.NET MAUI Live Tracking same as delivery app

Question

.NET MAUI Live Tracking same as delivery app

Bhuwan 1,246

I am currently working on a School Bus Tracking application. I am integrating live location tracking from the bus's current location to its destination, but I am facing issues with implementing real-time tracking.

Could you please suggest the best approach for integrating live location tracking in a .NET MAUI application?

Currently, I am using the following packages:

Microsoft.Maui.Controls.Maps
Microsoft.AspNetCore.SignalR.Client

Any guidance or best practices for implementing real-time location updates would be greatly appreciated.

Jay Pham (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 4,270 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-21T01:42:52.6866667+00:00

We are currently investigating the issue and will provide an update soon. Thank you for your patience.

Answer accepted by question author

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Jay Pham (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 4,270 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-21T01:42:52.6866667+00:00

We are currently investigating the issue and will provide an update soon. Thank you for your patience.

Answer 1

Nancy Vo (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 8,075 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hello @Bhuwan ,

Thanks for your question.

You can refer to these following steps:

Get the bus's location by using Microsoft.Maui.Essentials → the Geolocation API to read GPS coordinates on a timer (for example, every 3–5 seconds). For tracking while the app is minimized, you may also need a foreground service on Android and background location mode on iOS, since MAUI does not provide this out of the box.
Send the location to a server

On the driver side, use HubConnection.InvokeAsync("SendLocation", latitude, longitude) to push updates to your ASP.NET Core SignalR Hub. The hub then broadcasts the coordinates to all parents watching that bus using Clients.Group(busId).SendAsync("ReceiveLocation", ...).

For addition information, you can refer to ASP.NET Core SignalR .NET Client.

Receive updates on the parent app by using connection.On<double, double>("ReceiveLocation", ...) to listen. When a new coordinate arrives, update the bus Pin position on the Map control. To avoid the pin "jumping," you can animate between the old and new coordinates over a short interval.
Show the route

Microsoft.Maui.Controls.Maps supports Pins and Polylines, but it does not calculate driving routes. For an actual road path, you would need to call a routing service such as Google Directions API or Azure Maps Route API, then draw the returned points as a Polyline.

I hope this addresses your question. If this response was helpful, please consider following the guidance to provide feedback. Thank you.

Bhuwan 1,246 Reputation points

2026-07-21T05:30:21.84+00:00

Hi @Nancy Vo (WICLOUD CORPORATION) -Thank you for your suggestion. The live tracking is now working correctly. I've attached a screenshot for your reference.

Is there any way I can improve or customize the UI to make it look more modern and user-friendly?
Nancy Vo (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 8,075 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-21T06:46:52.77+00:00
Hi @Bhuwan ,

Thanks for the update.

For making the Ui feel more modern and user-friendly, you can refer to following suggestions.

Replace the default pin with a custom bus icon. The built-in pins from Microsoft.Maui.Controls.Maps are quite limited in styling, so most people either write a small custom handler or switch to a library, which also has the advantage of working on Windows.

Add a bottom info panel. Delivery apps usually show a small draggable panel at the bottom with details such as ETA, driver name, and distance. You can use the Popup and style it to appear from the bottom.

Small things like rounded cards, a bit of shadow, and a little status label that changes color depending on the trip state (something like "On the way", "Arriving soon", "Arrived") already make the app feel a lot nicer. Adding dark mode support with AppThemeBinding is also a quick win, it doesn't take much effort, but users really notice it.

Calling a routing API such as Google Directions or Azure Maps to get the estimated arrival time and remaining distance makes a big visual difference. It turns a plain map into something that actually feels informative.

Hope this helps. Again, thanks for your feedback.