Database Users

(Help) Google Maps My Location and Vogue

So Google is currently offering a beta version of the GPS Emulation software in the latest Google maps. My problem is that I can't get it to work with my Sprint Touch (Vogue), I keep getting a "Your location is currently unavailable" message. A co-worker of mine is able to get the My Location feature to work on his Blackberry. I was wondering if sprint is blocking this part of the software. Any insight into this issue would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Edit: Yeah sorry my location is Chicago, IL and my carrier is Sprint. Apparently it works on the regular touch so maybe a different ROM would fix it. According to Google the reason My location isn't working is because "The device is not reporting a cell". Now I haven't got a clue what that means, so if someone more knowledgeable has any idea any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jack Everyman said:
So Google is currently offering a beta version of the GPS Emulation software in the latest Google maps. My problem is that I can't get it to work with my Sprint Touch (Vogue), I keep getting a "Your location is currently unavailable" message. A co-worker of mine is able to get the My Location feature to work on his Blackberry. I was wondering if sprint is blocking this part of the software. Any insight into this issue would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hasn't worked for me either in the Baltimore <-> DC area. I'm assuming Sprint is blocking it.
If you do get it working report your general area and cell provider.

The GPS feature of the Sprint Touch has not been activated yet, offcially.
Unless I am misunderstanding your questions... It won't work until GPS is turned on...

Insoc said:
The GPS feature of the Sprint Touch has not been activated yet, offcially.
Unless I am misunderstanding your questions... It won't work until GPS is turned on...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This services uses Cell Tower Triangulation when GPS is not available...SO it should still work

As well sprint does list the Touch as one of the phones that works with their Family Locator software. So...

I was wrong...
http://informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/11/google_talks_up.html
Sorry, I was wrong about the GPS comment...

I'm on Bell in Canada, the GPS locating didn't work for me but I did get an automated call from Bell the other day welcoming me to their service, the message also mentioned that my "phone has a global positioning chip that will help locate you in a case of emergency"
So we need to figure out how to unlock GPS. I heard Sprint will be providing an update that unlocks it sometime soon, but that doesn't help me

I have a Htc Touch with Telus, and because GPS is disable for now, I was able to configure a External gps receiver with Google Maps mobile. Works very good.

Google Maps
The locator in Google maps doesnt have anything to do with GPS. I have sprint with the touch in Utah and mine doesnt work either.

The google maps locator is based on cellphone tower triangulation and it seems to be not compatible with sprint at this time. I 'think' microsoft is working on this with sprint for live search too ... someone in livesearch told me the other day "I can't tell you what we're working on but we've got more new things coming (for livesearch)" when I mentioned it.

..cont
It's a nifty idea and free but it's not all that accurate... like a few blocks to a mile or more.
I don't know about you but when I'm in my car I can usually tell you where I am within a mile or so without the help of a satellite or other electronic devices.

If the live search rumor is true that is great, but my interest in this is not to know where I am, but to know what is around me.

I don't this this technology will work with Sprint or Verizon because of the way CDMA works. Maybe in the future but not now.

Here's the article that said it was coming on Live Search/Sprint
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/09/18/sprint-microsoft-roll-out-location-based-live-search/
Sprint, Microsoft roll out location-based Live Search
Posted Sep 18th 2007 12:02PM by Donald Melanson
Filed under: Software, Sprint
It looks like Sprint users now have a few more search options at their disposal, with the carrier and Microsoft announcing today that Live Search will now automatically take the users' location into consideration. Apparently, the service makes use of cell-tower triangulation, and not GPS, to determine the users location, making it somewhat less accurate but far more widely available. What's more, the pair also announced a new voice search feature that'll work with five of Sprint's high end phones, including the Samsung a900 and a920, the Motorola Razr, the Sanyo 840 and the LG 550. As you can probably guess, it will let you speak search terms instead of typing them in, with it also giving you the option to press a button to call the business you're searching for. While Sprint is getting all Microsoft's attention at the moment, the company is quick to point out that the service is not exclusive, and "could become available via other operators in the future."

...more
note reference to GPS and 2008 update
https://shopbiz.sprint.com/popup_product2.php?phone_id=MP6900SP&bundleID=2256
http://www.wmexperts.com/articles/rumors/sprint_to_finally_switch_on_gp.html

