What is the difference between VZW Location Services and Google Location Services?
Thanks,
Jeff
Not to be a smart ass but ones from VZW and ones from Google. Lol, I'm pretty sure thats the only difference.
cmlusco said:
Not to be a smart ass but ones from VZW and ones from Google. Lol, I'm pretty sure thats the only difference.
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That was fairly obvious!
Been reading up on it myself and google brought me here. Thought I may learn something new. So Far I have learned:
VZW Location Services provides location data to phone/apps via Cell Towers (Useful if indoors), GPS location data when a clear line of sight to sky is available (Will use more battery power as it is a seperate chip/component) and Google Location services uses a Wifi Network "Guesstimate" (the least accurate of all three). What it comes down to is accuracy and battery life/usage.
Go with vzw services if you want accuracy and little battery usage, however if you keep wifi on allot (or have eg Juice Defender Installed) use Google. Most of time I use Google. I am however on the paranoid side as it is. I read where a Verizon Tech stated that you can be located within 2-10seconds with that enabled. However if I were up to no good I would simply remove battery, just bothers me my phone company knows where I am. They sell that data possibly more, yet do I get a discount for that?
I only use GPS when driving.
I think you've got it a bit mixed up. There's a few ways our phones can get location information.
Think of it this way.
--- satellite GPS = Your phone connects with satellites to determine the location. It can pinpoint your location within feet if it has a good enough lock. You can still get locks indoors, and yes it does use a considerable about of battery if you use it continually. If it only turns on for about a minute just to get a single lock on your location, it really has no impact on battery. If you run it for 20-30mins+ is when you start to notice. You have the option to completely turn this off if you want. Really it's best to keep it on, because your phone will not actually turn it on and use it unless an app tells it to (like navigation).
--- WIFI GPS = Your phone can determine your location by using the WiFi the same way you can go to http://www.geoiptool.com/ on your desktop and it can get a generic idea of where you're at (usually not more specific than the city you're in). Google likes to use this because it needs some sort of location information so it can best provide searches and advertisements. This is the least accurate. This also has an option to be turned off.
--- assisted GPS or aGPS = your phone uses the network you're on (in this case, Verizon) and it can give a rough estimate by triangulating your position through nearby cell towers.
It's called assisted GPS because it actually helps the 'satellite GPS' by letting the satellites know the general area of where you're at, so it can get a lock quicker and with less battery.
Assisted GPS does not require any additional battery or wait time because your phone is already connecting with those towers just by having a signal (the more towers in your area, the smaller area it can guess you're at)
When you first start up a GPS application (or if you disable the 'satellite GPS'), you'll see a circle around a very wide area. This is what the radio tower/VZW/assisted GPS is. Then after a minute or so, it'll lock on, this is the 'satellite GPS'.
Also there is a separate chip in all phones that determines your location if you dial 911. You can not turn it off, and I'd imagine that the government could use it with reason. If this is in use there should be an icon that pops up, you've probably never seen it.
If you're worried about your location, the only thing you can do is turn off your phone or remove your battery if you're really paranoid.
All this info is to the best of my understanding.
Hope this clears it up.
POQbum said:
I think you've got it a bit mixed up. There's a few ways our phones can get location information.
Think of it this way.
--- satellite GPS = Your phone connects with satellites to determine the location. It can pinpoint your location within feet if it has a good enough lock. You can still get locks indoors, and yes it does use a considerable about of battery if you use it continually. If it only turns on for about a minute just to get a single lock on your location, it really has no impact on battery. If you run it for 20-30mins+ is when you start to notice. You have the option to completely turn this off if you want. Really it's best to keep it on, because your phone will not actually turn it on and use it unless an app tells it to (like navigation).
--- WIFI GPS = Your phone can determine your location by using the WiFi the same way you can go to on your desktop and it can get a generic idea of where you're at (usually not more specific than the city you're in). Google likes to use this because it needs some sort of location information so it can best provide searches and advertisements. This is the least accurate. This also has an option to be turned off.
--- assisted GPS or aGPS = your phone uses the network you're on (in this case, Verizon) and it can give a rough estimate by triangulating your position through nearby cell towers.
It's called assisted GPS because it actually helps the 'satellite GPS' by letting the satellites know the general area of where you're at, so it can get a lock quicker and with less battery.
Assisted GPS does not require any additional battery or wait time because your phone is already connecting with those towers just by having a signal (the more towers in your area, the smaller area it can guess you're at)
When you first start up a GPS application (or if you disable the 'satellite GPS'), you'll see a circle around a very wide area. This is what the radio tower/VZW/assisted GPS is. Then after a minute or so, it'll lock on, this is the 'satellite GPS'.
Also there is a separate chip in all phones that determines your location if you dial 911. You can not turn it off, and I'd imagine that the government could use it with reason. If this is in use there should be an icon that pops up, you've probably never seen it.
If you're worried about your location, the only thing you can do is turn off your phone or remove your battery if you're really paranoid.
All this info is to the best of my understanding.
Hope this clears it up.
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I just joined to say thanks for this. I've been searching forums for this, and could only find half the info or smart @$$ responses on other sites. I've been searching for possible bugs and battery drains ever since the ics update and the media app smoked razr maxx battery and burned my phone to the point where the back turned brown.
Related
I have seen on samsung simple phone i don't remember model... however so it has google earth and it was working by internet and was shoing my place in about 10Mtrs corency... so can we or do we have some kind of program to make that on HTS EXCALIBUR?????? i have tried google earth for smartphones but anyways it's requesting GPS device...
