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Is there a Map program that works like a GPS but instead of using gps using the data

connection to guide you?

danresvel said:
connection to guide you?
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Nope. The data conenction or cell-information is not accurate enough to pinpoint your exact location. To get an example, try Google Maps Mobile (maps.google.com/gmm on your mobile device). It has a 'my location' function that uses cell information, but you'll see it'll never have more than about 400m accuracy.

Google Maps without any data plan/GPS

Just like it's in the iPhone. The GMaps app downloads a certain map area, and then using cell phone triangulation, pin points the location of the phone, and then gives directions etc.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_tracking)
Is such a thing possible on Windows Mobile? It should be, I feel, because there's no special hardware required for it.
GMaps for WinMo, *does* pin point point almost the exact location, but if the data/wifi connection is cut, the map disappears.

Cell Phone Triangulation works OK in the Google Maps latest version (and earlier too) for Window Mobile. The problem is you need a data connection to download the map to the phone. Google Maps does not allow to save the map for offline use or even thru Wifi, AFAIK. For that you will need another program like Google Navigator, which I think is better than Google mobile, but VERY EXPENSIVE. There are other freeware program alternatives that allow offline map saving and usage, but I haven't tested them. Hope this helps.

dgaud007 said:
Cell Phone Triangulation works OK in the Google Maps latest version (and earlier too) for Window Mobile. The problem is you need a data connection to download the map to the phone. Google Maps does not allow to save the map for offline use or even thru Wifi, AFAIK. For that you will need another program like Google Navigator, which I think is better than Google mobile, but VERY EXPENSIVE. There are other freeware program alternatives that allow offline map saving and usage, but I haven't tested them. Hope this helps.
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Wait. So are you positive that google navigator allows this? Download map once and then browse on it offline while your position is calculated using triangulation...?. Also what freewares are you talking about?

Have to tried Bing Maps app for WinMo ? I have got the directions when there's wifi and it caches the whole route. I once drove from Atlanta to Charlotte...only thing you have to do to kinda force it to cache by going over the entire route when you have finished setting up the directions from point A to B...

I downloaded the trial version of Google Navigator. I cannot figure out how to use it! With my WiFi connected, I tried zooming in, and it just doesn't load the map!

It should work thru wifi and cell phone triangulation, unless the demo is crippled or something. I know I used it in Buenos Aires. However, you may want to disregard Google Navigator since it looks like they are no longer in business. Some time ago I also tried these free alternatives, but it was a pain to download the maps,
MGMaps
Terracrosser

Yes, it's showing my location alright, with a Blue dot. But after that it doesn't load anything.
Do those other two apps support cell phone triangulation?

Just researched a bit, they don't.
So is there *no* way I can do what I'm trying to do? Sounds absurd! Why do iPhone users get cache supported GMaps and we dont?

great
that would be great, tell me how this works? or isn't it possible?
thanks

No help? There has to be a way!

If you have a program which will store the maps, (someone mentioned MGMaps and Terracrosser), then you can use cell tower triangulation with VirtualGPS.

EDIT: Nope. It is asking for internet connection for GSM Triangulation; for some reason. I don't understand why would Internet be required for *GSM* Cellular tower Triangulation.

cyanide911 said:
EDIT: Nope. It is asking for internet connection for GSM Triangulation; for some reason. I don't understand why would Internet be required for *GSM* Cellular tower Triangulation.
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because it needs to query a database of cell towers, that database is on the internet. either buy an unlimited data plan or don't bother I think all methods of finding location use a data connection apart from gps. gsm location is very inacurate anyway and they dont triangulate they just assume your position from the 1 cell tower you are connected to
also just a note the iphone uses skyhook to determin location when its not using gps so even if it does dowload the maps before hand it still needs to use a dataconnection if it finds a new access point or cell tower.

Okay, I understand. But then, even though such an app doesn't exist; it must be possible. Considering the app downloads the Map and cellular tower data for a particular area that we select. Then, it will not need any kind of interaction with an other server.
Also, it *is* triangulation. And it is accurate if you live in an urban area.

cyanide911 said:
Okay, I understand. But then, even though such an app doesn't exist; it must be possible. Considering the app downloads the Map and cellular tower data for a particular area that we select. Then, it will not need any kind of interaction with an other server.
Also, it *is* triangulation. And it is accurate if you live in an urban area.
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Yes it would be possible if it downloaded map and cell tower data.
Got any proof about it being triangulation? From what I understand although it is possible for a phone to connect to more than one cell tower wm at least has no managed or native functions which give you access to their cell ids.
Im not 100% if google mobile maps uses wifi but if it does that is triangulation if enough access points can be seen.

