplusopen-maps#comment-115786) the other day, I had afterwards to completely delete the corresponding WMS map in the map manager, because it was permanently displayed and could not be hidden.

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How does it work here? Is there a bug tracker as well? I'm sure that this is a bug in Locus. I hope somebody will take a look at it.

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Hello Arne, guys,

are you able to follow my steps and let me know what you did different compare to my steps? I'm asking because I've installed "Internet speed meter lite" app from Google Play to see current traffic directly in the status bar and I can't see any problem.

  • I've started Locus Map and selected OpenTopoMap WMS map (or any other WMS)
  • I've moved the map to correctly see the selected WMS
  • Just for sure, I've disabled online LoPoints, selected an offline map (or blank)
  • when not moving with the map, no traffic is visible. After moving and standing still, the app ends again with 0kbps traffic
  • when minimized, I also see no problem

I would really like to solve this because it is a very serious problem. I just need some steps to simulate it.

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I believe there are two problems. First one I can easily replicate. I made video to show it. Can you provide me with email address where I can send the video link? Second one I do not know yet how to replicate.

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If you have steps to reproduce the issue, it will be perfect!

Best to send it to support email locus.map@asamm.com together with the link to this topic.

Thank you very much!

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Thanks for the video Arne!


So issue in your case was caused by the fact, that you do not disabled WMS map at all, but just all map layers. Oki, got it and will be fixed in the next app version, thanks!

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Hi,

I just installed the Internet speed meter lite App (thanks for the tip!) and did some tests following your instructions @Menion ... apart from the fact that OpenTopoMap WMS does not exist, but I tried two other WMS (NW DTK and RP DTK25) and one WMTS (TopPlusOpen).

For all maps, the network traffic behaved exactly as expected: Data when the maps is moved and no data when the map is at rest.

The problem I had the other day, that the TopPlusOpen WMTS would not hide, no longer occurred.

Sorry as I am, everything now works exactly as it should ... ;)

(Pixel 6, Android 12 with July update and Locus Ver. 4.10.0)

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