I'm on Bell Mobility in Ottawa, Canada (Village of Carp) and "Your current location is temporarily unavailable" shows up for me too. I have the Vogue and blazing 1 Mbps speed. I'm opening up Google Maps every time I go out and hit 0 trying to get the towers more input. What is the word on Bell and Google Maps, am I doing this for nothing? Greater Ottawa has a population of 1 million, is Canada's capital and, therefore, should be a large dot! Mind you, best we stay hidden from nukes I guess....
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I am in the GHBOA - Greater Hamilton, Burlington, Oakville Area (anyone who lives here will think that’s funny) and also on Bell Mobility and I am getting the same “Your current location is temporarily unavailable” message.
I double-checked to make sure that my location service was turned on. My understanding from what I have read is that Google Maps will:
A) Use true GPS if present and show a blue dot to represent approximate location.
B) Fall back to tower triangulation if GPS is not available and show a blue dot with a light blue “halo” around it to represent approximate location.
On top of that I think we have also established in another tread on this board that the Vogue does indeed have a true GPS receiver inside but we are waiting in a firmware upgrade to enable it. In the meantime however the approximate location service using tower triangulation should work.
Perhaps GSM and CDMA networks report tower triangulation information differently and perhaps Google Maps only knows how to use the GSM info??? I have no idea if that makes sense but we CDMA folks do seem to get the short end of the stick a lot

I have a crazy idea that I want to “air” here and see what others think. Could it be that the Google Maps “My Location” feature doesn’t work on the Vogue because the Vogue has a real GPS receiver that is currently disabled?
I am thinking this because I did the following:
Start > Settings > System > External GPS > Access
There I disabled the “Manage GPS automatically”. This feature apparently gives Windows control of the GPS receiver and Windows marshals which programs can access it.
I then reset Google Maps and tried “Menu > Use GPS”. This resulted in “Initializing GPS” for a few minutes after which I got a message saying my GPS receiver wasn’t responding.
However I then went back into Start > Settings > System > External GPS > Access and re-enabled the “Manage GPS automatically” feature. I then went back into Google Maps (after resetting it again) and tried “Menu > Use GPS”. This time it resulted in a “Seeking GPS satellites (0)” message that never seemed to stop and never reported an error message.
So, my thinking is that perhaps Google Maps knows there is a physical GPS receiver in the Vogue and is trying to talk to it indefinitely and as a result is not falling back to tower-triangulation mode. Because the GPS is present but not enabled in the firmware Google Maps knows it is there but isn’t getting the appropriate response that would cause it to give up on GPS and switch to “tower” mode.
Just a thought... Does this sound reasonable to anyone?

That's exactly what I observed and thought as well, but people tell me I need more cell users to use GMaps for tower input. I'm beginning to think that's not the case, too many other reports of "unavailable" in highly populated areas. The Vogue just CAN'T do it on Bell CDMA. Has there been ANY positive reports with this box and CDMA? Nope...

touchbell said:
That's exactly what I observed and thought as well, but people tell me I need more cell users to use GMaps for tower input. I'm beginning to think that's not the case, too many other reports of "unavailable" in highly populated areas. The Vogue just CAN'T do it on Bell CDMA. Has there been ANY positive reports with this box and CDMA? Nope...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think we may just have to wait for that firmware upgrade that’s supposed to enable EVDO Rev A as well as the GPS.
At least this confirms that Google Maps behavior is modified by the GPS settings in Windows. It apparently “thinks” it is talking to a GPS receiver when you enable it on the Windows side. Assuming my theory is right maybe Google will come up with an update that lets the user specify to use tower-triangulation all the time regardless of the presence of a GPS or not.

doubts about gpsOne chipset

Hi
I have read about htc p3600 gpsOne chipset but I don't understand if it's a stand-alone or assisted gps......What's the difference??? Is assisted gps an implementation of a gps or is it less accurate than a classic stand-alone one???
Thanks for all suggestions you can give me !!!!
Sorry.... for me it's the first time with gps......

murdock75 said:
Hi
I have read about htc p3600 gpsOne chipset but I don't understand if it's a stand-alone or assisted gps......What's the difference??? Is assisted gps an implementation of a gps or is it less accurate than a classic stand-alone one???
Thanks for all suggestions you can give me !!!!
Sorry.... for me it's the first time with gps......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stand alone gps is about positioning by satellites.
Assisted gps means that (IF network operator supports it) your device will triangulate you by the cell of the operator in which you are.
No worries, Trinity has them both, gps in this device works flawless.

thanks
Thanks a lot for your rapid and perfect summary......

Actually, assisted GPS has nothing to do with operator support.
See here for more details.

inkanyamba said:
Actually, assisted GPS has nothing to do with operator support.
See here for more details.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, it has everything to do with operator support.
A-GPS is a network service. When using A-GPS, your mobile device receives useful satellite information from an assistance data server over the cellular network, which your operator might have or might not have.
A-GPS uses 3G and 2G cellular network connection and GPRS AND EGPRS packet data connection. You must also have an internet access point defined in your compatible mobile device.
So, bottom line, A-GPS is a network dependant feature that requires a data plan.
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Also: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=1136451&postcount=19
Do some research!
Cheers!