[Q] GPS location based off of your android phone or wifi?

when i'm at home using the Trans hooked up to my home wifi. Is the locaton based off of the wifi or my android phone?

E46M3 said:
when i'm at home using the Trans hooked up to my home wifi. Is the locaton based off of the wifi or my android phone?
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I believe it's from your home wifi, at least mine is. I think I enabled the option within google.

Doesn't the tranny have GPS built in?

UKseagull said:
I believe it's from your home wifi, at least mine is. I think I enabled the option within google.
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hmm.. so what happens if your trans is at home idling and you're out with your phone and your friends have you on their latitude? which one does it pick up?

rehughe said:
Doesn't the tranny have GPS built in?
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It does.
Funny thing, Viewsonic gtablet had neither GPS nor GSM positioning yet is was capable of getting exact location if tethered to Nexus One!
I will try if this still works with TF (positioning with GPS off).

E46M3 said:
hmm.. so what happens if your trans is at home idling and you're out with your phone and your friends have you on their latitude? which one does it pick up?
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Good point, this has happened to me before and latitude showed me as being at home when someone was using my pc. You'd expect latitude to use the location from whichever device used the service last, at least I would expect that
I forgot all about the gps, I don't usually enable it with latitude.

If I remember right, the GPS coordinates are actually embedded in the wifi signal on some GPS enabled wifi devices like the MiFi devices. So I won't be surprised if the phones are doing something similar when you tether to them too.

cl191 said:
If I remember right, the GPS coordinates are actually embedded in the wifi signal on some GPS enabled wifi devices like the MiFi devices. So I won't be surprised if the phones are doing something similar when you tether to them too.
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I'm pretty sure my WiFi AP that I bought in 2003 doesn't have GPS or anything of the sort in it. Haven't tethered to my Droid X yet either. Yet when I pull up Maps at home or at work, Google knows where I am.
I believe they've gathered enough data from devices that have location services and WiFi enabled to have a bit of a database of what WiFi network is located where. That's not a bad thing, I'm just sayin that Google can generally know where you are based on what WiFi network you're connected to.

there is an online lookup service for gps coords for wifi routers. It is user modifiyable . Some how the coords of my router got corruptted and I had to go in and correct them when you location services based on router, the app goes to the lookup site and gets the coords. If not in database, wil not locate

cl191 said:
If I remember right, the GPS coordinates are actually embedded in the wifi signal on some GPS enabled wifi devices like the MiFi devices. So I won't be surprised if the phones are doing something similar when you tether to them too.
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If this is the case, I'd love to see some references.
Here's my understanding - Android devices generally have 3 ways of locating themselves.
One is cell tower triangulation. It is the least accurate, but has the best chance of providing a location so long as the device has cell signal.
Another is WiFi signal triangulation. Google devices (and Google streetview cars) collect data about nearby WiFi networks and send that data back to Google along with the coordinates where it was found (aka, all of the news story lately about apple and Google tracking people). If your device needs to know where it is, it can tell Google what WiFi SSIDs it detects and the Google servers tell the device where it thinks it is. This method is much more accurate than cell triangulation.
Lastly, there's GPS. It is the most accurate, but only works if your device has line of sight to the sky. It usually works near Windows as well.
If you go into settings>location on your device you can enable/disable cell, wifi, or GPS location. On my phone cell and wifi triangulation are lumped under "use wireless networks".

so tje navigation system is prety much useless on transfo when you are out on the road with no wifi? something dont sound right, or am i missing it altohether?

ipulaski said:
so tje navigation system is prety much useless on transfo when you are out on the road with no wifi? something dont sound right, or am i missing it altohether?
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I believe this has already been answered in another thread, but: if you have navigation software that loads maps locally (e.g., CoPilot), then you can use the TF without a wifi signal. Also, if you create a route using Google Navigation, it will cache your route and as long as you don't deviate from it too greatly (to where it would require update information) then you could also use that without wifi.
In short, the TF has a GPS capable of standalone use, but requires mapping data to perform navigation.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

Not to mention every other tablet or cellphone is equally useless without a data connection unless you have, as noted above, locally stored mapping software installed or a cached GM route. It's not a Transformer issue, it's a non-dedicated GPS device issue.

