Database Users

USA phones? GPS and 911

I was watching the idiot box the other day and it indicated that due to the 911 phone issue and requirement, all mobile phones were required to be able to be located to an address when calling 911, and thus all phones were required to have GPS unit installed, is this correct?
If that is so, are these phones illegal in the US as they dont have one, or do they have one and we dont know about it?

In the UK it is possible to track a mobile phone, and is done with 999 call in certain circumstances a number of ways. But I don't believe they use GPS in any of them yet. the main way is to tri-anglated (spelt sommit like that!) where the signal came from, which pin-points it to a faily small, but not perfect, radius.
The US are normally slightly more advanced with that sort of thing, but probably use a similar system.

Sorry, I just read your post again, the located to an address might be what we in UK do as a Subscriber Check, which is how we locate the owners of mobile phones in the police in UK. It can only be done in certain circumstances again, due to human rights, data protections, etc etc. But does not locate where the phone is when the signal was made, instead informs us who owns and registered the phone, and to what address.
Great if the phone is a contract phone.... But with PAYG it's not always that simple... you can pick these up anywhere now, and some people don't bother registering them...

When you use your mobile phone it can usually communicate with more than 1 base station & pick the nearest, it will also identify which transmitter on the base station has the strongest signal. You may also move between base stations as signal strength varies.
This information along with the amount of time to send & receive a signal can be used to identify the location of the mobile.
If the mobile can only see 1 base station it can be used to identify the location of the mobile in relation to the base station along with the distance.
If it can see 2 or more base stations it can be used to triangulate location.
Hope this helps.
Mike

Operators are required to upgrade their networks to support E911 service and have (I seem to remember) until November 2006 to complete said upgrade. There is presently no provision requiring individual handsets to provide GPS coordinates - or any other location-indicating function. There are several initiatives being explored that, if they come to fruition, would require location-reporting functions to be an integral part of new handsets.

Many of the dumb phones (Motorola etc) do already have some kind of GPS receiver, mostly AGPS (Assisted GPS) where the mobile network provides time, ephemeris and almanach, and the receiver only needs to listen to the sat time.
But only the HP iPAQ 6515 and 6915 have a similar chip at the moment, other smartphones or Pocket PC phones (like the Universal) don't have it. With all the hype around LBS it won't take long, maybe two or three generations of devices, until this is standard anyhow.
The E911 compliance has been delayed over and over again, and will be delayed through november. To cite the late Douglas Adams "I like deadlines, especially the swooshing sound they make when they pass by."

Navizon (fake GPS)

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.

Does Universal Have build in GPS Chip?

Well, was talking to a friend earlier, and she told me government started to ask phone companies to put in GPS chips into cell phones and 99% phones after 2005 have GPS chip build in, so when we call 911, the government can know where we are... at first I though it's not possible, because if is it so, then there won't be phones that actually said "Build in GPS" ? so she said the phone companies just want to earn more$... and yeah I knew how cheap a GPS chips are nowadays... anyway even I though it was a joke or something, I look into it more, and GPS chips build into a cell phone by factory, required by law, seems to be true...
Read it on few other web page saying "Cell phone companies didn't originally want to put GPS receivers into cell phones. But several years ago, the Federal Communications Commission required them to come up with a way to locate their customers for rescue workers and 911 calls."
and "There is a small GPS unit built into the phone, This unit uses the GPS system to determine you location. When you call the cellular 911 operator this information is sent to the 911 system. Below is an Excerpt from the Nov 19th 2005 Milwaukee Journal that dedscribes the system and it's limitations.
Even in counties that will be able to locate cell phone callers to 911, a variety of factors, including the location of wireless towers, tall buildings, bad weather and even sunspots, can affect the system's accuracy, said Richard Tuma, director of emergency preparedness for Waukesha County, the first county in the state to implement the technology.
Two technologies, which work together in most areas, are used to notify 911 call centers of the location of cell phone callers.
One uses global positioning system technology, in which GPS-equipped phones receive satellite signals and relay the location coordinates to the 911 center receiving the call.
The other technology uses three cell towers to "triangulate" the coordinates of the 911 caller.
The GPS system is more accurate, Tuma said, and is capable of locating a caller within 50 meters (about 165 feet) 67% of the time. The triangulation technology can locate a caller within 150 meters 67% of the time, he said. Those standards have been mandated by the Federal Communications Commission.
But each system has its flaws, Tuma said.
To get an accurate GPS location, a caller needs to have a properly equipped cell phone and be standing outside. Being inside any structure, to some degree even a car, can skew the coordinates being picked up from the satellites, he said.
"The GPS system needs a line of sight to the satellites," he said.
Cloudy, rainy and snowy weather also can interfere with both technologies, and nearby tall buildings can throw off the triangulation system, Tuma said."
And I also see this software mologogo can unlock some of the GPS in phones in order to use it as a tracking device...
But since the Universal is made in the middle of 2005, it doesn't have the hidden GPS build in Chip, right?
Thanks

