Having trouble with GPS accuracy and speed? Here's a tip...

[emilynicol2]

I noticed some complaints about the GPS accuracy and speed on various Android sites. I have a tip for people that are having this issue... When you turn on the GPS, turn on Wi-Fi as well and your location will be much more accurate and speedier. GPS alone will find your general vicinity, but for some reason or another the Wi-Fi signal pinpoints your location with (usually) perfect accuracy. I always turn on Wi-Fi + GPS before opening Google Maps and it works great.

[budone]

How is a WiFi connection going to work??? By the time the signal is found and connection, you are gone......

[PJNC284]

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budone wrote:

How is a WiFi connection going to work??? By the time the signal is found and connection, you are gone......

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ha, I was wondering the same.  Unless you're just playing around with it at home or whatever, you probably don't have wifi access the majority of the time you want to use it.  That said, mine has been spot on without wifi since I bought it.

[mdram4x4]

i found gps helper software, like gps status, speeds upt he lock time

never used wifi either, well eve if was on there non where i live

[budone]

Made a point to try the gps . I was found in about 10 seconds,and my location was correct . this is with wifi off.

[bearone21]

to save the batt, i don't stay in gps and i'm still pretty close, that's how it works with gps selected, right on the money.

i'm not sure why the thought of selecting wi-fi to fix position was mentioned, unless someone has a misconception of how wi-fi works.

[budone]

I think that may be the issue . As for turning off GPS, I leave mine on all the time because if your not using it it will not drain the battery

[bearone21]

i'll try it & see, thanks.

[emilynicol2]

Hey all just found this official article from the Google blog which explains how it works.

Here's an excerpt from the Google Blog:

"....Today, we're taking another step toward that goal, with the release of My Location with Wi-Fi, which will provide even greater accuracy when you use a device with Wi-Fi. The premise is similar to what we do with cell tower information: information transmitted by nearby Wi-Fi access points is used to pinpoint your location. Since the range of a Wi-Fi access point is smaller than that of a cell phone tower, this often results in a much more accurate position.

Wi-Fi-based location is available in many major cities around the world, but coverage and accuracy will vary. We expect it to improve over time as more people use it...."

Read the full article here: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2008/10/my-location-now-with-wi-fi.html

[bearone21]

my apologies.

with dedicated wi-fi towers it could be slick but just accessing wi-fi, you're hitting any wi-fi signal that's close but most like mine at home are encrypted, so you can't use them.

[MikeSobe]

I used to use an app called GPS Status to get GPS working on my phone and it worked but pretty much every time I wanted to use Google Maps I had to open up GPS status first, get a lock, and then use Google Maps.  Obviously this was not ideal.  A few weeks after the Thunderbolt upgrade I decided to try a factory reset since a few people I respect said that it made a world of difference in GPS accuracy and a decent improvement in battery life.  Since I did a factory reset my GPS works 100% of the time.  If you don't mind losing your text messages and already have your contacts backed up I would reccomend a factory reset.  Battery life has been better and GPS has been fixed.  I haven't had an issue since I did it.

[bearone21]

if i select gps i'm right on the money in latitude/maps.

i've been keeping gps off to save the batt but a post above it said gps didn't pull on the batt.

if you keep gps on, big brother can track your every move.

[budone]

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bearone21 wrote:
if i select gps i'm right on the money in latitude/maps.

i've been keeping gps off to save the batt but a post above it said gps didn't pull on the batt.

if you keep gps on, big brother can track your every move.

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They are tracking ya no matter what. Your car have OnStar?? Even if you do not subscribe the GPS is on. Arer you using the net to post??? Obviously yes, they know where you are.

If I am driving and go off the road, I WANT them to know where I am!!

And as long as the satellite dish is not in your notification bar, the GPS is not being used thus the battery is not being used. I am getting over 24 hours of battery with my TB and I have all but the Verizon GPS option marked.

