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?
Related
Recently my Google Maps has not been able to lock in on my location closer than 1500 to 1900 meters. I have hard reset and reinstalled GMaps with no luck. I have seen tweaks for Sprint and TMo users and have read that most VZW users are having no problems locking in. Are there any tweaks that I can try for the VZW TP2?
there are numerous gps tweaks to change the cache settings if you search for them. also try using the program quickgps which comes with your phone it will download the closest satellite info. inside my building i cant lock on any sats but outside i can get between 8-9 and within 10 meters of my location
Make sure location is turned on.
If you do the quickgps program on the phone it will turn location on for you and download the closest satelites for you and you should get a lock in like 10 seconds when you are outside.
Unless you turn on location you will just get your general location with google maps, mine said within 2800 meters till I used QuickGPS.
I have duplicated your problem by unchecking the gps option after you open google maps and pressing menu and the down arrow. Make sure the location setting is on as prior post stated and then after you open google maps make sure gps is checked in the menu and it will say that it is searching for satellites.
also make sure you change your gps settings in google to com4 and a baud of 4800
you also have to re-enable the "use gps" after changing this
I was able to dublicate the problem aswell, by accedent >_<, anyway, make sure the location setting for google maps is selected.
confirming what others here are saying, that's pretty much what I experienced with GPS unchecked in the main right softkey menu. If you don't have that checked it's using cell antennas or wifi to approximate your position. "Menu" > "Use GPS" and it should work by default.
football0552 said:
also make sure you change your gps settings in google to com4 and a baud of 4800
you also have to re-enable the "use gps" after changing this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Leaving it set to the "Managed by Windows" setting works just fine for me. No issues, and definitely use the Quick GPS program, it saves a headache. In fact im sitting on my couch in my appartment on the bottom of three floors built on the side of a hill with 2 sides of earth, and I have a strong 8 to 9 sats.
I just got my TP2 yesterday and one of the first things I did was install google maps and I was getting result like the title of this thread "within 1800 meters" and it could be a mile off. also the sats were not locking at all. I realized that my position was based on the tower that I was connected to. By the way the google maps on my VX6800 never used the towers to triangulate a position but the gps lock were much slower. Once I ran the quick GPS in the programs menu it turned on the GPS to the right setting and now I get an accurate lock even inside within seconds.
Go to settings-all settings-personal-phone-cdma services-location setting and make sure that it is set to "Location On". If not, you are not actually using the GPS. With that on and with QuickGPS doing it's thing, you will lock instantly.
I have a Verizon TP2 that is two weeks old. It does not have QUICK GPS! Oh yeah, and the gps does not locate.
Do I?
Return it?
Hard Reset? (sounds like a lot of work)
Get the file somewhere?
I have had it twice to Verizon. They have no suggestions but are happy to see the device and get their hands on it.
Leaning towards exchanging it for a new one.
JG
I'm currently travelling abroad and I'm therfore on roaming with data traffic disabled. I experience that the GPS is unable to find my position under these conditions and remains on the last known position (or it might take even longer than the few minutes i was willing to wait).
Whereas with data enabled or wifi i get a really fast lock.
Can anyone confirm this behaviour. Imho it should also be possible to get a lock (although slower) without any data connection. At least this is the way it works on my ios devices. It might take a minute or two but it works.
Any thoughts/experiences on this?
Some_One_Else said:
I'm currently travelling abroad and I'm therfore on roaming with data traffic disabled. I experience that the GPS is unable to find my position under these conditions and remains on the last known position (or it might take even longer than the few minutes i was willing to wait).
Whereas with data enabled or wifi i get a really fast lock.
Can anyone confirm this behaviour. Imho it should also be possible to get a lock (although slower) without any data connection. At least this is the way it works on my ios devices. It might take a minute or two but it works.
Any thoughts/experiences on this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the phone's been moved a dramatic amount of distance, the GPS almanac data will be really off. The data/wifi connection helps it locate your position and give the map a hand in finding you.
If you can get data somehow, you can try getting the "GPS Status and Toolbox" app from the Market, and then one of the menu options, perhaps advanced, is to download the GPS almanac data. That should give you quicker locks.
distortedloop said:
If the phone's been moved a dramatic amount of distance, the GPS almanac data will be really off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was only a few hundred meters from the last known position. That's why I'm a little bit concerned?
