Database Users

GPS Showing me in the wrong location

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.

Google Location Service unavailable (only with cell tower info, GPS working fine)

I've been looking through google to find posts related to the google location service, but can't really find an exact match to my problem. All the N1 users post complain that the GPS is not working fine, which is not at all my issue.
About a week ago my location service using cell tower info stopped working. I used the Desire r21 rom and switched back to Kang-o-rama 0.6 and it stopped working around the same timeframe, however I don't think it is at all related to the rom switch.
I tried wipping all the data again, in hopes it was just a messed up setting with no avail. Also turned off the cell phone radio and back on (airplane mode). Tried to switch from 3G to 2G and back.
Anyone have an idea what could be wrong. Also, I read that google's service sometimes goes down and that could be a cause, however I would have imagined that some else would have complained by now.
Thanks guys!!

There are a whole bunch of reasons this could happen, in my experience, they're usually network related. New towers, repairing towers, etc..
My "My location" service went down for approximately 3 weeks recently. Wouldn't work on any of my phones, Android or WinMo. One day it just started working again.
Currently, when I am at the office, "my location" thinks I'm somewhere hundreds of miles from where I am. I suspect someone at AT&T entered the Lat/Lon of the main tower I'm on incorrectly. When I'm elsewhere in my city (closer to another tower) "my location" places me correctly.
Edit: That reminds me.. when I'm at the office and the phone is on WiFi "my location" knows where I am and it has very good accuracy (like within a block).. I always wondered if that was a result of Google Maps mapping Mac addresses, or if they can do that with IP..

So sure enough, I checked it out in San Jose, CA today at work and it found my location within a quarter of a mile. When I got home (Hollister), the google map ticker still shows me in San Jose and when I click on "My Location" in the menu it just stays in SJ.
But here is the even odder thing. My finance has an iphone and her location service is spot on in Hollister without the GPS.
I have seen posts saying it may be an old sim card, but this one just got replaced when I upgraded to the TILT 2 a few months ago.
I guess we will just have to keep waiting until the service comes back for us.

My N1 has been doing the same thing lately. I will leave work and about 1/2 hour later when I look at Google maps, the locator service still shows me at work. I wonder if the location service has a certain polling interval.

My Location Not working

Anyone else having Problems with my location not showing weather and saying Unable to download weather... The clock will work but i have to manually put a location in to get weather on my phone.

nardone24 said:
Anyone else having Problems with my location not showing weather and saying Unable to download weather... The clock will work but i have to manually put a location in to get weather on my phone.
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are you sure you have location services turned on in settings?

same problem
im also having that problem... i made sure all the location services are activated and still nothing

No other issues with data or cell reception/connection at that time?

V1R3Z said:
im also having that problem... i made sure all the location services are activated and still nothing
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if ur on the rom that came with the device ur the problem but if u moded the rom sayin u downloaded a rom from xda or members then u need to go back to the rom thread u downloaded ur rom from and let them in that rom help u and always remember to do a search before startin a new thread

Did my research, im on stock rom location services enabled. No reception problems
But thanx anyway...

Are you connected to a PC? If so try this
On the Windows Mobile Device Center window under Settings click Connection Settings. Then uncheck Allow data connections on device when connected to PC and select The Internet for This computer is connected to. I don't recall much about activesync, but I think it has something similar.
I ran into a similar issue and this solved it.

nardone24 said:
Did my research, im on stock rom location services enabled. No reception problems
But thanx anyway...
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It doesn’t work for me either. Actually, doesn’t work in Orlando area, but if I go to other cities here in Florida it does (on 3g or not)
The only way that I can make it to work here is turning on the wifi without connecting to any wifi, then turn it off and tap “ Uptade Now” or tap "update now" while the wifi is searching for connection.

ya i called t-mobile about this yesterday there sending me a replacement phone mybe its a hardware problem

capsnikerz said:
ya i called t-mobile about this yesterday there sending me a replacement phone mybe its a hardware problem
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Mmmm, I don't think it's a hardware problem, at least for me. It does work in other areas.

@ nardone, etc....are you all able to open google maps and get any localization there (either with or without satellites)?
On the few occassions I've had problems getting "my location" to update, it was cleared up as soon as I opened gmaps and got a full lock...so you can try that, at least make sure that it's not a hardware issue.