I reckon that I was a lil' bit terse in my previous post.
So, let's detail:
A-GPS depends on an assistance server, that is true. However, the server is completely independent and unrelated of and to the network operator. See below for more.
A-GPS requires packet data connectivity, that is true. However, it does not require any special properties on that connection. In other words, if you have internet connectivity on your device, that should suffice.
The operator can or cannot offer internet services, that is true. In that view, you might say that A-GPS is dependent of the network operator. However, the data plan is sufficient to have A-GPS working, there are no special restrictions on that.
Fact: I have a Nokia N95, which has A-GPS. My operator does not, in any way, advertise and or offer A-GPS service(s). However, simply having internet access on my device (and it being capable of A-GPS) is sufficient to get A-GPS working. The assistance server is, in this case, provided by Nokia, completely unrelated to my operator or its services. If you read Nokia's documents on getting A-GPS working, you'll find that it says exactly what I'm saying: A-GPS is not a network / operator service, the single requirement is to have internet connectivity on your device.
Hope I made things clearer this time.

inkanyamba said:
I reckon that I was a lil' bit terse in my previous post.
So, let's detail:
A-GPS depends on an assistance server, that is true. However, the server is completely independent and unrelated of and to the network operator. See below for more.
A-GPS requires packet data connectivity, that is true. However, it does not require any special properties on that connection. In other words, if you have internet connectivity on your device, that should suffice.
The operator can or cannot offer internet services, that is true. In that view, you might say that A-GPS is dependent of the network operator. However, the data plan is sufficient to have A-GPS working, there are no special restrictions on that.
Fact: I have a Nokia N95, which has A-GPS. My operator does not, in any way, advertise and or offer A-GPS service(s). However, simply having internet access on my device (and it being capable of A-GPS) is sufficient to get A-GPS working. The assistance server is, in this case, provided by Nokia, completely unrelated to my operator or its services. If you read Nokia's documents on getting A-GPS working, you'll find that it says exactly what I'm saying: A-GPS is not a network / operator service, the single requirement is to have internet connectivity on your device.
Hope I made things clearer this time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...and the assisted server, which is not of your carrier's (so operator does not support A-GPS) must have it's cell tower data topography from somewhere. In this case operators might choose to or not to support this.
Let's see what others think about this.
Rest my case!

Assisted GPS is not uniquely dependent on cell tower topography. It can, for instance, help the GPS chip receive ephemerisis and or almanac data much quicker than it would do from the GPS satellites. Also, it can lessen the load on the CPU / GPS combo by offloading some intensive calculations to the assistance server. More so, the assistance server can have detailed knowledge of ionospheric conditions and GPS satellites' orbits so it can correlate fragmentary GPS data from the device's chip with that, in that it could quicker acquire a lock.
What I'm trying to say is that your only argument (so far) that A-GPS require cell tower topograhy (which, in some way, is dependent on the network operator) doesn't hold. Think about it this way: a device employing A-GPS (and keep in mind that A-GPS is not absolutely required for a lock) gets a fix, without using A-GPS. By the nature of the GSM network, it has access to its cell tower(s) ID(s). It then sends the cell tower ID and its position to the assistance server. In this way, the assisstance server can, in time, build a pretty reliable topography of the network.
So, no, it is not a network operator dependent service.

inkanyamba said:
Assisted GPS is not uniquely dependent on cell tower topography. It can, for instance, help the GPS chip receive ephemerisis and or almanac data much quicker than it would do from the GPS satellites. Also, it can lessen the load on the CPU / GPS combo by offloading some intensive calculations to the assistance server. More so, the assistance server can have detailed knowledge of ionospheric conditions and GPS satellites' orbits so it can correlate fragmentary GPS data from the device's chip with that, in that it could quicker acquire a lock.
What I'm trying to say is that your only argument (so far) that A-GPS require cell tower topograhy (which, in some way, is dependent on the network operator) doesn't hold. Think about it this way: a device employing A-GPS (and keep in mind that A-GPS is not absolutely required for a lock) gets a fix, without using A-GPS. By the nature of the GSM network, it has access to its cell tower(s) ID(s). It then sends the cell tower ID and its position to the assistance server. In this way, the assisstance server can, in time, build a pretty reliable topography of the network.
So, no, it is not a network operator dependent service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said, let's see some other opinions too.

Sure, I never said I knew everything.
But I'm 99% sure that Nokia has no agreement with my operator regarding A-GPS (I have inside sources), still A-GPS is working in my setup and it's working pretty damn good.