I think the triangulation method is more common for locating callers. The Uni doesn't have built in GPS, if it did they'd certainly advertise it as an additional feature!

Bad news for you - your parents fooled you when they told you Santa is bringing the gifts on xmas.
Don't believe in anything what's written in the web.

there is a slot but no radio rom
Hi SOG,
the Universal hardware has a slot free were you could solder in a GPS chip. The missing chip is a RFR6250. This builds up the GPS backend for MSM6250 chipset.
But there will be no chance to use it, even with the chip soldered.
What is missing, is an ugly hacked radio rom to access the hardware in a proper way.
Regards
Highc

I see! thanks for all the input guys~ I am gonna try to install trackme and see how it goes with my Universal and BT GPS

I use Google Maps
on a few devices. Universal is the only one that does not provide the current location, reads 'feature is unavailable for your device' or something along those lines. So current location has to be entered manually if one wants to get directions to and fro.

enigma1nz said:
on a few devices. Universal is the only one that does not provide the current location, reads 'feature is unavailable for your device' or something along those lines. So current location has to be entered manually if one wants to get directions to and fro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no problem with google maps and my GPS (although I have sto set manually)

I have no complaints with my gps. I have tomtom. I only need to start my tomtom software and take out my gps device out of my glovebox and press on. They connect automaticly with each other (eg turning on bt and connecting). Im only using gps in my car. So really i maybe only waste 10 seconds out of my life with my jasjar not having gps...

GPS.....A-GPS SCAM?? The gps drama sequel....