How GPS works

I was wondering if we needed a wifi connection when using GPS or if the satellite connections are all that are required. Also does the GPS functionality cost money to use?

Technically, it works without Wi-Fi, but Wi-Fi adds accuracy. The problem is, you'll find that you can't really search for places to navigate. For example, Google Maps finds my location just fine, but if I search for a store or something, it hangs looking for a data connection. Google Navigate can't find the address that I type in. So, to sum it up, GPS and some sort of data connection go hand-in-hand. When I'm out, I share my 3G Connection from my phone via wireless tethering to supply the tablet with a connection.
There is no cost to use the GPS functionality.
Hope this helps!

Alitheia said:
Technically, it works without Wi-Fi, but Wi-Fi adds accuracy. The problem is, you'll find that you can't really search for places to navigate. For example, Google Maps finds my location just fine, but if I search for a store or something, it hangs looking for a data connection. Google Navigate can't find the address that I type in. So, to sum it up, GPS and some sort of data connection go hand-in-hand. When I'm out, I share my 3G Connection from my phone via wireless tethering to supply the tablet with a connection.
There is no cost to use the GPS functionality.
Hope this helps!
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thank you. that did answer my question(s).

JMH-ESH said:
I was wondering if we needed a wifi connection when using GPS or if the satellite connections are all that are required. Also does the GPS functionality cost money to use?
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It might be of use to read http://en.wikipedia.org/GPS because this is a general question as to the underlying mechanism of global positioning, triangulation and so on, and has nothing to do with the specifics of our device.

Alitheia said:
Technically, it works without Wi-Fi, but Wi-Fi adds accuracy. The problem is, you'll find that you can't really search for places to navigate. For example, Google Maps finds my location just fine, but if I search for a store or something, it hangs looking for a data connection. Google Navigate can't find the address that I type in. So, to sum it up, GPS and some sort of data connection go hand-in-hand. When I'm out, I share my 3G Connection from my phone via wireless tethering to supply the tablet with a connection.
There is no cost to use the GPS functionality.
Hope this helps!
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That doesn't answer the question. GPS does not require a data connection. Some navigation apps require it, but there are also applications that provide full offline GPS-assisted navigation with no need for an internet connection at all.

ZankerH said:
That doesn't answer the question. GPS does not require a data connection. Some navigation apps require it, but there are also applications that provide full offline GPS-assisted navigation with no need for an internet connection at all.
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To be honest, I think it does, at least partly -- since his second question was if GPS functionality costs money (answer: no, it is kindly provided by the United States Department of Defense for you perusal). Furthermore, in the article is referenced the answer to the ame question above: GPS functionality requires only the GPS antenn itself, although the position acquisition (not to be confused with signal acquisition, since that is reception-dependent only) may be faster when a data connection is available to downoad the ephemeris, for example.
It'd be nicer if you fully read and ditto understood both questionand answer before correction a non-mistake. Again, there was no device-specific question asked, so, essentially, it doesn't belong in here.

Thanks for the clarifications to my answer. My first sentence did say that technically GPS works without Wi-Fi. It was important to state that many of the typical uses for GPS however do require a data connection, so it is very important not to leave that out because the OP didn't state what they planned to use GPS for. I summed it up by saying that data and GPS are great compliments to each other for a device, which is also true.

[Q] Can I get my location using Cell towers only

Can I get my location with Wifi OFF 3g/LTE off and GPS off using only cell towers or does it need internet to get the info, my father says his Iphone 5 with apple maps doesn't need internet to get his location but what does my father know is this even possible and if so how do I do it on my nexus 5.

fleen said:
Can I get my location with Wifi OFF 3g/LTE off and GPS off using only cell towers or does it need internet to get the info, my father says his Iphone 5 with apple maps doesn't need internet to get his location but what does my father know is this even possible and if so how do I do it on my nexus 5.
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Settings > Location
Click Mode
Select Battery Saving Mode
Disable Wifi and Mobile Data if you haven't already
Your approximate location will now be determined using cell tower triangulation. However, if you are trying to use Google Maps for example, you need to have previously made the area in which you are currently located available offline, or have it in your Google Maps cache. Otherwise it won't display anything of value to you without some sort of internet connection to download the map data.
You can also use Device mode which will use GPS to pinpoint your location. Same maps caveat applies as above, and obviously you need to be able to get GPS satellite locks (ie. outside or next to a window).

