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Quick GPS fix. From Samsung!

Samsung just wrote that apparently the use wireless networks, which is the option above use gps satellites must be selected to get proper locks.
I was skeptical because i just assumed that when I went exploring I selected it, but it actually wasn't.
Put it on, and agreed to the disclaimer and then right away the maps got my location and the live wallpaper map got my location.
you'll get an email saying google knows where you are and yeah its pretty ****ty that you have to do this, but it does work. at least for me.

not a real fix, I've had that on forever and still dont get a proper lock

Confirming that this does seem to work. It might merit mentioning that I've also messed around with my GPS settings quite a bit as well.
Regardless, I got a lock within two seconds after opening Google Maps. Cheers!
-deuX`

The phone used networks to locate you. Not GPS.

PuffinNugz said:
The phone used networks to locate you. Not GPS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, good to know. Thanks for the info!
-deuX`

This is to assist in the GPS lock. This is not a fix.

True it isn't a real fix, hence the "quick" fix in the title.
it's just another way to help maps get a lock.
obviously this won't help in no service zones but if you're using the data anyways might as well use it to help.
plus it unlocks all the fun location based services, and that maps live wallpaper is pretty freakin sweet!

This will only give you the location of the nearby cell tower. Unless you live under the cell tower all the time, I don't think this is useful. It might be useful for things like check the nearby stores and attractions. But will not give you navigatable fixes and does not speed up your GPS lock. If you're using Google maps, try to zoom out, and you will notice a big circle. Your location is anywhere inside that circle.
That's Samsung tip is pure BS and Engadet should be ashamed to even believe in that BS.

I not only allowed the use of wireless networks for location, but also changing the GPS setting to MS Based to allow for simultaneous use of triangulation and assisted GPS... before this change I NEVER got a successful GPS lock...after I changed the settings I finally can get a GPS lock after about about 3 minutes with direct line of sight outdoors.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

foxbat121 said:
This will only give you the location of the nearby cell tower.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not quite. its actually doing cell tower triangulation, using the signal of all nearby towers your phone sees. In the city, this can be pretty accurate and is rarely off by more than a couple blocks. To see the accuracy, turn off GPS and click 'locate me' in google maps. The blue circle around your location shows the margin of error. The more towers you are in range of, the more accurate the fix.
As far as helping GPS, all this location can really do today is help you grab the most appropriate gps almanac/ephemeris info - if youve got an internet connection. I suppose it could possibly also be used in conjunction with the gps error in some kind of a filter to improve accuracy, but as far as I know that is not being done.

I actually started getting quicker locks with just using the GPS and having the wireless networks unchecked

Just an update:
I changed the SUP/LCP setting to Auto-config and the Operation mode to MS Based. I tend to get a gps lock within a minute or two with it sitting on my dashboard. I also tried it with the"Use wireless networks" setting turned off and it worked the same.
Also, I did try out the MS Assisted SUP/LCP setting and I was able to get GPS signal while indoors, but it was less accurate all around.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

I'm not saying it's completely 100% accurate, but much in the same vein that an iPod Touch can get a location using just the wi-fi this is using much the same.
it uses whatever a-gps it can and then it helps with the cellular data. triangulation. it's useful and if it keeps getting me a signal then its all good

Nexus S GPS

Hi guys! New to the forum and the Android OS. I've just purchased the Nexus S a couple of weeks ago and the phone is great except for a couple of minor details, but one thing really bothers me is the GPS. When I'm connected to wi-fi, Google maps is able to tell me my location fairly accurately. However, outdoors with no wi-fi, I try to have the settings to locate me based on satellite, but that always give me a "your current location is temporarily unavailable" message. I'm basically completely outdoors with view of the clear blue sky and it will always give me this message. Is something wrong

I've searched on the forum but nothing that answers my question. Anyone?