****************************************************************
"EDIT" UPDATE (7 oct. 2010)
Well you dont need to go actually much further then this first post!
Things got out of context over here, furthermore I decided to give
my external gps receiver a break and run some more tests with
the internal one of my SGS.
And the results I got were much better than any
other phone I tested before. Except the ones with a build-in SirfstarIII chipset.
If you have Gps issues,Just move on to this thread:
2nd edit (20 Oct, 2010): That thread was removed without any warning or explanation so I posted the videos in another thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=8903056#post8903056
END EDIT
RCinFLA said:
Like to share my experience as cellphone chipset designer and my dealing with various parties involved with GPS in phones.
Many of the issues are caused by business interests involved and there are quite a few parties plying to control location based services revenue stream.
SUPL, secure user plane protocol AGPS was created by network operators interest in mine, with the objective of putting them in the controlling position when it comes to extracting revenue from location based applications on their network.
Control plane AGPS is a general system where network operator independent entities can create a assist server along with possible services offering. They can encrypt their access to allow only subcribed (paying) users to access their service. The network operators has little control over this scheme.
With SUPL, in most cases, network operators outsource the location server function. Network operator hold location of their cell tower, as a total database, in close confidence. The network tower locations are also very dynamic over time. I believe the AGPS contractors don't get reliable and timely updates from the network operators.
Then there are third party business like 'Skyhook' which is trying to work around the network operator roadblocks by establishing a 'ponzi scheme' server database. If your phone has a good GPS location lock and detects a WiFi network, Skyhook's background app will have your phone send a message to their server reporting the SSID of the WiFi and its location. They then sell their server AGPS service to other companies, like Motorola, for inclusion in their phone software. Motorola may run into conflict with network operators. A network operator might refuse to buy a Motorola phone model with Skyhook installed on it. I noticed from the Captivate forum that the ATT version of Galaxy S has Skyhook capability.
Google is the 900 pound gorilla and is trying to wrestle control of location based services from network operators.
Finally there are the GPS chip manufacturers. Almost all of them have an AGPS server scheme of their own and try to promote it. The frontend processing (up to recovery of raw 50 bps satellite data) has unique hardware and firmware that are considered proprietary by the GPS chip manufacturer. In most cases a phone manufacturers like Samsung or Motorola are not allowed to have the software source code for this firmware or information on the actual interface protocol to the GPS chip. They are given a bundled binary file that the phone manufacturer software just dumps to the GPS chip at startup.
It is now up to the phone manufacturer to implement the GPS chip and antenna systems (along with WiFI, Bluetooth, Near Field Comm, and multi-band cellular) and provide software interfaces and drivers necessary to run the GPS function.
For size and cost reasons most recent GPS chips rely on the main application processor within the phone to actually do the GPS fix calculations. The software for this is provided by the GPS chip supplier but it must be coordinated with the particular applications processor chip used by the phone. It must share processing time slicing with the apps processor and work with operating system software resources such as RAM and ROM management running on the phone.
This is the first obsticle as most of the GPS chip suppliers have little expertise in the OS's that may be used (like Android or Symbian). The phone manufacturer usually has to provide help to create and debug the GPS driver software but the drivers are responsible/owned by the GPS chip supplier. There can be unique hardware/software interfaces that must be dealt with, like providing GPS TCXO calibration and cellular corrected frequency timebase to the GPS chip.
Then there is the OS's GPS interface. There can be translation software layers involved here. One such interface is based on GPS NMEA protocol but with additional hooks for things unique to phone operation like battery saver power strobing, and the complicated Secure User Plane or Control plane interface.
The AGPS system design landscape is litered with intellectual properties (patents) by many parties. Qualcomm is a dominate player here since their aquistion of SnapTrak company years ago. Royalties are paid to Qualcomm for every WCDMA phone sold, not only in AGPS area, but on basic CDMA patents used in a UMTS (Wideband CDMA) phones.
Now as to Samsung Galaxy S implementation of Broadcom GPS.
I think there is a lot of evidence that Samsung had early issues with the GPS antenna contact hardware. This has probably been corrected on recently manufactured phones.
I think the firmware supplied by Broadcom has the bandwidth of the correlators tighted down to provide greater sensitivity. This is great as long as there is a very good AGPS system to provide initial satellite ephemeris data. Without a good AGPS network providing satellite information the initial search and lock can take a very long time with narrow bandwidth frequency bins.
I have not seen evidence with my experience that my two Vibrants are receiving any reliable AGPS information from the T-Mobile network. They do seem to get rough Almanac satellite info from Google or other third party apps. These may be based on WiFi detection more then T-Mobile cell tower locations.
In LBStest I noticed that GPS Operational Mode has been set to 'Standalone'. I interpret this to mean AGPS is deactived. I don't see any difference when I switch to MS based assist, and clear the GPS saved memory to prevent it from prejudicing time to first fix lock test. Switching SUPL server to supl.google.com and port 7276 (with MS based operational setting) just seems to make my phone lockup for short periods of time.
Once phone does get full lock on satellites its performance is quite good. (my two Vibrant's were purchased in early Feb 2011). It rivals my Garmin SiRFstar III based GPS unit in locked on sensitivity while inside a building.
I think the AGPS system issues will get worked out over time.
The Qualcomm based CDMA2000 systems (like Verizon) will likely have better initial coordination on AGPS system operation. CDMA2000 also provides network timebase directly compatible with GPS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
*******************************************************************
All this nagging about GPS.....that it is not working in many devices and it's working in other many.....and of course I am talking about those ones who still would go for ONLINE gps navigation.....
In my humble opinion, what you guys should be asking yourselfs and the big corporations is, why nowadays, 99% of the smartphones(so not just sgs), even the most expensive ones are build with weak, less capable internal gps receivers, forcing users to go online(celular network /a-gps) or using external bluetooth gps receivers to get stable satellite fixes that means stable navigation.
Years ago, many of the first smartphones came with sirfstar chipsets or alike , so once again, why not now? That's the question that should not be ignored or forgotten.
A friend of mine, that would not dare to pay more than a 100 box for a phone, bought an ancient ETEN device on a sale for 40 box with that old windows mobile 5 and guess what...the internal gps get fast fixes just like any standalone gps device because it got the same sirfstarIII chipset
Why the heck, the expensive so called high-end smartphones of today are not build with better gps chipsets? Why A-gps? So we are forced to get data accounts?
And what happens when I want to navigate abroad? Roaming?
For data transfer and internet I use wifi; I have it at home and I find hotspots everywhere...I will save those extra 120 euros(or more) per year (data account costs)
And nobody will force me to get one(internet/data account); not even for gps navigation that I so much use..
I use gps navigation only offline, using a external bluetooth device on a daily basis and, many times abroad; it works like a charm on my SGS; and I am talking about serious GPS car navigation software like iGo, Sygic, Navigon etc. .
Don't even use Google maps or alike.
I cannot tell you how my sgs is doing on online navigation, I dont have a data account so I wont even try it.
But once Samsung get this online gps navigation thing fixed, you guys should concentrate your energy on the real issue:
The A-gps scam
And for all the corporations out there: Just deliver a device with a capable gps chipset and you will sell millions..
And for all the users out there: Just get a good compact external bluetooth gps receiver and stop nagging....
Thanks to 3rd party developers, the Android OS on my SGS can be "fooled" and I can connect any navigation software to my bluetooth gps receiver threw programs like Bluetooth Gps Mouse Unlimited and Gps Provider.
I do have to " allow mock locations" at settings first...
« »