fleen said:
Can I get my location with Wifi OFF 3g/LTE off and GPS off using only cell towers or does it need internet to get the info, my father says his Iphone 5 with apple maps doesn't need internet to get his location but what does my father know is this even possible and if so how do I do it on my nexus 5.
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You don't need internet to locate yourself only GPS.
Apps like Tasker and Llama can use cell tower location without draining your battery and requires a network connection but not data.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

xda_fanboy said:
Settings > Location
Click Mode
Select Battery Saving Mode
Disable Wifi and Mobile Data if you haven't already
Your approximate location will now be determined using cell tower triangulation. However, if you are trying to use Google Maps for example, you need to have previously made the area in which you are currently located available offline, or have it in your Google Maps cache. Otherwise it won't display anything of value to you without some sort of internet connection to download the map data.
You can also use Device mode which will use GPS to pinpoint your location. Same maps caveat applies as above, and obviously you need to be able to get GPS satellite locks (ie. outside or next to a window).
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I can't seem to get it to work I have downloaded google maps to view offline and it just stays there saying "waiting for location..."
And did the part "Settings > Location
Click Mode
Select Battery Saving Mode
Disable Wifi and Mobile Data if you haven't already"

Pretty sure the only way for that to work is if you have "WiFi always scanning" turned on.
You can set your locations to Device Only and it will just use the GPS and nothing else.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

fleen said:
I can't seem to get it to work I have downloaded google maps to view offline and it just stays there saying "waiting for location..."
And did the part "Settings > Location
Click Mode
Select Battery Saving Mode
Disable Wifi and Mobile Data if you haven't already"
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Click to collapse
You need GPS on at least. Thats what gives you your location. You can get a location based off of three things: Your mobile data, WiFi networks or GPS itself. You said you turned it all off so yeah, you arent going to get a location that way.

jsgraphicart said:
You need GPS on at least. Thats what gives you your location. You can get a location based off of three things: Your mobile data, WiFi networks or GPS itself. You said you turned it all off so yeah, you arent going to get a location that way.
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I can get my location with wifi and cell towers together. No GPS so I think its possible with Cell Tower Triangulation only in theory.

fleen said:
I can get my location with wifi and cell towers together. No GPS so I think its possible with Cell Tower Triangulation only in theory.
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Well just from looking at the settings, you can either use GPS, WiFi and mobile networks....WiFi and mobile networks....or GPS only. So I guess, take your pick.
What are you trying to get out of this anyway? Just use your phone for calls and maps and thats it?

jsgraphicart said:
Well just from looking at the settings, you can either use GPS, WiFi and mobile networks....WiFi and mobile networks....or GPS only. So I guess, take your pick.
What are you trying to get out of this anyway? Just use your phone for calls and maps and thats it?
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You know those fitness apps that track where you have been and stuff, well I want to use one but outdoors theres no wifi and GPS uses too much battery

fleen said:
You know those fitness apps that track where you have been and stuff, well I want to use one but outdoors theres no wifi and GPS uses too much battery
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If you want to save some battery on the GPS side put your phone in airplane mode. That will shut down all but GPS. I use mine all the time with an app called Backcountry Navigation Pro. They have a free version so you can check out most of the features that way. You can set it to record a track from every 5 seconds to 30 minutes. I set it to 5 minutes and have pretty good accuracy as far as where I've been and the GPS use is only on for that time. You should be able to do that with any good mapping app.

theesotericone said:
If you want to save some battery on the GPS side put your phone in airplane mode. That will shut down all but GPS. I use mine all the time with an app called Backcountry Navigation Pro. They have a free version so you can check out most of the features that way. You can set it to record a track from every 5 seconds to 30 minutes. I set it to 5 minutes and have pretty good accuracy as far as where I've been and the GPS use is only on for that time. You should be able to do that with any good mapping app.
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This is an option but if I can get the cell tower location working I would prefer it.

fleen said:
This is an option but if I can get the cell tower location working I would prefer it.
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Cell tower triangulation is not precise at all. It's only used to help your device catch GPS fix faster. If one would only use cell towers the accuracy would in most cases not got below 300-500m...

One cell tower can provide signal for a very large area. It can not be used for precise tracking as you need.
When I drive away from my house it can take over 5 minutes to leave the area of my 3 "home" cell towers.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

So its not what I want ok guys thanks how can I close this thread now?