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Anyone else checked out Navizon on their device? I am running it on my 8525, and it is pretty cool (though I wouldn't spend any real money for it, since I am saving up for my Tilt). The software figures out where you are using cell towers and wifi links (note, to have it work well, be sure your wifi is turned on), and then places you on a map.
Sitting in my office it keeps jumping me around in a two block radius from my actual location .. so it clearly is not as precise as GPS and would not really help for real time driving directions .. but it is a nice tool to quickly pull up a map of your surrounding area (if you get lost) and relatively quickly figure out where you are.
Also gives you insight as to how the cell providers can track your location when you have your phone turned on. Creepy.
Did not work tooooo well in OKC put me atleast 10 miles off and with out a real GPS the Fax Q said that is the best it will do
I've been using it for about a day, it was only accurate twice, but I'm still given it a chance.
It's about 5-10 miles off for me as well.
This seems quite odd as the tower I'm using is certainly a lot closer than where this software thinks I am.
Navizon uses its own database to do cell tower - lat/long triangulation. If you read through the site, you'll see that in order for their database to expand to better coverage, they allow anyone using a GPS in addition to Navizon to use the software for free. This way the database is constantly growing as more users use it. It seems a good idea to me, and the only possible solution really. That being said, Navizon has already thoroughly mapped NYC and San Francisco. In manhattan where I live I find Navizon is always accurate to within 100 feet! Not bad considering there aint a chance in hell of getting a GPS signal on these streets!
If you wish to make it more accurate in your own area, run it one day with a GPS attached and drive around town. The coordinates and cell tower info will be added to their db and Navizon will always thereafter be accurate in your area. Won't need the GPS again.
Navizon is one of my favorite apps. I pull it out and turn it on and I get my location on the integrated google maps within 1 minute. Very nifty when trying to find a subway or bar or something.
fluxist
The just released 3.3.4.0 which placed me from across town to right where I should be.
The other day the GPS had the weirdest issue. I was stuck in traffic and decided to turn on Google Maps to find out how long the traffic is going to be. To my disbelief, the GPS showed me in a different town and MOVING on the street and then onto some freeway about 50 miles from my location. I thought the GPS satellites are screwed up but my car was showing me in the right place (and never has made such a stupid error).
Makes me wonder if the GPS info is actually going to Google servers and coming back to the phone as I guess I was getting someone else's GPS data and the lines were crossed somehow. This continued to about 30 minutes as I was enjoying the error and wondering at the same time. Holding the phone out of the window and stuff did not work. Eventually I reboot (oops! I meant I took the battery out because HTC apparently thinks we never need to reboot te G1 so there is no PIN hole for reboot like most other phones).
has anyone else experienced the same issue?
brooklynite said:
The other day the GPS had the weirdest issue. I was stuck in traffic and decided to turn on Google Maps to find out how long the traffic is going to be. To my disbelief, the GPS showed me in a different town and MOVING on the street and then onto some freeway about 50 miles from my location. I thought the GPS satellites are screwed up but my car was showing me in the right place (and never has made such a stupid error).
Makes me wonder if the GPS info is actually going to Google servers and coming back to the phone as I guess I was getting someone else's GPS data and the lines were crossed somehow. This continued to about 30 minutes as I was enjoying the error and wondering at the same time. Holding the phone out of the window and stuff did not work. Eventually I reboot (oops! I meant I took the battery out because HTC apparently thinks we never need to reboot te G1 so there is no PIN hole for reboot like most other phones).
has anyone else experienced the same issue?
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The GPS is not being relayed to google... but google maps may be the thing that is wrong here. You can't get your "lines crossed" when using google maps but the maps may be downloading the wrong set. I know I have seen it do some weird things but that is expected to happen when you have several countries you have to have maps for.
As for the reboot issue... is it really that hard to hold down the power button? You do realize that the pin hole on previous devices is for emergencies only. It could really screw up the phone. Similarly like using your computer and unpluging it while it is on... or just pressing its reset button.
Maybe this is the reason for your problems with your G1.