Hi,
Based on your question I am not shure if you are aware of the following:
GPS is only one of several location detection methods used by your phone. Another one is based on WIFI hotspots in range. Basically the phone scans the wifi frequencies to look for ALL hotspots in range and then sends this list of hotspots to google (only if some kind of internet access is available to the phone!). When this combination of hotspots is known to google, your phone gets an estimated location back from the google server. So from what you write, it is possible that you never had a gps fix, even when you got a (fairly good) location based on wifi.
I suggest you install some gps software other than google maps to check the functionality of your device. I use "GPS test", should be on the market. All it does, is scanning for satellites and displaying the list of discovered satelites. When the signal is good enough, you get a "U" in the column "flags" for the locked satellites.
Attention! You must start the scan manually from the apps context menu.
cheers

Yeah you gotta turn on your GPS for a more accurate reading if you're using maps or other navigational app
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App

Just an update. I haven't needed to use the GPS lately, but this week I decided to try again, and before, I have gotten a GPS fix with the GPS Test app. But that signal never lasts very long and it also takes a really long time for the app to use the satellite to lock on to my location. The GPS indicator on the top left of the app is usually yellow and only after a long time does it turn green, but sometimes it never turns green even with 7 or 8 satellites in view. Is this just a limitation of mobile GPS in cell phones?
I don't have a data plan so I can't connect to the internet while on the road, hence the need for GPS without having internet access.

As long as you have the SIM inserted, not on airplane mode and gps is turned on, and nothing is wrong with your phone hardware I don't see why it shouldn't get location fix outdoor.
There are some good offline maps like Osmand and MapDroyd.

[DISCUSSION]Naviagtion without GPS

After trying Llama the location aware app an idea struck my mind that
if we could map all cell tower addresses on a map, plot it into an offline map, we could find our location according to the nearest cell tower and navigate to another place by simply selecting the cell tower and as the location changes the cell tower address change and our location on the map change. this would reduce the data and battery consumption. Databases are available over the internet. i dont know if this is practically possible or not and also i don't know app development
if this is possible can anyone build it?
I also found an article http://eng.xakep.ru/link/50814/
does there already exist an app like that?

sygic works offline, turn by turn navigation and all

Doesn't Google maps do something like this when you don't have GPS turned on? Although its accuracy is usually within 1km without GPS which isn't very accurate when your trying to navigate.
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 4 Beta

iGO Primo

[Q] location detection problems (n8010)

Hello,
Being on holiday i noticed that several location-based things aren't working.
What does work: google now, google maps, locus pro. These apps have no problem with detecting where i am, without using gps, cell towers, But only wifi.
What does not work: c:geo keeps telling me i'm at an unknown address, nearby caches are those at my home address. A tasker-profile i made for wheather conditions is also using my normal home location, getlocation task doesn't do a thing.
It seems to me that locus is using google for location detection, and cgeo and tasker are using 'something' else. The cgeo faqs say its using google for address retrieval, but i don't understand why it's not updating, and the other apps are... same goes for tasker which isn't updating the locations... oh, turning on gps and wait for a fix doesn't help either...
Any ideas?
Tyvm

Bump and little addition: i installed the weather underground app and wundermap.
The location detected by the app, is my home location, not the none i'm currently at, and thus having the same problem.
BUT the location detected by the wundermap app is the location i'm actually at at this moment.
I'm totally lost here... :s

?..

Maps not working properly

I have been living in home town with a nexus 5 as my daily driver for 4 month's but i experienced no error with my maps and gps location but two days ago i moved to a new city from then maps behaves in a wired manner, suppose if a ask for nearest bank or pizza hut it shows wrong locations even my gps in not working properly as when i move it doesn't move with me but for some time stays intact and then all of sudden catches my position, these error are just annoying as I'm new in city and makes traveling difficult..
Can someone tell me the cause of the error ...
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Well, it seems that your location fix isnt really working as intended. Now we have to see why.
Please recheck your Location Settings, how are they setup? Go to Settings > Location and check. Try to set to high-accuracy and test again. You need a working internet-connection too to fully make use of this though. And of course, make sure that GPS is turned on, but i probably wont have to tell you that
As a good alternative, depending on size of city at least, is to store the map on local storage. Maps has an option for this. There you can select an area to be accessable without Internet connection, maybe try to use that and see if it works better.

I'd also had this problem. I needed to re-check Location, but also needed to Agree (again) with Google Terms, before I could get Maps/Navigation to work.