Class: DeviceOrientation

ol. DeviceOrientation

experimental new ol.DeviceOrientation(opt_options)

The ol.DeviceOrientation class provides access to DeviceOrientation information and events, see the HTML 5 DeviceOrientation Specification for more details.

Many new computers, and especially mobile phones and tablets, provide hardware support for device orientation. Web developers targetting mobile devices will be especially interested in this class.

Device orientation data are relative to a common starting point. For mobile devices, the starting point is to lay your phone face up on a table with the top of the phone pointing north. This represents the zero state. All angles are then relative to this state. For computers, it is the same except the screen is open at 90 degrees.

Device orientation is reported as three angles - alpha, beta, and gamma - relative to the starting position along the three planar axes X, Y and Z. The X axis runs from the left edge to the right edge through the middle of the device. Similarly, the Y axis runs from the bottom to the top of the device through the middle. The Z axis runs from the back to the front through the middle. In the starting position, the X axis points to the right, the Y axis points away from you and the Z axis points straight up from the device lying flat.

The three angles representing the device orientation are relative to the three axes. alpha indicates how much the device has been rotated around the Z axis, which is commonly interpreted as the compass heading (see note below). beta indicates how much the device has been rotated around the X axis, or how much it is tilted from front to back. gamma indicates how much the device has been rotated around the Y axis, or how much it is tilted from left to right.

For most browsers, the alpha value returns the compass heading so if the device points north, it will be 0. With Safari on iOS, the 0 value of alpha is calculated from when device orientation was first requested. ol.DeviceOrientation provides the heading property which normalizes this behavior across all browsers for you.

It is important to note that the HTML 5 DeviceOrientation specification indicates that alpha, beta and gamma are in degrees while the equivalent properties in ol.DeviceOrientation are in radians for consistency with all other uses of angles throughout OpenLayers.

Name Type Argument Description
options optional

Options.

Name Type Description
tracking boolean | undefined

Start tracking. Default is false.

See:
Fires:

Extends

Observable Properties

Name Type Settable ol.ObjectEvent type Description
alpha number | undefined no change:alpha

The euler angle in radians of the device from the standard Z axis.

beta number | undefined no change:beta

The euler angle in radians of the device from the planar X axis.

gamma number | undefined no change:gamma

The euler angle in radians of the device from the planar Y axis.

heading number | undefined no change:heading

The heading of the device relative to north, in radians, normalizing for different browser behavior.

tracking boolean yes change:tracking

The status of tracking changes to alpha, beta and gamma. If true, changes are tracked and reported immediately.

Methods

experimental inherited bindTo(key, target, opt_targetKey){ol.ObjectAccessor}

The bindTo method allows you to set up a two-way binding between a source and target object. The method returns an ol.ObjectAccessor with a transform method that lets you transform values on the way from the source to the target and on the way back.

For example, if you had two map views (sourceView and targetView) and you wanted the target view to have double the resolution of the source view, you could transform the resolution on the way to and from the target with the following:

sourceView.bindTo('resolution', targetView)
  .transform(
    function(sourceResolution) {
      // from sourceView.resolution to targetView.resolution
      return 2 * sourceResolution;
    },
    function(targetResolution) {
      // from targetView.resolution to sourceView.resolution
      return targetResolution / 2;
    }
  );
Name Type Argument Description
key string

Key name.

target ol.Object

Target.

targetKey string <optional>
optional

Target key.

experimental inherited dispatchChangeEvent()

Dispatches a change event. Register a listener for this event to get notified of changes.

Fires:
  • change

experimental inherited get(key){*}

Gets a value.

Name Type Description
key string

Key name.

experimental getAlpha(){number|undefined}

Returns:
euler angle in radians of the device from the standard Z axis.

experimental getBeta(){number|undefined}

Returns:
euler angle in radians of the device from the planar X axis.

experimental getGamma(){number|undefined}

Returns:
euler angle in radians of the device from the planar Y axis.

experimental getHeading(){number|undefined}

Returns:
heading of the device relative to north, in radians, normalizing for different browser behavior.

experimental inherited getKeys(){Array.<string>}

Get a list of object property names.

Returns:
of property names.

experimental inherited getProperties(){Object.<string, *>}

Get an object of all property names and values.

experimental getTracking(){boolean}

Are we tracking the device's orientation?

Returns:
status of tracking changes to alpha, beta and gamma. If true, changes are tracked and reported immediately.

experimental inherited notify(key)

Notify all observers of a change on this property. This notifies both objects that are bound to the object's property as well as the object that it is bound to.

Name Type Description
key string

Key name.

experimental inherited on(type, listener, opt_this){goog.events.Key}

Listen for a certain type of event.

Name Type Argument Description
type string | Array.<string>

The event type or array of event types.

listener function

The listener function.

this Object <optional>
optional

The object to use as this in listener.

Returns:
key for the listener.

experimental inherited once(type, listener, opt_this){goog.events.Key}

Listen once for a certain type of event.

Name Type Argument Description
type string | Array.<string>

The event type or array of event types.

listener function

The listener function.

this Object <optional>
optional

The object to use as this in listener.

Returns:
key for the listener.

experimental inherited set(key, value)

Sets a value.

Name Type Description
key string

Key name.

value *

Value.

experimental setTracking(tracking)

Enable or disable tracking of DeviceOrientation events.

Name Type Description
tracking boolean

The status of tracking changes to alpha, beta and gamma. If true, changes are tracked and reported immediately.

experimental inherited setValues(values)

Sets a collection of key-value pairs.

Name Type Description
values Object.<string, *>

Values.

experimental inherited un(type, listener, opt_this)

Unlisten for a certain type of event.

Name Type Argument Description
type string | Array.<string>

The event type or array of event types.

listener function

The listener function.

this Object <optional>
optional

The object to use as this in listener.

experimental inherited unbind(key)

Removes a binding. Unbinding will set the unbound property to the current value. The object will not be notified, as the value has not changed.

Name Type Description
key string

Key name.

experimental inherited unbindAll()

Removes all bindings.

experimental inherited unByKey(key)

Removes an event listener using the key returned by on() or once().

Name Type Description
key goog.events.Key

Key.