I was just browsing my location and found that the location was in my local Radio Shack that was 2 blocks away. I tried to refresh but wouldn't allow me to.
G1 uses assisted GPS, which performs some calculations away from your phone. Could have been your A-GPS server was sending back some faulty data.
Some Application in G1 read Location info from Proprietary GPS Chip and also relies on Cell Tower GPS Coordination if GPS Signals is not available, in India my Airtel Company have Bad GPS Coordination in my Cell Tower, I Personally know which Cell Tower i am hooked to while i am at home but the Cell GPS Coordination is 8 Miles away from my Cell Tower.
Check that your GPS Signal were Strong and you have not just started seeing maps when that error occured.
I think it was stong. I had all my bars full and the 3g logo on it. Oh well I'll probably fiddle with it a little more tomorrow after I try to get a screen protector for the phone
I thought the problem had gone away until last night it happened again, with one difference. I still had me being shown 20-30 miles away (interestingly not across the globe but simply 30 miles away) the problem corrected itself after about 5 minutes.
I have a car GPS and a portable GPS and I have never seen this happen before. The issue is definately the A-GPS. I always thought during WAR the military may scramble the GPS data to confuse the enemy, I guess that is what promted Europeans to install their own GPS that is much more accurate than ours.
And there are controversies over this as well. Google is recording my location and my cell towers and IP addresses and URLs according to its NO privacy policy. This is definitely not fun.
Sending my GPS info to Google servers (which is in fact the case) without me knowing it and sending it back to my phone through internet channels it not something I am comfortable with. Especially if Google releases information to law enforcement one day that may be incorrect showing me somewhere I really was not at!
CORRECTION: A-GPS is for phones without GPS. It does not apply to this thread.
brooklynite said:
CORRECTION: A-GPS is for phones without GPS. It does not apply to this thread.
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Where do you get your information? aGPS is for phones with GPS... it uses a data connection to locate you within so many meters than uses the GPS signal to pinpoint so you are located faster.
brooklynite said:
CORRECTION: A-GPS is for phones without GPS. It does not apply to this thread.
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Wrong.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS_Phone
http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/gps.html
I have the same dxmn problem with the gps f-ing up. It started with RC30...When I was on RC19...I had NO PROBLEMS with gps.
It would pinpoint my location in 5sec. Now it's take 10-15min to pinpoint me. Google need to fix this fast.
whether it is related to this thread or not...A-GPS....
, generally abbreviated as A-GPS, enhances the startup performance of a GPS satellite-based positioning system. It is used extensively with GPS-capable cellular phones
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same problem here. i also think it started with the update.
Guys, I am not wrong.
A-GPS as Google calls it (and there are other versions of it), is for phones without a GPS chip (thats how Google Maps find you on a T-Mobile WING), it started after an fcc mandate to be able to locate 911 callers from cell phone. It finds your location using a triangulation of the cell towers you are connected to and this particular technology and the extensive data that is required is owned by Google however Google may not call it AGPS.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/28/google-mobile-maps-pinpoints-your-location-without-gps/
Now it seems to me that Google is enhancing its data network of cell towers using our phones to collect location data. So it collects the cell towers we are connected to with the strength+ the GPS info from our phones and puts all this data in a server to that non-GPS phones using Google Maps can have a better triangulation as more data is gathered from across the country. Eventually the system could be perfected to locate any cell phone without a GPS chip or to locate a cellphone with the GPS feature turned off for privacy, and that is what concerns me.
When my phone shows me 20 miles from where I am, on the freeway, cruising at 55MPH while I am sitting in traffic on the other side of town, it concerns me.
brooklynite said:
Guys, I am not wrong.
A-GPS as Google calls it (and there are other versions of it), is for phones without a GPS chip (thats how Google Maps find you on a T-Mobile WING), it started after an fcc mandate to be able to locate 911 callers from cell phone. It finds your location using a triangulation of the cell towers you are connected to and this particular technology and the extensive data that is required is owned by Google however Google may not call it AGPS.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/28/google-mobile-maps-pinpoints-your-location-without-gps/
Now it seems to me that Google is enhancing its data network of cell towers using our phones to collect location data. So it collects the cell towers we are connected to with the strength+ the GPS info from our phones and puts all this data in a server to that non-GPS phones using Google Maps can have a better triangulation as more data is gathered from across the country. Eventually the system could be perfected to locate any cell phone without a GPS chip or to locate a cellphone with the GPS feature turned off for privacy, and that is what concerns me.