Hey, a fellow Orlando-an! I have the exact same problem with the My Location service here. I have Orlando put in as a manual location, and it updates every couple of hours as its supposed to. But for the My Location, it hasn't updated in 3 days.
Nothing more annoying than going outside in the blinding heat and sun to look down on your phone that says you are in the middle of a thunderstorm.
It doesn't seem to be a problem with the GPS or location system, as it updates my location fine(currently in Maitland, not Orlando, which is correct). But it doesn't download the weather for this location properly. Very troubling...

Vengeance000 said:
Hey, a fellow Orlando-an! I have the exact same problem with the My Location service here. I have Orlando put in as a manual location, and it updates every couple of hours as its supposed to. But for the My Location, it hasn't updated in 3 days.
Nothing more annoying than going outside in the blinding heat and sun to look down on your phone that says you are in the middle of a thunderstorm.
It doesn't seem to be a problem with the GPS or location system, as it updates my location fine(currently in Maitland, not Orlando, which is correct). But it doesn't download the weather for this location properly. Very troubling...
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Go Magic!...
I'm not sure what's the problem. As I said it works on wifi and even when wifi is on and not connected to any network. It does work fine on Edge here in Orlando and also worked in 3G in Miami and Las Vegas.

I've been playing with it all afternoon at work(aren't they happy about that), and can't get it to update for the life of me. Tried turning on wifi, off and on HTC location service, disabling 3G, whatever I do it won't pull current weather data.
Maybe there just isn't anything to pull for Maitland, which is where I am at the moment, because the manual Orlando entry downloads fine. I wish there were a way to choose the location for my Cookie's hometab so it didn't show an incorrect thunderstorm.

Vengeance000 said:
I've been playing with it all afternoon at work(aren't they happy about that), and can't get it to update for the life of me. Tried turning on wifi, off and on HTC location service, disabling 3G, whatever I do it won't pull current weather data.
Maybe there just isn't anything to pull for Maitland, which is where I am at the moment, because the manual Orlando entry downloads fine. I wish there were a way to choose the location for my Cookie's hometab so it didn't show an incorrect thunderstorm.
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Try Oviedo! lol j/k
There's actually an app around xda somewhere that lets you add cities that aren't in manila's database by default. I don't remember the exact location or name, but it works on multiple devices so it might just be in the general section. I'll try to look for it more when I get home later but you might find someone who remembers the name before I do, or just find it through searching.

It works!
For same reason that I don't know, my location is working fine today in Orlando, on 3G, H, and wifi...

Have you tried QuickGPS?? Works beautifully!!!!!

Make sure you have a data connection turned on... If you don't, it will not update automatically to your city or weather...

Why Am I in Wilson, Oklahoma?

I'm in South Florida and when I update weather or location in maps, half of the time it will say I'm in Wilson, OK. My dad just got the MT4G and his does the same thing.
Any ideas? Thanks. (We both have 2.2.1 and latest updates on everything).

How is your location being determined? GPS? Mobile networks?

Usually mobile network, but I think its happened with GPS too. However, once I need to get directions from Google Navigate, it gets the right location. But until then, my weather is wrong, latitude will be wrong, etc.. I usually keep GPS off until I need Navigation.

That's definitely odd. Yeah, I keep my GPS off pretty much all the time - unless an app requests it on-demand. My weather is always found, perfectly. What's interesting is that it's happening on both your and your dad's phone. To me, that almost seems like the tower it's connecting to.
Shoot, it could even be a "bug" in the HTC weather app/widget that based on certain location data, it displays a completely different value (city). I'm only speculating.
If it was just your phone, I'd be inclined to say there is a hardware issue. I have had 3 MT4G's in my hands + my fiancee's and none of them have ever once experienced any issue such as this.
Possibly anything to do with the APNs (Access Point Names)? Check Settings > Wireless & networks > Mobile networks > Access Point Names. As far as I can tell, this is supposed to be set to T-Mobile Data.
Sorry I can't be of more help!

I know, weird. And we are on T-Mobile Data for the APN... Maybe it is the tower... ?

I have the SAME issue, it isn't as drastic, but everytime I try to go into "Maps" application to search for stuff in my location, it "finds" me at a place I haven't been for like a week, however... again, as soon as I use my turn by turn, it locks onto where I am and gives me legit directions...

My MyTouch 3G did that, said I was on the other side of the state. It probably has to do with the tower you're hooked into, because mine would only do it at work, not at home.