Thanks for the tool tip will definately have a look at it.
Some_One_Else said:
It was only a few hundred meters from the last known position. That's why I'm a little bit concerned?
Thanks for the tool tip will definately have a look at it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, yeah, that sounds like a problem. Even several miles shouldn't make that big a difference.
go to starbucks or some restaurant/bar/cafe with free WiFi
then use the phone there, and turn on GPS to get it updated
I was experimenting a little bit today and it seems to me that this is primarily a google maps problem.
It seems that google maps falls back to the last known position if you have no gps fix. For a strange reason however this last known position is not neccesarily the effective last known position but the last position when I had used google maps with an active internet connection position (which makes no sense imho).
This does not happen always and as long as you have an active data connection you will probably not run into this issue.
Some_One_Else said:
I was experimenting a little bit today and it seems to me that this is primarily a google maps problem.
It seems that google maps falls back to the last known position if you have no gps fix. For a strange reason however this last known position is not neccesarily the effective last known position but the last position when I had used google maps with an active internet connection position (which makes no sense imho).
This does not happen always and as long as you have an active data connection you will probably not run into this issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That makes some sense, since Google Maps relies on WiFi for it's initial fix if you have the enhanced location settings checked on.
Not really, does it? Example:
Pos1: wifi, hotel no GPS
Pos2: showing Pos1, after GPS fix showing correct position
Pos3: showing Pos1 (i would expect Pos2 now) after GPS fix showing correct position
Pos4: showing Pos1 again, whe no GPS fix
i would expect it to always show Pos(n-1) when there's no GPS fix and not always again Pos1. This is the way it works on ios devices which i think is correct.
Further i noticed that the blue circle (that should br really big if position is uncertain) does not grow respectively reflect this uncertainty by its size.
Therfore i guess: --> Defect in google maps 5.0?
Some_One_Else said:
Not really, does it? Example:
Pos1: wifi, hotel no GPS
Pos2: showing Pos1, after GPS fix showing correct position
Pos3: showing Pos1 (i would expect Pos2 now) after GPS fix showing correct position
Pos4: showing Pos1 again, whe no GPS fix
i would expect it to always show Pos(n-1) when there's no GPS fix and not always again Pos1. This is the way it works on ios devices which i think is correct.
Further i noticed that the blue circle (that should br really big if position is uncertain) does not grow respectively reflect this uncertainty by its size.
Therfore i guess: --> Defect in google maps 5.0?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just checked on mine to confirm, but for me I recall Google Maps ALWAYS opens to the last position I was on with the app open, not my current position. It's cached for sure. Even with WiFi off just now, it opened to that, but within under a minute it jumped to my actual position via the actual 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.
Tonight I noticed a pattern on my LG Optimus T running CM7 2.3.5.
If I disable "use wireless networks" under location and the GPS comes up to find my signal (I assume Google Latitude was calling for it even though it was backgrounded?????) it flashes super fast. I'm talking 12-15x a second. It's far faster than the searching for GPS icon we're all used to seeing.
If I re-enable "use wireless networks" it's instantly fine. If I disable it, it goes back to flashing.
I even signed out of Latitude to make sure it wasn't Latitude causing it to act up, but it did the same thing in both scenarios.
What could be causing this? I tried rebooting it, powering off and pulling the battery, etc. Any ideas?
Well, some new findings, and some new questions.
I have no idea what was causing the issue. Someone suggested I may have several GPS apps at once trying to get a grip on my location. I'm not sure what exactly happened but I ended up pulling a recovery from 10 days ago when I backed it up and it took care of the issue.
Moving along... I'm reading that "use wireless networks" helps the GPS antenna to find my location significantly faster since it can hone in on the area instead of the entire globe. Okay, fine. But I noticed something today. Previously I noticed that Google Latitude was wildly inaccurate. Further research after driving up and down the east coast reveals that Google Latitude (using only cell tower triangulation) is actually pretty damn accurate. In fact, it's always triangulated me within 2.5 miles of my location.