Here's another one :
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=291474

Nice.
In regard to message #2: I sure am in Europe and I for sure have been using A-GPS for some time.

inkanyamba said:
Nice.
In regard to message #2: I sure am in Europe and I for sure have been using A-GPS for some time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not saying you don't. Nokia's software may be working, but it might have information from other sources, not SMLC. I am referring to other sources as maybe Cell Broadcast/Cell Info (as in Busola Vodafone) messages or operator code readings.
We can go like this forever, let's wait and see what others have to say about this.
Cheers!

inkanyamba said:
Sure, I never said I knew everything.
But I'm 99% sure that Nokia has no agreement with my operator regarding A-GPS (I have inside sources), still A-GPS is working in my setup and it's working pretty damn good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't know what's in nokia's marketing department - but technically, Nokia's "A-GPS" is not real "A-GPS". It's a "Quick GPS" implementation (in HTC's terms). But that said, it has the obvious advantage of operator independence.
Nokia's A-GPS servers distribute satellite data, as with HTC's Quick GPS servers, so that the slow GPS would supposedly get a very quick hot fix.

I see.
Well, I'll dig a lil' bit more on this subject.

inkanyamba said:
Sure, I never said I knew everything.
But I'm 99% sure that Nokia has no agreement with my operator regarding A-GPS (I have inside sources), still A-GPS is working in my setup and it's working pretty damn good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is happening _I THINK_ is that Nokia is in a way reverse-engineering A-GPS the same way Google does with Google Maps.
When you are in GPS coverage and use navigation your phone is capturing both GPS coordinates and your GSM/UMTS cell information, creating a match between the two and saving it somewhere on a Nokia server.
Next time another user (or yourself) turns on the navigation program the cell-id information is transmitted immediately to the Nokia server which returns the necessary GPS information to avoid a cold start.
Basically the operator is by-passed but a mapping of cell-ids and geographical information is built anyway.
Technically this is not A-GPS but it serves the same purpose.

anonimo said:
What is happening _I THINK_ is that Nokia is in a way reverse-engineering A-GPS the same way Google does with Google Maps.
When you are in GPS coverage and use navigation your phone is capturing both GPS coordinates and your GSM/UMTS cell information, creating a match between the two and saving it somewhere on a Nokia server.
Next time another user (or yourself) turns on the navigation program the cell-id information is transmitted immediately to the Nokia server which returns the necessary GPS information to avoid a cold start.
Basically the operator is by-passed but a mapping of cell-ids and geographical information is built anyway.
Technically this is not A-GPS but it serves the same purpose.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't own a Nokia, but I only heard people saying the fix is much faster using Nokia's "A-GPS". If it's really triangulate on CellID, then the fix would have great deal of error like few miles off the actual location. You may want to listen to what others said about using gmap with CellID only.
And even if it uses CellID, Nokia users have to contribute to such CellID data in the first place. So at least the early adopters would experience "slow" gps fixes - because no prior data was available. Apparently, they fixes were fast.
I would still say that this is a Quick GPS implementation using external satellite data from Nokia server.

Main issue!
So, Guys, the main issue: is A-GPS a network service or is it network independent?

ww2250 said:
I don't own a Nokia, but I only heard people saying the fix is much faster using Nokia's "A-GPS". If it's really triangulate on CellID, then the fix would have great deal of error like few miles off the actual location. You may want to listen to what others said about using gmap with CellID only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I said is that CellID is only used to avoid a cold start. I know that positioning based only on CellID would not be very accurate.
However mine was only a speculation. I have no idea of how Nokia has actually implemented this QuickGPS thing.

Sorry to drag this a bit off topic but the thread seems to have the attention of some experts!
I am running a trinity with wm6 al3x 3.1.2 and 1.50.08.11 radio.
When I use gps software will it automatically use assisted GPS to reduce TTF?
Apologies again for the hijack!

how does gps work on da phone

oi guys ive had a look at a few of those suggested threads about gps and yeah nah they dont really answer my question so feel free to link me to a thread if it answers my question
ok so, what the go.. the phone has gps.. but it doesnt work like a gps device eg navman, tomtom etc.. or does it? i've tried stock froyo and cyanogenmod using that google car app and then going to navigation, but it just keeps searching for a signal for ever. i dont want to use data cause it costs money and defeats the purpose of having a gps.. that is if the phone gps actually works like a gps device. if not then thats pretty bad advertising. anyways let me know, cheers

Mine gets connected to satelites on few seconds,performs as good as my Tom Tom does,i am using Navigon app&maps.

the latest google maps has offline support so you wouldnt need data...

what??! thats rediculous! i left mine in that navigation mode where it was looking for navigation or something like that and the gps symbol was flashing for like 15 min straight as i drove to work and nothing! is it meant to take that long?
EDIT: ok i opened up maps with wifi and it went through all that first time use crap. and so it was using wifi and gps it looked like and that was working. but then when i disabled wifi none of the maps load. only the maps that i had previously loaded while on wifi. wtf? arent maps installed..????????? therefore it should just load them.. what the #%^% im starting to get really pissed off with how stupid this design is. the maps are there, cause theyre installed, and the gps is there so.............. what the ^%#* is its problem?