¿Ein? You don need data to get GPS fix, A-GPS is only an aid to get faster fixes
I thtink you're a littel misinformed

LOL.. o boy.. the AGPS is to help say if your indoors so you can get a faster lock... the phone will work without it.

Ummm I can see why you would think what you think, but I do believe you are wrong.
Firstly: as far as I'm aware, the SGS has the same GPS chip as the latest TomTom standalone unit.
Secondly: I guess AGPS is a data feature, it uses the triangulation of cell towers and pulls information to assist a sat lock, but it is not really a different way of using GPS. Ultimately you still need to get a sat lock to use a GPS App.
So it may speed up this lock, but it won't replace it. It just means it'll take you a little longer to get a sat lock than without it.
So you have the choice use it or don;t use it, no-one is forcing you to use data.
Logicalstep

Oletros said:
¿Ein? You don need data to get GPS fix, A-GPS is only an aid to get faster fixes
I thtink you're a littel misinformed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol those online translators dont work that smoothly...
I don't need a data/internet account to use celular networks aid, that means a-gps.That mean going online via 3g or 2g...
But IF I don.t have a data/internet account added to my phone subscription, my phone costs will be much higher depending on my use....
You are missing the point anyway...

betoNL said:
Lol those online translators dont work that smoothly...
I don't need a data/internet account to use celular networks aid, that means a-gps.That mean going online via 3g or 2g...
But IF I don.t have a data/internet account added to my phone subscription, my phone costs will be much higher depending on my use....
You are missing the point anyway...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you're missing the point, you don't need any kind of data connection to use GPS, you can use it offline

Exactly...already the first line of Wikipedia says it: "Assisted GPS, generally abbreviated as A-GPS, is a system which can improve the startup performance of a GPS satellite-based positioning system."
There is, however, a related issue w/r/t A-GPS and a data account. Back on WinMo, I could download the ephemeris data to speed up the GPS fix for one week in advance (I think it was called QuickGPS or something on my HTC TouchHD, also had sth. like it on an old Eten). This allowed you to get a quick fix for said week, even without a data connection. Android, on the other hand, seems to download this data on the fly - meaning that if you don't have a data account you will experience a slow fix until your almanac has been filled "naturally" by the satellites you're seeing. I experienced that while on vacation this year without a roaming data contract - it took me a good 3-5 minutes to get the first fix and it was good from there on (well, as good as the SGS GPS gets ). I'd love to have some tool that does exactly what QuickGPS did, but I am not aware of anything like it.

TriC_101 said:
LOL.. o boy.. the AGPS is to help say if your indoors so you can get a faster lock... the phone will work without it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have always smile in my face when someone thinks he can get a lock indoors..
Yes in a cartoon box you can. Not in real building I'm afraid.
And for all those who think SGS's GPS is usable without A.
Try it.
You will see.
Dont post things you just caught on wikipedia.

xan said:
I have always smile in my face when someone thinks he can get a lock indoors..
Yes in a cartoon box you can. Not in real building I'm afraid.
And for all those who think SGS's GPS is usable without A.
Try it.
You will see.
Dont post things you just caught on wikipedia.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can get a lock on 6-7 Sat no problem inside.... and so can lots of others.. don't know what your doing wrong but its not hard to get a lock inside.

