GPS on iPhone is very inaccurate

daveyjoe

I'm not sure what the story is, it used to be far more accurate. I put it down to cloud cover but it's a clear day today and it's still quite a bit off. I often throw my iPhone on the bed or the couch, could that upset the GPS? ... 3GS by the way!

TanG411

When you're indoors it's harder for the gps to make an accurate reading.

Try standing outside.

Purple Gorilla

To be fair, even outside the GPS is fairly inaccurate! That's why the TomTom iPhone dock has a GPS chip built into it because the iPhone GPS isn't as good.

Jay P

On my new iPod touch, I've never been able to make the Google Maps recieve a signal. I've even tried outside. Anyone care to help?

chrislad

There's no GPS in the iPod Touch which is why you get no signal.

AdrianII

yeap its only the iphone that has gps unless your on wireless (but then it would pull the data from your router)

irish1967

Have to admit that when i use the maps function on my iPhone 3G it tells me I am about half a mile away from where I actually am.

Having said that however i tried out the Navigon GPS yesterday and i was pleasantly surprised by how accurate it was. It was within a few feet of being exact.

culabula

When I am in the north, my GPS is as accurate as accurate can be.

As soon as I go to Cork, Limerick, Galway or Dublin it always tells me I'm on the Carlow/Kilkenny border.

irish1967

culabula wrote: »

When I am in the north, my GPS is as accurate as accurate can be.

As soon as I go to Cork, Limerick, Galway or Dublin it always tells me I'm on the Carlow/Kilkenny border.

Good point. I was a few hundred yards from the border for a lot of my trip

Mellor

chrislad wrote: »

There's no GPS in the iPod Touch which is why you get no signal.

true, but he didn't mention GPS nd its not what he was refering too.

Jay P wrote: »

On my new iPod touch, I've never been able to make the Google Maps recieve a signal. I've even tried outside. Anyone care to help?

Google maps on the touch locates you via your router, not satelite. Going outside would make the signal worse.
For some reason, most wifi spots in the republic don't show up (this includes public and domestic ones). apparently there is a way to add them to a global database that makes them show up, but its a router by router basis which is painstaking.
However, I've found that in other countires most are locatable. Which is handy if you are new to a city

oeb

Mellor wrote: »

true, but he didn't mention GPS nd its not what he was refering too.


Google maps on the touch locates you via your router, not satelite. Going outside would make the signal worse.
For some reason, most wifi spots in the republic don't show up (this includes public and domestic ones). apparently there is a way to add them to a global database that makes them show up, but its a router by router basis which is painstaking.
However, I've found that in other countires most are locatable. Which is handy if you are new to a city

Routers do not have GPS chips built into them either. It works like this as far as I know.

They keep a database of access points.
Using the signal of where you are, relitive to the signal of nearby access points (Especially how it changes as you move) it can calculate rough gps coordinates.

It will obviously not be relevant in any are that does not have the access points survayed.

http://www.skyhookwireless.com/howitworks/wps.php


Edit : Main device is 3gs, always pinpoint accuracy when outside, can be off by up to a couple of km when inside.

bertie4evr

I'm on the 3G S and I always get perfect GPS results.I'm from Kilkenny and no matter where I am I can get a signal.

Owen

Likewise, in Cork, with a 3gs, running Navigon, and no issues with GPS at all.

Rob_l

daveyjoe wrote: »

I'm not sure what the story is, it used to be far more accurate. I put it down to cloud cover but it's a clear day today and it's still quite a bit off. I often throw my iPhone on the bed or the couch, could that upset the GPS? ... 3GS by the way!

I have found with my original 3g iphone that the GPS has no problem locating me perfectly obviously when it uses cell masts instead of GPS it can be quite erratic on how close it can locate me to be expected really. So

Are your location Services turned off?

Mellor

oeb wrote: »

Routers do not have GPS chips built into them either. It works like this as far as I know.

They keep a database of access points.
Using the signal of where you are, relitive to the signal of nearby access points (Especially how it changes as you move) it can calculate rough gps coordinates.

It will obviously not be relevant in any are that does not have the access points survayed.

http://www.skyhookwireless.com/howitworks/wps.php


Edit : Main device is 3gs, always pinpoint accuracy when outside, can be off by up to a couple of km when inside.

I never said routers have GPS???
In fact, I clearly said that the touch is located via the router and not satelite.

Lord Nikon

As a taxi driver, Google Maps is a godsend to me. Has got me out of a lot of housing estates with no one to ask for directions.

oeb

Mellor wrote: »

I never said routers have GPS???
In fact, I clearly said that the touch is located via the router and not satelite.

And I was just explaining why they don't show up

Chardee MacDennis

culabula wrote: »

When I am in the north, my GPS is as accurate as accurate can be.

As soon as I go to Cork, Limerick, Galway or Dublin it always tells me I'm on the Carlow/Kilkenny border.

it was bang on for me in london, accurate to a couple of meters. In dublin it can be out by a lot for some reason!

di2772

Very accurate for me.