your right it will only save maps you have browsed while on wifi...i believe there is a setting that overrides this though...

nolook said:
your right it will only save maps you have browsed while on wifi...i believe there is a setting that overrides this though...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do you know where this setting is? oh and i got the gps to work ie i got it to find me and all that. i did some reading and with gps on most phones the first time they connect it takes a while cause its gotta do all this satellite scanning and then eventually it goes yep ok hes in this part of the country, lets set him up with these satellites and so from then on it connects with gps a lot faster

First of all: the design is just great, you are the stupid.
How GPS work on dah phone ? well just like any other GPS: it receives signal from a few satellites around and it find your position based on the time laps between the reception of each signal (signal come with a time sync).
Now, how WELL does the Legend's GPS work ? as good as any other GPS: very nice in a car or outdoor, but very badly indoor and if it was unable to find your position for 15 minute I'm pretty sure you were indoor (or maybe outdoor in a big city).
Also on smartphone's GPS the data connection can help the GPS itself by downloading some data which will speed up the localisation by satellite, but this is not mandatory and if you're not connected you will end up being positionned. It will only take a few minutes (less than 15)
Finally about the navigation system (which is a bit different of GPS itself) Google's is fairly different than other software because it doesn't come with maps but it download them as you need them:
pros:
-maps are always up to date
-you don't have to waste 2Gb or more on your microSD to store them
-it's free !
cons:
-requires data connection (unlimited download recommanded)
If you prefer usual navigation software, feel free to use co-pilot or navigon or tomtom or any of the other regular software. But you'll have to pay (or crack) them.

Nashan said:
First of all: the design is just great, you are the stupid.
How GPS work on dah phone ? well just like any other GPS: it receives signal from a few satellites around and it find your position based on the time laps between the reception of each signal (signal come with a time sync).
Now, how WELL does the Legend's GPS work ? as good as any other GPS: very nice in a car or outdoor, but very badly indoor and if it was unable to find your position for 15 minute I'm pretty sure you were indoor (or maybe outdoor in a big city).
Also on smartphone's GPS the data connection can help the GPS itself by downloading some data which will speed up the localisation by satellite, but this is not mandatory and if you're not connected you will end up being positionned. It will only take a few minutes (less than 15)
Finally about the navigation system (which is a bit different of GPS itself) Google's is fairly different than other software because it doesn't come with maps but it download them as you need them:
pros:
-maps are always up to date
-you don't have to waste 2Gb or more on your microSD to store them
-it's free !
cons:
-requires data connection (unlimited download recommanded)
If you prefer usual navigation software, feel free to use co-pilot or navigon or tomtom or any of the other regular software. But you'll have to pay (or crack) them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
whoa whoa whoa hang on now. lets not go throwing the word stupid around especially if you didnt even understand what i meant or you assumed i didnt know how gps works in the first place.
my general question was that it wasnt connecting to gps and the maps werent showing so im thinking you need data for the maps to show even though you have the maps installed, and secondly im thinking something is wrong with my gps or maybe it doesnt work like a normal device navman, tomtom etc because its been half an hour and still no connectivity. then i answered my own question as usual via the internet from other forums i found using google which explained what i said above.
basically with normal gps devices they are already setup with a region.. thingy or whatever it is built into the gps device. this means the first time you connect its actually quite quick because it already has an idea where you are in the world. however with phones, they apparently dont have this so the process of connecting for the first time can range from 3 min, instantly or up to 3 hours like numerous people claimed it had taken for their phones. as for mine it took just over half an hour and now it works fine.
the only question left over now is apparently you can get the maps to show without a data connection through some option change in the settings as someone mentioned a bit earlier.
dont go throwing stupid around mate or assuming anything cause now who looks stupid. besides the design is quite silly since none of this was explained. when they say the phone has gps people (like me) generally go oh wow like those car gps' and expect them to work like that. so when they dont we become a bit skeptical and i was right to do so because look at all this crap ^^^that ive discovered. anyways like i said theres still one stupid thing left about all this which is why data is needed to view maps that are already installed. its like those video games that you install and require you to be on the net to play

You were the one throwing stupid at the design while you still seem to misunderstand how google nav (quit calling it GPS please) works.
Maps are not completely loaded, they're only stored in the cache and that's true only for one scale, and around one place. You can hardly use that to explore the map offline not even mentionning navigating.
The new feature only allow google nav to keep guiding you if you lose connection for a little while. But you can't really use it offline.
I think that design is just awesome, although I have an unlimited data connection. If you don't have that kind of service you should take a look at usual GPS softwares.
And I'm not assuming anything, you asked "how GPS works" not "how google nav works"