When my phone shows me 20 miles from where I am, on the freeway, cruising at 55MPH while I am sitting in traffic on the other side of town, it concerns me.
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Where are you getting your information? The link you provide just says they support phones without GPS but they never say it is only for phones without GPS. In fact it says that it will work on phones with GPS... that is what the whole article is about that phones in the future will have GPS and google maps will be able to pinpoint their location faster. Basically it says they are using A-GPS.
In the link above he links to http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/28/google-earth-heading-towards-extinction/ Which says people will be able to add their own commentary about places like a wiki. Nothing about using other peoples devices to send information for google to collect.
It also has this link http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/annc/20071128_maps_mobile_my_location.html Which is googles official press link saying it will work with both GPS and non-GPS phones by using the Cell ID and a special formula that google developed to pinpoint your location within a certain amount of distance. Nothing says it uses other peoples GPS signals. In fact it says "This approximation is anonymous, as Google does not gather any personally identifiable information or associate any location data with personally identifiable information as part of the My Location feature."
All in all I think you are misreading and need to look over your data again.
neoobs said:
Where are you getting your information? The link you provide just says they support phones without GPS but they never say it is only for phones without GPS. In fact it says that it will work on phones with GPS... that is what the whole article is about that phones in the future will have GPS and google maps will be able to pinpoint their location faster. Basically it says they are using A-GPS.
In the link above he links to http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/28/google-earth-heading-towards-extinction/ Which says people will be able to add their own commentary about places like a wiki. Nothing about using other peoples devices to send information for google to collect.
It also has this link http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/annc/20071128_maps_mobile_my_location.html Which is googles official press link saying it will work with both GPS and non-GPS phones by using the Cell ID and a special formula that google developed to pinpoint your location within a certain amount of distance. Nothing says it uses other peoples GPS signals. In fact it says "This approximation is anonymous, as Google does not gather any personally identifiable information or associate any location data with personally identifiable information as part of the My Location feature."
All in all I think you are misreading and need to look over your data again.
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Regardless of above, and you may be correct and I may be wrong, but the thread is getting distracted from the main subject. My main issue is this: Why is the GPS reporting me in the wrong location, and even MOVING which is weird. It was pretty obvious to me from what I saw that the Google Maps software in my phone was reading someone else's location data from someone else's GPS. I could see the person move through the streets and speed up and slow down. This makes me wonder if my locatio data is being sent to Google servers somewhere and then back to the phone (and in some cases crossed over with another persons data). This feels especially more true because Google MAPS has slowed down dramatically from finding "My Location" compared to "pre RC30" upgrade and even compared to the GPS-Chop-Free WING and even my ancient car's GPS system.
Have you talked to Google about this? I think you are just speculating what you want and have a hidden agenda. Did it locate you within so many feet? or was it a real location? If it was a real location than it couldn't be Google as it only pulls the map the actual lat, long is coming straight from the sats... possibly it pulled the wrong location for that tower while using A-GPS and then this calculated the wrong GPS coordinates.
Since you don't know what or how A-GPS works this may be hard to understand. A-GPS works by using that method you described for non-GPS cellphones to narrow the search for satalites. This doesn't find your location it only finds the vicinity. You can see the A part of A-GPS work when it says your location within so many meters. This is what works on your wing. The actual pinpoint location is based only off the GPS and isn't sent to google. Google only needs the map coordinates to download. Your GPS is what tracks you on the map. This is why google maps always load in blocks.
To fully understand a map system you must learn how maps work and be educated in the art of cairegraphy
I think the real concern is that brooklynite was seeing himself moving through traffic while he was actually stationary. I can understand that perhaps the GPS got the wrong co-ords and the incorrect map was loaded showing him in another location, but you would still expect him to be shown stationary in the wrong location. So why would it show him moving when he was stationary?