Now to the OP, I am sorry for questioning the WiFi option. It did not make much sense and I still wonder how well it can work while moving do to the time it takes to have a signal recongnized, but I guess Google started using in 2008.

[PJNC284]

Gotta love the tinfoil hat crowd. :facepalm:

[bearone21]

"They are tracking ya no matter what. Your car have OnStar?? "

no onstar in my mercedes, don't know if they've ever offered it.

[budone]

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bearone21 wrote:
"They are tracking ya no matter what. Your car have OnStar?? "

no onstar in my mercedes, don't know if they've ever offered it.

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Ya still have that little black box.

[bearone21]

just like in ncis

[emilynicol2]

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bearone21 wrote:

my apologies.

with dedicated wi-fi towers it could be slick but just accessing wi-fi, you're hitting any wi-fi signal that's close but most like mine at home are encrypted, so you can't use them.

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Hey bearone21 - It doesn't matter if the nearby wi-fi signal is encrypted or not, it will still work. Again you don't need to -connect- to the wi-fi, the signal just needs to be there. As a matter of fact I just tested it out here at work where there are only encrypted networks in range, none of which I have the password to. It works.

I have a feeling that you won't believe me again, and that's fine, but just actually try it out for yourself sometime Experience is the best teacher, as they say...

[PJNC284]

I'm still not following how it could possibly work without being connected to it.  To triangulate, you're going to need an ip address.  To get that, the phone will have to connect to it somehow.  When you hit the wifi button, it does nothing more than scan to see what networks are near you and that's the end of the interaction afaik unless you have one of the network ssid's remembered.  

[emilynicol2]

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PJNC284 wrote:

I'm still not following how it could possibly work without being connected to it.  To triangulate, you're going to need an ip address.  To get that, the phone will have to connect to it somehow.  When you hit the wifi button, it does nothing more than scan to see what networks are near you and that's the end of the interaction afaik unless you have one of the network ssid's remembered.  

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Good question I'm not sure. I was able to dig up an explanation of how the Wi-Fi location feature works on an iPod touch using SkyHook technology. Perhaps it is similar? Preface: I'm not aware what service Google Maps on Verizon uses, but this is just an explanation of a similar technology which may or may not be also used by Google Maps on our phones.

Here is what it says about the iPod Touch Wi-Fi location:

"SkyHook does not restrict itself to "official" public WiFi hotspots. Instead, it sends a fleet of vehicles down every navigable street within a covered area, scanning ALL of the WiFi access points in the vicinity (both private and public) and recording their unique signatures (called a MAC address, but it has no relation to the popular computer platform) along with their signal strength at various latitudes and longitudes.

Whenever the WiFi radio is turned on and CoreLocation is in use, the iPod touch continually scans the MAC addresses and relative signal strengths of all the WiFi access points in the vicinity (not just the one it happens to be connected to), and queries those MAC addresses in SkyHook's database. It can then use those results to triangulate your approximate location.

If SkyHook's database doesn't contain an entry for the WiFi access points nearest you, or if the WiFi access point has moved since the last time SkyHook refreshed its database, then the iPod touch will provide incorrect location information. In that case, it is also possible for operators of WiFi access points (including owners of private home networks) to submit new information to SkyHook in order to help them improve their coverage. "

And more info from Skhook's official website....  http://www.skyhookwireless.com/howitworks/

Like I said, I'm not sure if any of the above is related at all... but maybe it is? Who knows....

[bearone21]

just how do you know for sure that you're accessing info from those wireless signals?

i just got off the phone verizon cs and they have no info about these wi-fi towers, none in the verizon system.

look at it from this perspective:
wi-fi towers are/will be at a fixed location, so location info can be triangulated between wi-fi towers, same same, verizon towers.

so please explain to me how just passing by someone's encrypted/unencrypted wireless signal, that any phone can use that info for fixing your position at that time in space?

aka, where is that signal in relation to you, as you're passing by?

gps and the verizon towers are what give the best location.