Android : Way To Get Realtime Gps Values While Not In A Mapview?

I was wondering if it is possible to start the gps receiver on the phone if the current activity is not a mapactivity. I am displaying a listview and when I start the gps I get the last location found correctly, however the gps indicator never appears on top of the phone's display even if I wait or restart this activity. The location of the gps stays the some. The gps indicator appears on top only if I enter an activity where a mapview is displayed. If I wait in the map activity for a little while then If I go back to my other activity and request the location there, then the location is updated with the last value that it had before exiting the map view. It never gets updated If I move around after that, though..