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.
Related
Hello All,
OK, This will show you how out of the loop I am.
Purchased an HTC Touch Pro (via CL), phone to see how it would work as simply an GPS while riding the motorcycle all over creation this summer.
I was able to download Google maps(4.0) here at home & installed via WIFI. After installing I could not get any satellites to 'come in'. I enabled the phone part on the Touch,then the satellites (5) became available and did in fact show my location! I am not going to get an actual data plan for this phone FYI. My question is,were does the GPS satellites "come from"? I assume the only way this will function properly is to have an WIFI connection? That being said, how does the regular 'car gps's' get their signal driving down the road?
Is the gps radio signal independent of both the wifi & data signals, I guess is what I am asking? Why would I have had to enable the phone/ON for the satellites to show up,when I do not have a data plan? Maybe just an inherit setup for the gps radio,config?
Thanks,
Barry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System
you can use GPS for free, you don't need to have a wifi connection or any other data connection
accountabc,
Thanks for the link! I was 'hoping' this is how the gps thing shook down. I figured there would have to be a catch to were I would have to have a data plan on the U S Cellular enabled HTC Touch Pro. This is going to work out just as I had hoped! No GPS hanging off of the handlebars,being a target for thieves every time i get away from the bike!!!.
Suweeeet!!!
Now if I can read it while tooling around the switchbacks???,,,Yikes...
take Care,
Barry
accountabc,
I had a brilliant idea,to test the viability of my Google Maps working without an Data or WIFI connection. I unplugged my Access point here. Tried opening Google Maps on the HTC Touch Pro, and get the 'connecting' dialouge at the top right of GM's. It finally times out with saying" A data connection is required for this app". I tried going into the setting of the "external gps" and took off the 'automatically configure' and set the com ports several different ways to no avail.
This phone does have the latest ROM that U S Cellular provides. I may have to try and start hacking with some other ROM's to see if an 'unlocked' ROM may circumvent this problem? Although I have had this phone for almost two months I have just started getting acclimated with it ,the last 2 days.
I'll do some more searching here to see if someone does in fact have a workaround for this? It does seem the GPS radio should do the grunt work. I am just not sure about the Google Maps needed to be updated dynamically with a net connection?
Thanks again,
Barry
why not use something like garmin xt which doesn't require a data conenction since all the maps are on a sd card
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
My 2nd day with the TF.
With that said, I don't think I'm fully understanding the GPS functionality on this tablet. When I'm connected via WIFI, on Google Maps it'll show my location pretty accurately.
But right now I'm at work without WIFI and Google Maps is unable to determine my location.
I thought that as long as I have an offline map, I should be able to navigate and pinpoint my location with it's built-in GPS.
Or is it maybe just at the moment it's unable to get a good satellite signal?
You can use "GPS Test" to test your GPS. My TF gets no signal inside my office building either. But it works fine outside.
GPS is generally useless indoors. However, if you go close to a window it will often see enough signal to function. It might still take it a few minutes to lock on to enough satellites to get a fix.
I find the location accuracy with WiFi only quite amazing. It's pertty much as accurate as GPS.
Bye.
If you can't get a clear view of the sats, GPS will not be of much value. The WiFi location is based on a look up where most wifi routers have their coordinates stored in an online database and that is just accessed when wifi is available. If you own the hot spot, you can change the GPS coords. Note you are actually getting the location of the router but that is close enough.
Well, I've been using my Sensation for about a week now and so far everything is fine, EXCEPT one major bug i found:
Every time I turn in the GPS-Option, I get a completely wrong location (ie in weather, maps, places, etc) and have to wait and refresh a short time later to get my actual real position and even short time later, the signal goes back to the wrong place.
example:
I enable GPS and refresh the weather, it goes to "Fürth" (some city in Bavaria, South Germany), but I'm actually located near Berlin (on the complete opposing end of Germany). Same goes for any other location based function.