Nashan said:
You were the one throwing stupid at the design while you still seem to misunderstand how google nav (quit calling it GPS please) works.
Maps are not completely loaded, they're only stored in the cache and that's true only for one scale, and around one place. You can hardly use that to explore the map offline not even mentionning navigating.
The new feature only allow google nav to keep guiding you if you lose connection for a little while. But you can't really use it offline.
I think that design is just awesome, although I have an unlimited data connection. If you don't have that kind of service you should take a look at usual GPS softwares.
And I'm not assuming anything, you asked "how GPS works" not "how google nav works"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ugh forget it, i already answered my own question and now you're just being picky and all technical when no one really cares. i think 99% get what i mean so i dont care

GPS is working great. Google Maps is the "problem", more precisely not a real problem but the way it was designed. Unlike other GPS navigation software, the maps are not stored locally but in a cache. The latest version seems to have an offline mode but I didn't tested so I can't say if it's totally offline or not. If you want navigation without using your data connection or WiFi, switch to TomTom, iGO, or similar instead.
That's why Google Maps has only couple of MB and iGO for ex. has over 2 GB with all maps loaded...the difference is the space occupied by the maps.
P.S. And yes, first GPS lock is acquired a little bit later.

Rapier said:
GPS is working great. Google Maps is the "problem", more precisely not a real problem but the way it was designed. Unlike other GPS navigation software, the maps are not stored locally but in a cache. The latest version seems to have an offline mode but I didn't tested so I can't say if it's totally offline or not. If you want navigation without using your data connection or WiFi, switch to TomTom, iGO, or similar instead.
That's why Google Maps has only couple of MB and iGO for ex. has over 2 GB with all maps loaded...the difference is the space occupied by the maps.
P.S. And yes, first GPS lock is acquired a little bit later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you. that clears it all up
now to that other guy, wouldnt it have been easier to just say that ^

I use Igo for my offline nav. It works just like a tom tom. For my geocaching needs, I use geobeagle.
Sent from my HTC Legend using XDA App

Searching for GPS

I bought my Tab from craigslist, brand new, never opened. I didn't want T-Mobile service because I can just tether my 3G through my EVO. Can anyone tell me if I need T-Mobile in order to use GPS? Every time I turn on my GPS and Google Navigation, it's always saying "Searching for GPS."

No, you don't need T-Mobile service to use GPS. It takes long time to lock to satellites if you don't have adequate level of GPS signal (cloud, inside building...)

This happened to me....
Instead of going into the Blue arrow, I started IN Google Maps, got directions for somewhere and then through the menu selected Navigate. It was weird, I almost returned my tab, no help from CSR. This seemed to "jumpstart" the process and now it works everytime.

no working
will mine is not working it keeps on checking navigation availability display and iam out side and not near any towers and the sky is clear

CyberGhos said:
No, you don't need T-Mobile service to use GPS. It takes long time to lock to satellites if you don't have adequate level of GPS signal (cloud, inside building...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct me if I am wrong but the Tab does not have full sat GPS only A-GPS which triangulates using communication towers. Not only is this less accurate but if your out of phone signal range then your GPS does not work.
This is why I can't understand why there are car docks for the Tab and no mention of the restrictions. I for one spend time in National Parks and remote areas so the Tab as a GPS device is next to useless to me.

siejones said:
Correct me if I am wrong....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay,
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
And no, I don't have a SIM in my device.

mjduke said:
Okay,
And no, I don't have a SIM in my device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like I said I hope I am wrong but you don't need a sim to get a signal.
I have seen GPS sat info as well but presumed it was being simulated via net.
When I first researched the tab I found many sites claiming the tab had no dedicated GPS chip but instead used 3g chips agps capabilities.
Unfortunately it seems there is no system info or sensor info apparently that will give you this info. At least not one I have found.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App

The Samsung Galaxy Tab has a Broadcom BCM4751 standalone GPS receiver which has A-GPS (assisted GPS) capability so when a 3G connection is available it will download GPS assistance data over the high-speed cellular network decreasing the time for GPS location determination. The Broadcom BCM4751 is a very small single chip GPS receiver with a massively parallel, hardware correlator architecture to speed signal searches and very low average power consumption to suit mobile devices. It includes software optimized for cellular integration and personal navigation performance and includes sophisticated algorithms to mitigate multi-path errors.
It does have aGPS, but its to BOOST the performance of using the receiver chip alone. Helps keep it from dropping out easily.