The fact that he was moving on the map means the data must have been coming from another device doesn't it? How else could you explain it?
I would be concerned too.
neoobs said:
.... Did it locate you within so many feet? or was it a real location?...
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A real location about 50 miles away from my location. Somewhere I have never been since I have had this phone so it cannot be using the old data in my phone as sometimes it shows my locations from "last night".
...possibly it pulled the wrong location for that tower while using A-GPS and then this calculated the wrong GPS coordinates...
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I always have the "use wireless networks" off, afterall, the GPS chip is one of the main reasons I switched to the G1 from my older WING.
....
I have to add that I am amazed by the GPS accuracy, it even notices when I cross the stree, turn into a driveway or the side of the street I am standing on. When I switch to Sat. view, it literally shows my exact spot on the sidewalk, not in the middle of the street like a car GPS does.
Probably getting too far off topic but car GPS units are just as accurate, it's just that most of them have a correction feature to fudge your position onto the nearest road on the map if for some reason it is not. For the most part a driver doesn't care where he is on the road in relation to the curb....only that he is on the road he thinks he should be on.
I was thinking about buying the CoPilot 8 GPS software for my T-Mobile USA TP2 but was wondering will CoPilot function when I'm out of T-mobile's coverage area (for example up in the mountains with no phone service?)??
Yes it will. That is the Internal GPS function. What your thinking is the aGPS which is GPS base on the Cell Phone Towers. Google maps uses the aGPS. The Internal GPS function will work as long as you can see the sky. So it won't work in tunnels or under bridges/overpasses.
Be aware that the CoPilot does not include some Live services like Fuel Prices or Local Search. That is Premium Live services which is an additional $20. It also does not say street names like avertise on the feature list.
I've requested a refund on mine due to those features not being included.. It's been 3days and still no word from customer service.
The main difference with CoPilot is that all the map data is downloaded and saved to your device (usually on an SD card and takes up about 1GB of space). Google maps, TeleNav, etc download the map data as you need it for only the area you are in, so those solutions need the phone to have a Data connection, CoPilot does not.
The GPS service needs not phone data connection. That data is received by the GPS receiver built into the phone from satellites maintained by the United Stated government.
For AT&T does using GPS cost money? From my understanding it only uses data to download maps but retrieving my coordinates is free. Do I understand correctly or have I been misled? (I do not remember where I read that.)
Also if it is true, then is there any GPS program that I can use that I can just download a map of a single city to my phone. That way I can just use Wifi at home to retrieve the map, then I can use it in my city for free.
Thirdly, assuming it true. Apps that tell me how fast I am going and how far I have traveled, would they cost me money. I think not because all they use is my coordinates, right?
GPS is free of charge, because it uses a satellite and no internet service.
There are a bunch of navigation softwares out there, but as far as I know, they all cost money. I, for example, use TomTom Navigator in Germany. You can buy it for around $100 with a detailed map of Germany and major roads of western europe. You can also purchase extra maps, for other countries. Dont know if you can buy a single city or state with at TomTom USA.
TomTom tells you how fast you are going at the moment you are using it. But there are a range of Tracking Apps, that can monitor the distance you do (Like TrackME). There is one program (forgot the name), that tracks your location like every 5 minutes and safes the coordinates in a format "Google Earth" is capable to read. So you can import the date and import it into Google Earth and then see the route you took.
If you have GPS in your phone, coordinates comes from satellites and is free. This is the signal that most of the non-map GPS apps use, so indeed free.
However, Assisted-GPS, which helps your GPS finding a signal faster, downloads a few kilobytes from the network, so costs very little, but is not free.
Maps are different. If you want it for active routing, you either need to buy and preload (TomTom, Garmin, and the likes), or you need an online service (Google) and you will need to pay data traffic for that
If you want the maps just for reference, not for active routing, and preload them at home, than there are a few nice programs, this one is very nice for the non-demanding user
Why does the edge symbol say its connected?