Here's the curve ball. Today I had wifi enabled. On a hunch, I opened Latitude. It said I was in Mineola, New York. Uh. No. I'm definitely in the very very southern most area of Pennsylvania you can get (Maryland border is a mere 5 minute bike ride away). I disable wifi, back in PA. I enable wifi, back in New York.
That said, it's obvious my wifi is throwing off the accuracy of Latitude. Personally I can't even find use with Latitude since I'm ALWAYS on wifi with work. Always. There are several buildings many miles apart I could be at, and since I'm always on wifi, the use of this app is really tanked if my wifi is going to throw off co-workers from knowing where I truly am. And this isn't Latitude's fault from what I can tell... something is goofed up in the database (whoever's database it is) that signifies my current wifi = New York when it should have been Pennsylvania, clearly.
So here's my next question - is it possible to separate wifi vs mobile tower triangulation? I noticed on my Android (Optimus T running CM7 2.3.5) that it specifically says:
Use Wireless Networks
Location determined by Wi-Fi and/or mobile networks
Keyword being... "or"...
Any ideas??
Anybody? No dice?
Hey everyone,
I'm experiencing a couple minor issues with my MyTouch 4G Slide and wanted to see if anyone had any input.
First is the weather location... when I am at work my phone's weather location always gets all weird. It happened with my G2 (before this phone) as well. On the G2, it would show my location as in Japan. With the MT4GS, it shows as Denver CO. It updates when I leave the building, but it is still frustrating for numerous reasons. First, the time on my phone switches to Denver's time zone while at work. It throws me off whenever I look at my phone. Also, after I leave and the location updates, it doesn't update the time zone. I have to go to Settings -> Date and Time, and uncheck and recheck 'Automatic' for it to switch back to the correct time zone. Finally, while Maps will read my location just fine, other location-based apps seem to be thrown off as well.
One other question is about the hardware keyboard. I have Prediction turned on in settings but it never works. It's nice with the hardware keyboard because I can skip the alt+ keypresses for punctuation and it inserts automatically, and it will capitalize I, etc. If I'm not mistaken, this hasn't worked since the recent HTC update that moved us to Google Play Store.
If anyone has fixes and/or other info about these issues, I'd appreciate your input! Thanks so much.
Are you connecting to your work's wi-fi automatically when you are there? It could be that the location information (which would affect weather and time) is using your IP address info. I know when I connect to my wi-fi at home, it will alter my location to a nearby suburb.
Fuzi0719 said:
Are you connecting to your work's wi-fi automatically when you are there? It could be that the location information (which would affect weather and time) is using your IP address info. I know when I connect to my wi-fi at home, it will alter my location to a nearby suburb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish! Our WiFi doesn't even show up on my phone... they must have the SSID hidden. I think it's because the building is older, and it must have lots of concrete or something because radios, cell phones, etc don't work well in here. Mine only works because my desk is right by the main entry door and a few windows. I'm assuming that the GPS signal could get thrown off by that as well. I'm just hoping since Maps can locate me that maybe I could fix the rest of the location-based services.
retrokick said:
I wish! Our WiFi doesn't even show up on my phone... they must have the SSID hidden. I think it's because the building is older, and it must have lots of concrete or something because radios, cell phones, etc don't work well in here. Mine only works because my desk is right by the main entry door and a few windows. I'm assuming that the GPS signal could get thrown off by that as well. I'm just hoping since Maps can locate me that maybe I could fix the rest of the location-based services.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It may not even be getting a GPS signal, instead relying upon the location data of the celltower you're linked with. I've seen the location info being off by neighborhoods, but not to the extreme you've mentioned.
Uncheck the automatic update, then it will stay in the right timezone.
Also, I use swiftkey x, it has the best word prediction, and works great with the hardware keyboard.
yellowjacket1981 said:
Uncheck the automatic update, then it will stay in the right timezone.
Also, I use swiftkey x, it has the best word prediction, and works great with the hardware keyboard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the recommendation! The app is downloading now and I'm already excited because of the amazing reviews it got. I'm sure I'll love it. I was hesitant to uncheck the automatic setting because I want it to sync the time... but now that I think about it, once the time is set from the network... why would it need to sync? Unless I do a battery pull or something.