How long does your GPS take to connect?

mickoneill30

I've got an app turned on which is trying to find a GPS signal. Roughly how long should it take to find one? It's been sitting here for 15 minutes and has a pretty unobstructed view of the sky.

Inquitus

mickoneill30 wrote: »

I've got an app turned on which is trying to find a GPS signal. Roughly how long should it take to find one? It's been sitting here for 15 minutes and has a pretty unobstructed view of the sky.

Less than 30 seconds

mickoneill30

Inquitus wrote: »

Less than 30 seconds

Ah crap.

jimmycrackcorm

mickoneill30 wrote: »

I've got an app turned on which is trying to find a GPS signal. Roughly how long should it take to find one? It's been sitting here for 15 minutes and has a pretty unobstructed view of the sky.

Is your data connected? GPS will work very quickly if it can use the assisted feature which requires a data conneciton.

mickoneill30

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

Is your data connected? GPS will work very quickly if it can use the assisted feature which requires a data conneciton.

Nope. I think I'm on the most expensive data plan in the world (through work). I'll have to get that fixed.

Atomic Pineapple

try turning on your GPS manually and see how long it takes and let us know.

You may just be in an area with poor/no GPS coverage.

Brian

It depends on how far away you are from the last time you picked up GPS.

Try switching on the Wifi location function if it's not on already.

Inquitus

draffodx wrote: »

try turning on your GPS manually and see how long it takes and let us know.

You may just be in an area with poor/no GPS coverage.

GPS Satellites cover the entire world

To quote Garmin

GPS works in any weather conditions, anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day. There are no subscription fees or setup charges to use GPS.

Krusty_Clown

Inquitus wrote: »

GPS Satellites cover the entire world
To quote Garmin

GPS satellite signals cover the surface of the world, but what happens when you are beneath the surface? Tall buildings, tree/forest cover, large geographic features all prevent a clear signal.

Keith186

mickoneill30 wrote: »

I've got an app turned on which is trying to find a GPS signal. Roughly how long should it take to find one? It's been sitting here for 15 minutes and has a pretty unobstructed view of the sky.

Just checked there and it took 2 seconds in the co pilot app! Using desire by the way.

Inquitus

mickoneill30 wrote: »

It's been sitting here for 15 minutes and has a pretty unobstructed view of the sky.

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

GPS satellite signals cover the surface of the world, but what happens when you are beneath the surface? Tall buildings, tree/forest cover, large geographic features all prevent a clear signal.

Pretty unobstructed view of the sky being the key phrase there.

EasyBoy1974

I think this is a GPS vs A-GPS thing ... my desire locks in seconds - used to have a N95 with no data plan and it could take anything up to 30 mins to get a lock

On of the lads here in work got a decent (over 200 quid on amazon) in car GPS and it took about 15 mions to get a lock outside the building here ..

Atomic Pineapple

Inquitus wrote: »

GPS Satellites cover the entire world

To quote Garmin

Garmin would say that

Depending on the amount of satellites the device can connect to the coverage may be poor or too weak to provide a location.

28064212

OP, download the app 'GPS Test' from the market. In your phone's settings, turn your GPS off, then back on again, then start the app (outside obviously) and see how long it takes

mickoneill30

Thanks for the posts. I'll try it later. Ran out of battery while waiting on GPS.

ManFromAtlantis

about 30 secs to 1 min. usually.

q: do people here find that if the garmin is slightly 'out' , does it err on the side of caution.

in otherwords, a measured mile on the ground appears as say 0.99 miles?

dont think the 'mile beep' has ever gone off 'early'. i can see the reason for this but just wondering peoples exp.

mkennedy

Typically immediately.
I've found it to be very good on this device.

elderlemon

GPS needs a minimum of 3 sats to get a position. If it only gets 3 then it assumes you are are sea level but still gives you an accurate position. If it gets 4 or more then it can calculate your height (altitude). There is no location on the surface of the earth where it CANT get 3 sats in its view. Obviously buildings etc can interfere but in the open it will always get a fix. There are usually 6 sats in view at all time.

What can slow it down is if it doesn't already know your approximate position. In this case it has to scan its entire list of sats and try and find them in the sky. It also has to download the sat almanac which is embedded in the data stream from the sat. That's why it can take an age if you power up and have it find everything from scratch.



If a data connection (3g etc) is available it can get an approx position from a server using the data connection and then use this to find the corrects sats for that location.

draffodx wrote: »

Garmin would say that

Depending on the amount of satellites the device can connect to the coverage may be poor or too weak to provide a location.

mickoneill30

I left mine on out in the back garden yesterday for half an hour with the GPS icon flashing at me. I turned on the 3G internet and it was connected to WiFi also.

GPS Test was on and it said my GPS was on but it didn't find any satellite at all.

Can I safely assume that the GPS is fubard and that it's time to wander down to the shop or is there anything else I might be missing.

boc121

Have you downloaded a compass?

28064212

mickoneill30 wrote: »

I left mine on out in the back garden yesterday for half an hour with the GPS icon flashing at me. I turned on the 3G internet and it was connected to WiFi also.

GPS Test was on and it said my GPS was on but it didn't find any satellite at all.

Can I safely assume that the GPS is fubard and that it's time to wander down to the shop or is there anything else I might be missing.

Doesn't sound good. If you haven't tried it already, turn off the GPS, reboot the phone, wait for it to be fully booted, then turn on the GPS and run GPS Test again. If it still isn't even seeing any satellites, it may be completely screwed