Pics or it didnt happen

seems you all are little misinformed as to how the gps on android specifically sgs works. It is actually three systems at work here. Gps standalone without gprs and cell triangulation which gets lock within a minute same as standalone bluetooth units (they also take up to a minute from cold boot but because generally it is plugged in the car lighter and always on people think its blazing fast).then you have agps that downloads preloads data regarding satellite location in regards to your position via network instead of downloading same data directly from satellite thereby saving time. Both these can be used without checking network location in settings so to recap if your network location is unchecked you are still using agps as long as you have network connection (data connection that is).and samsungs system for agps being better than others cause it downloads data for while week as opposed to others downloading data everyone gps is turned on. Third level is network triangulation via cell towers that gets you that instant lock at the cost of accuracy useful mainly to let apps get your general location without having to engage real gps thereby saving power as well as give maps a chance to start calculating route while gps is still getting lock therefore appearing to operate faster.

Idan73 said:
Gps standalone without gprs and cell triangulation which gets lock within a minute same as standalone bluetooth units (they also take up to a minute from cold boot but because generally it is plugged in the car lighter and always on people think its blazing fast)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Standalone gps's got their batterys, and thus they start "warm".
Thing is, standalone SRIF3/4 gps gets a warm lock without any AGPS nor network triangulation within 5-10 seconds. SGS (and bunch of top-of-the pack devices) cant come even close to that.

the GPS on the SGS works fine offline
i don't even have data on when going on long road trips
you just need an offline GPS software with maps, like CoPilot or some other one you like

xan said:
Standalone gps's got their batterys, and thus they start "warm".
Thing is, standalone SRIF3/4 gps gets a warm lock without any AGPS nor network triangulation within 5-10 seconds. SGS (and bunch of top-of-the pack devices) cant come even close to that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure they do. Sgs warm lock is 5 to 10 seconds as well. To test get the lock first then turn of data and network lock then start gps.restart of the phone same as restart of the standalone counts as a cold boot and takes about minute.

xan said:
Pics or it didnt happen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here ya go.... I don't have to prove anything just look on youtube.. This is the phone on for just 10sec.. if I had waited it would get down to about 10 feet... this pic was taken in a room where I get the lowest signal. and I live in a Condo with 2 foot concrete walls.. I don't have a digital camera.. this was taken with my old Samsung dumb phone.. but it does prove you can get a lock inside no problem.. also if i'm in a house I can get 6-7 sats to lock in the condo 5 at the most in that room.

only 3 sats and maybe the walls are thin

Polarfuchs said:
only 3 sats and maybe the walls are thin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL Trust me the walls and not thin.. i'm on the 10th floor of a 25 floor Condo complex. I get alot more signal is a house.. Now my X10 can get about 7 Sats locked in the same room. and down to 5 feet. but the point was you can get a lock inside..

I'll try it.
I live in a 3 stories house at ground floor. The shutters are down and I'm 1 meter away from the windows.
After 3 Minutes I get 5 sats in view but none used.
I'll hang on.

Even after 10 Minutes I only have 5 satellites in View and zero in Use.
So no fix for me.
The numbers on top of the bars are from 15 to 25.