Don-Carlo said:
GPS is free of charge, because it uses a satellite and no internet service.
There are a bunch of navigation softwares out there, but as far as I know, they all cost money. I, for example, use TomTom Navigator in Germany. You can buy it for around $100 with a detailed map of Germany and major roads of western europe. You can also purchase extra maps, for other countries. Dont know if you can buy a single city or state with at TomTom USA.
TomTom tells you how fast you are going at the moment you are using it. But there are a range of Tracking Apps, that can monitor the distance you do (Like TrackME). There is one program (forgot the name), that tracks your location like every 5 minutes and safes the coordinates in a format "Google Earth" is capable to read. So you can import the date and import it into Google Earth and then see the route you took.
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The E will pop up while the phone asks the network for the co-ordinates of the local masts your are connected to. This can happen not just to get the original lock and your postition but if you are indoors it will stay on untill it picks up enough sats to navigate on its own.
Can I tell it to use Wifi for that instead of the Edge network? Will it only need to use this once?
anarchyuk said:
The E will pop up while the phone asks the network for the co-ordinates of the local masts your are connected to. This can happen not just to get the original lock and your postition but if you are indoors it will stay on untill it picks up enough sats to navigate on its own.
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Click to collapse
If you are that worried about data connections, just disable AGPS. You can do that with Advanced Config tools 3.3. And/Or disable the data connections themselves, so *no* program can use data, also possible with Adv Cfg 3.3, but easier with Modaco NoData. Search the board for these utilities.
After disabling AGPS, you can still use QuickGPS when connected to WiFi to pre-download satellite positions, otherwise getting a fix takes several minutes. Search the forum for more info, all of your questions have been asked and answered before.
Thank you very much. I did search, however I must not have used the right keywords as I could only find programs that used GPS.
cybermaus said:
If you are that worried about data connections, just disable AGPS. You can do that with Advanced Config tools 3.3. And/Or disable the data connections themselves, so *no* program can use data, also possible with Adv Cfg 3.3, but easier with Modaco NoData. Search the board for these utilities.
After disabling AGPS, you can still use QuickGPS when connected to WiFi to pre-download satellite positions, otherwise getting a fix takes several minutes. Search the forum for more info, all of your questions have been asked and answered before.
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Yesterday, our dog ran off in the woods. She was OK, but she got too far then couldn't find us, and the puppy kicked in and she started running..
They have GPS dog collars, but they either require a (fairly large) monthly fee, or, like the Garmin ones, are $600+. I only want one to snap on her collar when we go in the woods, so that if she does run off again or ever get hurt, I can find her.
BUT: I want to track it on my phone (since it's with me all the time and I get service everywhere). Is there such a device?
I would be interested in this, too.
Me too, but for my girlfriend ;-)
She calls me serveral times per week lost so I bought her a Garmin for Xmas but she is techno-challenged. Ok she is not the sharpest tool in the shed but she is the sweetest ;-)
No such thing as a terrestrial GPS transmitter for public use.
Our phones, Garmin and TomTom, et al, devices, are GPS receivers.
The geosynchronous GPS satellites are the transmitters.
The mobile units, such as Garmins and our phones, listen for data streams from multiple satellites (that is why the more satellites "seen", the more accurate your location) and cell towers (in the case of smarphones). All these transmitters, which are pre-programmed with their location information, are saying "this is me and this is where I am". The reciever takes this information and calculates the mobile unit's location relative to the transmitters. Since the transmitters are telling the world where they are and the receiver has figured out where it is relative to them it can conclude "this is where I am".
The reason the "trackers" require a subscription is that, once the mobile unit figures out its location based upon its calculations from the satellite data streams, it sends its location to the service which makes it available to the subscriber.
I don't know what dedicated doggy trackers cost, but several cellphones are available from providers with a service like this. ATT has FamilyMap
https://familymap.wireless.att.com/finder-att-family/howWorks.htm
Verizon has Family Locator
http://support.vzw.com/clc/features/data_services/family_locator.html
and you have your imagination.