mmathai77 said:
The Samsung Galaxy Tab has a Broadcom BCM4751 standalone GPS receiver which has A-GPS (assisted GPS) capability so when a 3G connection is available it will download GPS assistance data over the high-speed cellular network decreasing the time for GPS location determination. The Broadcom BCM4751 is a very small single chip GPS receiver with a massively parallel, hardware correlator architecture to speed signal searches and very low average power consumption to suit mobile devices. It includes software optimized for cellular integration and personal navigation performance and includes sophisticated algorithms to mitigate multi-path errors.
It does have aGPS, but its to BOOST the performance of using the receiver chip alone. Helps keep it from dropping out easily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks very much for that.
I know a-gps in many devices work along aside a dedicated chip using tower triangulation to speed up real GPS acquisition but there also many devices that claim to be GPS with no dedicated chip and are a-gps only.
It seems at the time of my research the pre-release/preview versions of the tab did not have a dedicated GPS chip. Some previews/reviews were based on this version. Apparently after a few user discussions at a later date Samsung decided to add the Broadcom chip for the official release version. Problem is these initial reviews still exist.
Anyway that is great news to me
Hope the op managed to sort his issue out.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App

Any help over here I still could not use the navigation system in my tab, the Google navigation gets stuck on searching for satellite, is there any tweek that I have to do
I'll highly appreciate any suggestion
regards
bobgaby
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App

bobgaby said:
Any help over here I still could not use the navigation system in my tab, the Google navigation gets stuck on searching for satellite, is there any tweek that I have to do
I'll highly appreciate any suggestion
regards
bobgaby
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried any GPS Apps from the market? It may not be getting a fix but is it seeing any satellites at all?
"GPS test" is free and will show you sat info.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App

bobgaby said:
Any help over here I still could not use the navigation system in my tab, the Google navigation gets stuck on searching for satellite, is there any tweek that I have to do
I'll highly appreciate any suggestion
regards
bobgaby
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What Tab do you have Sprint? DId you buy it used? Maybe the person previously screwed up the firmware and used the *ALMOST STOCK Rom from these forums to recover most of the stock firmware. This screws with the modem.bin file and renders the GPS bricked.
Nothing you can do about it now but wait till someone figures out how to extract the modem.bin file properly, or a big update gets released.

Hi, I bought my Tab new from the open market not from any carier but I do have a data plan though from Etisalat a local carier over here in Dubai, could it be the carier is blocking the service, but then that does not make any since because I also not getting the sats on the wifi (i do have powerful wifi connection I could stand out side of my house and still have connection to my wifi)
thanks siejones for the tip i downloaded GPS test from the market and this is the results
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
but still cant use Google navigation, i could try using other navigation but in UAE i am not sure which works and which not

bobgaby said:
Hi, I bought my Tab new from the open market not from any carier but I do have a data plan though from Etisalat a local carier over here in Dubai, could it be the carier is blocking the service, but then that does not make any since because I also not getting the sats on the wifi (i do have powerful wifi connection I could stand out side of my house and still have connection to my wifi)
thanks siejones for the tip i downloaded GPS test from the market and this is the results
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
but still cant use Google navigation, i could try using other navigation but in UAE i am not sure which works and which not
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it's not hardware or firmware and you can get a fix so it must be google nav. it's self.
I can only think of the simple suggestion that you try uninstalling google maps using the app manager. Then try downloading and installing it from the market place.

Google navigation
hi guys
just a question, is there a deference between google maps and google navigation?
i am asking because i got two deferent widgets on my tab and thats how it was since the beginning i searched for google navigation in the market but could not find it but i got the latest google maps ver 5.0.0
Regards
Bobgaby

The gps of the tab does suck.
I use it daily for running and cycling.
I go outside, remove the tab from the leathercase, start trackerbooster, hold it in the air, and still have to wait several minutes for a gps-lock.
In the car its almost impossible to use gps without stopping and going outside first.
Thats because it sucks.

I use the GPS for various things including turn-by-turn. Sometimes it refuses to get a proper lock though. Usually in that case, powercycling the GPS chip results in a lock within about 15-30 seconds.

bobgaby said:
hi guys
just a question, is there a deference between google maps and google navigation?
i am asking because i got two deferent widgets on my tab and thats how it was since the beginning i searched for google navigation in the market but could not find it but i got the latest google maps ver 5.0.0
Regards
Bobgaby
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think they are two seperate programs as such with nav using api's from google maps but they both are installed under Google Maps app. Both are installed via the google maps market app.
Saying that....does google maps get a fix?

schmolch said:
The gps of the tab does suck.
I use it daily for running and cycling.
I go outside, remove the tab from the leathercase, start trackerbooster, hold it in the air, and still have to wait several minutes for a gps-lock.
In the car its almost impossible to use gps without stopping and going outside first.
Thats because it sucks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All my phone/PDA devices with GPS act this way including the GPS on my Touch HD2 and the older Touch HD.
I would only expect GPS dedicated devices that have better hardware or a GPS device that allows an antenna to be connected to perform much better.

siejones said:
All my phone/PDA devices with GPS act this way including the GPS on my Touch HD2 and the older Touch HD.
I would only expect GPS dedicated devices that have better hardware or a GPS device that allows an antenna to be connected to perform much better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Nexus One will get a GPS lock in a matter of seconds, if I hold my SGT right beside it, it can take close to a full minute before it gets a lock.
Even if they can both "see" the same number of satellites (via GPS Test), the SGT generally won't get a lock until it can see at least 7 of them, whereas the N1 seems happy with 4 or 5.
The GPS on the SGT is virtually useless, it's too slow to lock and too innaccurate when it does, which is a real pity as the Navigon GPS app that it comes with is much nicer than the Google Navigation app as the maps are stored locally and the directions are more precise.
Is this a hardware issue or a software issue? Surely the hardware in the N1 isn't any better?