Logicalstep said:
Ummm I can see why you would think what you think, but I do believe you are wrong.
Firstly: as far as I'm aware, the SGS has the same GPS chip as the latest TomTom standalone unit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of Tomtom devices got a SiRFstarIII™ GPS chipset
If the GS got such one the amount of GPS threads in this Forum would be reduced considerably
What is your awareness based on?
Oletros said:
No, you're missing the point, you don't need any kind of data connection to use GPS, you can use it offline
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Idan73 said:
seems you all are little misinformed as to how the gps on android specifically sgs works. It is actually three systems at work here. Gps standalone without gprs and cell triangulation which gets lock within a minute same as standalone bluetooth units (they also take up to a minute from cold boot but because generally it is plugged in the car lighter and always on people think its blazing fast).then you have agps that downloads preloads data regarding satellite location in regards to your position via network instead of downloading same data directly from satellite thereby saving time. Both these can be used without checking network location in settings so to recap if your network location is unchecked you are still using agps as long as you have network connection (data connection that is).and samsungs system for agps being better than others cause it downloads data for while week as opposed to others downloading data everyone gps is turned on. Third level is network triangulation via cell towers that gets you that instant lock at the cost of accuracy useful mainly to let apps get your general location without having to engage real gps thereby saving power as well as give maps a chance to start calculating route while gps is still getting lock therefore appearing to operate faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL... Lets put things in perspective :
1) Wich car navigation software do you use
2) when you UNcheck wireless networks =a-gps(in location and security) and you CHECk "use GPS satellites = build-in gps receiver and then you go outside, you start your car navigation software in you gs( taking into consideration that you have the righ map installed) how long does it take to get a fix so you can start driving?
3) Do you know the difference between a cold and warm start? Why the heck some of you mention car lighters????
Please just answer me these 3 questions and meanwhile I will post some educative information

[Q] GPS without network, in planes. how ?

I wonder if it is possible to use my GPS without my mobile connection. I like to use GPS in the airplane with an offline navigation.
Whenever I turn off my mobile connection of my HTC DESIRE, the GPS gets lost too . Is there a way?

What application are you using for your GPS? Most apps pull the actual maps from the internet and don't store them internally which might be the reason you can't use your GPS when your network is off. I guess if you could find an app that has the reference to the maps locally and install the maps locally (about 1GB for the US) then you shouldn't have a problem.
http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f12/offline-gps-maps-20226/
Some discussion on the thread above regarding your topic. Many people have posted about it. Not sure what's out there.

it's first bcoz it can't download the maps from the net.
But even without this, if you're using GPS Essentials or GPSTest for example -apps which only display the GPS stats- you'll notice it doesn't work either. And this is because the chips in s-phones are A-GPS chips, which need an internet connection to download precalculated data about satellites approx. positions, almanach data, etc etc. This helps the chip in getting a GPS lock faster, but makes it internet-dependant (the data is valid for 6 days, provided you don't change location by more than 50 miles or so. But usually the device tries to download fresh data each time the GPS is 'cold-started' -first start after a reboot or some prolonged inactivity period- and falls back to the old data if there's no connection. Past 6 days, the data is flagged as 'deprecated' and isn't used anymore whatever the case may be)..
At first only a handful of smartphone makers implemented those chips because they're cheaper to produce and take less space (most of the calculations for determining the user's position is done by the CPU, the A-GPS chip mostly only collects the data, filters it and forwards it), but then some american government agency (can't remember if it was the one regulating automotive transportation or some other though) made it mandatory for all devices sold in the US, to help paramedics and other rescue services in locating injured car-drivers quicker and more efficiently (the theory behind being that an A-GPS chip equipped device demands less interaction from the user to start up the GPS function and get an accurate fix on the position. An A-GPS chip is *supposed* to be able to get a lock and fix all by itself once the GPS is started, so that'd be only a movement of the thumb for the injured person to launch a distress call -provided he/she is able to grab the phone, of course...). But they were a bit shortsighted -as usual, if I may say- in that if the driver 'choses' to crash in a remote location where there's no 2G/3G/4G carrier coverage, he's pretty much screwed anyways, unless he resorts to the good old voice-comm'..
And of course since the US is one of the main phone markets in the world, the same phones are winding up all over the world by now.

thanks for all replies.
it actually worked well in FLIGHT MODE. I used to pre-cache some maps which is possible since the new google maps update.
worked like charm

yea but this is because you got a HTC phone.. They're typically embarking better A-GPS chips than the norm (Qualcomm-made, for the most part).
They're better than the SirfStarIV I have in my SGS2 for example, not by their precision (which is roughly the same and even a bit superior for the SirfStarIv) but by their lock-on times and the quality of their reception (which relies a lot on the built-in antenna which seems to be better by HTC).
With my HTC Desire "S" I was often able to get a lock-on even within a building (=with no clear overview of the sky), just by standing near a window... With the Galaxy S2 I have to extend my arm as far out the window as I can to be able to lock a puny 4-5 sats... :/