I even disabled the "allow false locations" option, but don't know further, anyone experienced similar problems?
satani said:
Well, I've been using my Sensation for about a week now and so far everything is fine, EXCEPT one major bug i found:
Every time I turn in the GPS-Option, I get a completely wrong location (ie in weather, maps, places, etc) and have to wait and refresh a short time later to get my actual real position and even short time later, the signal goes back to the wrong place.
example:
I enable GPS and refresh the weather, it goes to "Fürth" (some city in Bavaria, South Germany), but I'm actually located near Berlin (on the complete opposing end of Germany). Same goes for any other location based function.
I even disabled the "allow false locations" option, but don't know further, anyone experienced similar problems?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't seen this. I'll take a wild guess. Part of the A-GPS system can use cell towers and wifi to get a rough estimate of your location in order to speed up the GPS sat acquisition and lock. Perhaps the cell tower/wifi mapping in some parts of Germany is incorrect, so when it's using the local networks to find you it's flipping to another part of the country, the GPS kicks in and it locates you accurately. You could try a couple of things to test this. Turn off GPS and open Google Maps. It will normally locate you on the map within a few blocks of where you are and show a large blue circle due to the inaccuracy. Does it show you near where you are or in the other part of Germany? If it's way off then the local network mapping database is messed up. Not sure who to contact about that, but I guess you would start with your service provider.
As I recall Google has had a bunch of problems with the German authorities regarding the mapping they have done of wifi networks. Maybe that's a factor here, but who knows.
If this is the problem you could turn off the local network feature in Settings > Location. Problem is it will rely only on GPS then and take longer to get your location. But if my theory is right, right now the local network locator is hurting more than helping you.
If that's not the problem then install this app:
http://www.appbrain.com/app/gps-test/com.chartcross.gpstest
Turn off GPS, run the app, press the Menu button on the phone then Settings. At the top press "Clear AGPS" then "Update AGPS". Exit the app, turn on GPS and see if that helps. The initial lock after updating AGPS may take longer than normal, but that's expected. After that it will be back to normal.
samnada said:
I haven't seen this. I'll take a wild guess. Part of the A-GPS system can use cell towers and wifi to get a rough estimate of your location in order to speed up the GPS sat acquisition and lock. Perhaps the cell tower/wifi mapping in some parts of Germany is incorrect, so when it's using the local networks to find you it's flipping to another part of the country, the GPS kicks in and it locates you accurately. You could try a couple of things to test this. Turn off GPS and open Google Maps. It will normally locate you on the map within a few blocks of where you are and show a large blue circle due to the inaccuracy. Does it show you near where you are or in the other part of Germany? If it's way off then the local network mapping database is messed up. Not sure who to contact about that, but I guess you would start with your service provider.
As I recall Google has had a bunch of problems with the German authorities regarding the mapping they have done of wifi networks. Maybe that's a factor here, but who knows.
If this is the problem you could turn off the local network feature in Settings > Location. Problem is it will rely only on GPS then and take longer to get your location. But if my theory is right, right now the local network locator is hurting more than helping you.
If that's not the problem then install this app:
http://www.appbrain.com/app/gps-test/com.chartcross.gpstest
Turn off GPS, run the app, press the Menu button on the phone then Settings. At the top press "Clear AGPS" then "Update AGPS". Exit the app, turn on GPS and see if that helps. The initial lock after updating AGPS may take longer than normal, but that's expected. After that it will be back to normal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the exact same problem as the op. soon as I open google maps it shows me 10 miles away from my house. always the same spot 10 miles away. a few seconds later when it gets a lock on my location it pops me back to where I actually am. If I close google maps and open it again it jumps back to the wrong spot again, waits a few seconds and then jumps back to my true location at home.
I tried what you mentioned above but it did not help. wifi on or wifi off same difference. I read about some people saying it shows their old address and I did recently move and the wrong location it shows is about 1.5 miles from my old house. also the wrong location it shows me in is on the edge of this private reservoir that I have never been too.
Anyone else have this problem or read on how to fix it?