[Q] Does Google Navigation work on the Nexus 7?

Just a couple of simple questions.....
Does Google Navigation work on the Nexus 7?
Can you download offline maps while connected to WiFi and then use them offline with Google Navigation while driving?
Thanks

Questions go in the Q&A section

I read one of the early reviews that said it does work, it has a full gps capable chipset. I thought it was on Android Central, but I can't find the specific article at the moment.

Yes it has GPS and navigation will work. Though remember that navigation requires a data connection so you'll have to supply a wifi hotspot through your phone most likely.

Can it navigate? YES
Can it navigate offline? NO
Is it possible they could add this later? YES, but unlikely
You need data to begin navigation, you need data to reroute, you need data. Is it possible to start navigating with wifi data and drive all the way there without data? Yes, but pray you never make a wrong turn or that the device thinks it needs to reroute. You can test this on your phone by throwing your phone into airplane mode.

Only thing I would add to that:
Can you download maps for your area? Yes, 60 miles or so.
Can you look at those maps offline? Yes, just no turn-by-turn navigation that we know of.
Well a couple more comments. Garmin, Magellan, and Tomtom all seem to navigate just fine, never having a data connection.
The Nexus 7 is certainly more capable than those dedicated GPS units, so Google could do it if they wanted.
Third party Android apps may already have that capability.

Right, its 100% a software issue. The only question is whether google can stop circlejerking about "the cloud" for long enough to actually implement it. Normally I would say no, but JB brought us offline voice and offline maps, so who knows.

I really wish I would have tested this out when I had the chance. Oh, well. We will find out in the next 3-10 days. Hopefully.

It just seems that all of the items are there to do this....

bradsh1 said:
but JB brought us offline voice and offline maps, so who knows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
JB didn't bring us offline maps, it's built-in with the newest version of Maps running on most/all android devices now. I have all of Houston and DFW saved to my N1 running 2.3.6...
as others have said- i dont see why we can't have offline nav for offline maps. I think the only reason would be that google wants to incorporate their traffic data into the route calculations, but i wouldn't mind going without that so that i can use offline nav. The N7 is a very capable device, and with large sections of maps saved for offline use it would be awesome for nav.

I'm sure we'll get offline navigation eventually. offline maps was a sure start to it. but don't expect it anytime soon.
I'm pretty sure that there are other navigation maps in the market that don't require data.
but google maps navigation requires data even if you save the maps offline.
This one here on the market has offline, but requires a subscription https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sygic.aura

Tomtom and Garmin don't need data connection to navigate. It is a possibility.
MB860, CM7.2.0, Faux 026b1 1Ghz

iso1600 said:
as others have said- i dont see why we can't have offline nav for offline maps. I think the only reason would be that google wants to incorporate their traffic data into the route calculations, but i wouldn't mind going without that so that i can use offline nav. The N7 is a very capable device, and with large sections of maps saved for offline use it would be awesome for nav.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because it is probably a low priority and takes quite a bit of work to make it function correctly, especially when the whole service is set up to work ON THE CLOUD
---------- Post added at 10:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:00 PM ----------
i say on the cloud in caps because i hate the cloud and think its ridiculous

I use Sygic on my Transformer for navigation. Works great around here and in Mexico where I can't get a cell signal anywhere. Here are the maps that are currently available - http://www.sygic.com/en/android:buy-now. I have Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and all of Mexico loaded and those take up about 750MB. When I'm just running around with a cell signal I use Google on my phone. It's very different than the old days, when I had to pay about $100 a year just to keep maps updated to run off a separate gps receiver. - sheureka

the perfect woman is not expensive: she is rich
but in this case is she perfect?
she is if she brins with her a Nexus &:laugh:

Soldier-2Point0 said:
Tomtom and Garmin don't need data connection to navigate. It is a possibility.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've used CoPilot Live Premium without a data connection and it's fine.

Do any of the offline navigation apps work with Jellybean and no SD card? I've seen some reviews where some newer phones without SD storage are having issues downloading maps since it's looking for an SD card/external storage.

I don't know about JellyBean, but I have ICS on my Transformer and Sygic works great. Nothing goes to the SD card.

you could always tether the tablet to your cell.