Wrong Location In Apps

Lately my phone has been showing my google results in the wrong location. For example if I search for California Pizza Kitchen instead of showing the closest ones to my location (San Fernando Valley/Los Angeles) it shows me in Moreno Valley. This is true for everything that requires location including Google Maps EXCEPT when I use the turn by turn navigation the location corrects itself in Google maps but not anywhere else. This has become extremely annoying when searching for local businesses. I know this probably isn't specific to the S5 but need some help to rectify this. Thanks in advance.

Anybody?

I know this is going to sound far fetched but do you have WeatherBug installed on your device?

c4manceph said:
I know this is going to sound far fetched but do you have WeatherBug installed on your device?
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Nope

WeatherBug was causing this issue for me and a simple uninstall /reinstall resolved the issue.
Perhaps you have a similar issue with one of your apps causing the issue.
I'd check apps that use your location as a possible culprit.

armeN0317 said:
Lately my phone has been showing my google results in the wrong location. For example if I search for California Pizza Kitchen instead of showing the closest ones to my location (San Fernando Valley/Los Angeles) it shows me in Moreno Valley. This is true for everything that requires location including Google Maps EXCEPT when I use the turn by turn navigation the location corrects itself in Google maps but not anywhere else. This has become extremely annoying when searching for local businesses. I know this probably isn't specific to the S5 but need some help to rectify this. Thanks in advance.
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Are you stock or root? Is it with the GPS on or network? Are you the google location settings on always? I had map issues on the s4, we wound up on a back road that was about 20 miles away from where we were supposed to..but I've not had issues on the s5. I'm stock, use enable gps and google location when using. Have you tried clearing the cache & data from the Gmaps app?

alright so it's also happening to my wife's note 3 on verizon and she is totally stock nothing fancy at all. Could this be a carrier issue with towers or something?

armeN0317 said:
alright so it's also happening to my wife's note 3 on verizon and she is totally stock nothing fancy at all. Could this be a carrier issue with towers or something?
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Like with what sainthooligan said, we need to know if you're using GPS or network to try and figure out what is happening. I personally havent had any problems with location. I use an app from the playstore called gpstest to keep my gps in check. You can clear and update the AGPS from the settings on that app.

warpedmind0u812 said:
Like with what sainthooligan said, we need to know if you're using GPS or network to try and figure out what is happening. I personally havent had any problems with location. I use an app from the playstore called gpstest to keep my gps in check. You can clear and update the AGPS from the settings on that app.
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its in High Accuracy mode. I don't think its a location setting since she has a completely different phone and it's happening to her too.

armeN0317 said:
its in High Accuracy mode. I don't think its a location setting since she has a completely different phone and it's happening to her too.
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Try ticking GPS only mode and see if there is a change. If there is a noticeable change then it my be a network issue.

warpedmind0u812 said:
Try ticking GPS only mode and see if there is a change. If there is a noticeable change then it my be a network issue.
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Switched it to GPS only maps works fine but google search results still show riverside/moreno valley area. Also cleared cache and data on chrome and google search app.

armeN0317 said:
Switched it to GPS only maps works fine but google search results still show riverside/moreno valley area. Also cleared cache and data on chrome and google search app.
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For "google search results" do you mean where the location is displayed from in the the browser? This is relative to the ip address of your internet connection through your ISP or carrier (see attached screen shot).
if that isn't relevant to what you noted, have you checked your location settings under Settings > Location > My places to see if you have something in there that shouldn't be for home,work or car?

So I had some more time today to troubleshoot this issue more in depth and boy you will never guess what I found. So all my chrome settings all my locations settings are correct all that stuff is good. And guys keep in mind this is happening to 3 separate devices with separate owners and gmail accounts on the same verizon plan. Turns out the Verizon Provided Samsung Range Extender was the culprit. Soon as I unplugged the range extender the correct location for searches and everything else was there. Now after power cycling the Range Extender it refused to find a GPS location. My range extender is located on a window pane and the gps united is extended to the top of the window about 8-9ft from the ground (basically as good a placement as possible). I contacted verizon and after long conversations with different reps they finally agreed the range extender is the issue. I am waiting on their technical department to give the ok for them to replace my range extender (they still seem to think its possible they may have an issue or outage with range extenders in my area and want to eliminate that from the equation before proceeding). Man I really would hate to wonder how this would have been diagnosed with someone not as technically inclined as myself and without the outlet of this forum for advise. So basically waiting on big red to OK a replacement for me and go from there. I'll update this post soon as I get to that step.