I have recently encountered more of an annoyance rather than a problem that got my head scratching. It is location and GPS related, so I searched for Galaxy S6 GPS problems in google, and I have noticed that some owners experience a lot of signal loss/searching in their phones. What I have found annoying in my case is that whenever the GPS signal is lost, Google Maps puts me in a wrong location that I have not been to for a while (around one month). I have lived in that location before, but I have since moved and no longer stay there. I have purchased the phone after moving. After a bit of experimenting I came to the conclusion that the building I currently live in blocks the GPS signal, since whenever I am in the balcony/near a window I get a signal and I'm put in the correct location in Google Maps. As soon as the signal is lost, Maps automatically puts me in that old location. This has also effected Google Now where I'm given incorrect travel times and directions, but not my weather location (set on current).
I have set 'Home' to my new location, I have also tried deleting my location history from google, tried a few GPS fixing apps, reinstalling Maps, and also installing other map applications like Here and Waze, which behave the same way and give me the same old location as my current.
At first I thought it could be a GPS hardware defect in the galaxy, but I turned on my old HTC One (M8) and it acted and behaved in the same way putting me in my old location. So it seems to me there's something in the Android OS perhaps since Here and Waze act in the same way. I also tested with the Maps app on an iPhone 6 and it gave the correct location although not 100% accurate. So is there anyway I can make Maps at least remember my last location before signal loss?
It is also absurd that my laptop can pinpoint my correct location while connected on Wifi while my phone with GPS, wifi and cell network cannot, which in conclusion seems like an android bug or something with location history in my google account which as I said already tried deleting the whole history.
Also note that the GPS and Maps work perfectly fine whenever I'm outside the building.
Google Maps has had weird location issues on Android since January or February. Affected the GPS accuracy / function of my Nexus 5 as well. I think the bug is actually in Google Play Services framework, not in AOSP or the Maps app.
s6 gps issue
ab1983 said:
I have recently encountered more of an annoyance rather than a problem that got my head scratching. It is location and GPS related, so I searched for Galaxy S6 GPS problems in google, and I have noticed that some owners experience a lot of signal loss/searching in their phones. What I have found annoying in my case is that whenever the GPS signal is lost, Google Maps puts me in a wrong location that I have not been to for a while (around one month). I have lived in that location before, but I have since moved and no longer stay there. I have purchased the phone after moving. After a bit of experimenting I came to the conclusion that the building I currently live in blocks the GPS signal, since whenever I am in the balcony/near a window I get a signal and I'm put in the correct location in Google Maps. As soon as the signal is lost, Maps automatically puts me in that old location. This has also effected Google Now where I'm given incorrect travel times and directions, but not my weather location (set on current).
I have set 'Home' to my new location, I have also tried deleting my location history from google, tried a few GPS fixing apps, reinstalling Maps, and also installing other map applications like Here and Waze, which behave the same way and give me the same old location as my current.
At first I thought it could be a GPS hardware defect in the galaxy, but I turned on my old HTC One (M8) and it acted and behaved in the same way putting me in my old location. So it seems to me there's something in the Android OS perhaps since Here and Waze act in the same way. I also tested with the Maps app on an iPhone 6 and it gave the correct location although not 100% accurate. So is there anyway I can make Maps at least remember my last location before signal loss?
It is also absurd that my laptop can pinpoint my correct location while connected on Wifi while my phone with GPS, wifi and cell network cannot, which in conclusion seems like an android bug or something with location history in my google account which as I said already tried deleting the whole history.
Also note that the GPS and Maps work perfectly fine whenever I'm outside the building.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought a case that was supposed to be a clear view but doesn't work and needs a proximity sensor app installed to work. It has the magnet and a lump for the chip. I also couldn't get a gps lock. Was seeing up to 6 satellites but not locking. I removed the case and got 17+ and a 3d lock straight away.
I came to the conclusion that my building blocks the GPS signal, but the annoyance comes from Google maps locating me in a default location far away from me whenever there is no signal.