It is possible to triangulate your location to a certain (horrible) accuracy using Cell Towers in your area. I believe there are actually programs that do it (I have used one). The best accuracy i have ever gotten was within 150 Meters, standing still. That is the second down-fall..you can't use triangulation efficiently when moving (if at all...)
So unfortunately, there is not real good way to do this. For decent results, you would want a GPS.
It is possible to triangulate your location to a certain (horrible) accuracy using Cell Towers in your area. I believe there are actually programs that do it (I have used one). The best accuracy i have ever gotten was within 150 Meters, standing still. That is the second down-fall..you can't use triangulation efficiently when moving (if at all...)
So unfortunately, there is not real good way to do this. For decent results, you would want a GPS.
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I used Google Latitude which uses some sort of cell tower triangulations on my DASH and it works out pretty well. I was able to get within 80 meters and if you actually look at the Google map that is in the Latitude, my position is actually spot on.
My Google Maps Street View puts me within 50 meters.
Now is this using a DATA Connection? (I noticed the title said GPRS). That could make the difference. Whenever I tested out a program like that, i would be using little to no data connection, but if there is a greater stream of data being transferred, that may affect the response (or make it easier for the phone to identify the closest 3 towers)...
xXx
so what kn of settings I must give in GOOGLE LATITUDE that it shows me my place by GPRS? i pushing on MY LOCATION but program is saing that my location is unavalibe... I live in armenia can it be areason of error?
Virtual GPS
There is a program by Kamlex called Virtual GPS. There is a free version and a pro version. It uses no internet access and gets your location through the cell towers.
When using Google Maps, just set your gps com port to which ever port the VirtualGPS is using (usuallly 3) and it will locate you to the nearest tower. I will post the program here.
The gps is not very good atleast it is not working very well in my phone.
I tried using cardio trainer. And the gps jumps about. Plus the gps signal shown is very low can anyone put their phone gps through the paces and then tell me should I ask for a replacement or its in all phones
Mines fine.
Mine works fine, GPS is actually pretty good as navigation tells you the road names..!
Dopedangel said:
The gps is not very good atleast it is not working very well in my phone.
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Can you clarify if you're talking about hardware or software?
And did you compare GS with other GPS at the very same time and place?
I too am seeing poor performance with the GPS. Seems to be a hardware issue.
I did a test over the weekend comparing my Galaxy S with a friend's HTC Desire. Using one of the many GPS utilities the Desire was consistently seeing and locking more satellites when stood in an open area outside. When running Google maps and showing the current location I found that the "accuracy circle" (for want of a better description) was growing and shrinking several times a minute causing the map to zoom in and out.
I've also noticed that the compass is almost unusable and showing a much lower signal compared to the Desire. I did perform the figure of 8 calibration several times.
Not tried the GPS yet, but I'm amazed how accurate network location is on this thing.
On my old G1 network location was laughable, but this thing knows pretty much exactly where it is without GPS.
MarvinTheAndroid said:
Not tried the GPS yet, but I'm amazed how accurate network location is on this thing.
On my old G1 network location was laughable, but this thing knows pretty much exactly where it is without GPS.
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probably having wifi on? google can locate you more precise cause it has registered every wifi network during the streetview picture taking.
tommy34 said:
probably having wifi on? google can locate you more precise cause it has registered every wifi network during the streetview picture taking.
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No, this is with wifi turned off.
tommy34 said:
probably having wifi on? google can locate you more precise cause it has registered every wifi network during the streetview picture taking.
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Lol what kind of anti-google propaganda have you been reading?
Google streetview cars collected data of open wifi networks.
Besides from the fact that google doesn't use the data (which it isn't allowed to have), there are by far not enough open wifi networks to find your location.
Also. You have to have at least 3 networks to be able to determine a location using wifi access points.
So the statement you just made is rubbish and ofcourse nonsense...
BasieP said:
Lol what kind of anti-google propaganda have you been reading?
Google streetview cars collected data of open wifi networks.
Besides from the fact that google doesn't use the data (which it isn't allowed to have), there are by far not enough open wifi networks to find your location.
Also. You have to have at least 3 networks to be able to determine a location using wifi access points.
So the statement you just made is rubbish and ofcourse nonsense...
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i dont care about it, i like it.
hmm. just figured this because where i live there arent any open networks and with wifi on it knows my exact location. Without wifi it has a 1600 m radius.
The GPS seems to work flawlessly for me at least.
BasieP said:
Google streetview cars collected data of open wifi networks. Besides from the fact that google doesn't use the data (which it isn't allowed to have), there are by far not enough open wifi networks to find your location.
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Click to collapse
Google collected the SSID and MAC addresses for all of the wifi networks they found, with the explicit intention of using them as an additional source of location data. They also inadvertently collected more data from open networks, and that's what they're in trouble for.
googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/wifi-data-collection-update.html
yes and the new google navigation api in the i9000 and android appears to use this data as the damn thing turns on your wifi even when off when gps tries to get a fix!
lgkahn said:
yes and the new google navigation api in the i9000 and android appears to use this data as the damn thing turns on your wifi even when off when gps tries to get a fix!
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you can disable it in location settings then it wont look for wireless data
Dopedangel said:
you can disable it in location settings then it wont look for wireless data
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Click to collapse
nope it is disabled and try to get a gps fix.. wifi still comes on and then goes off.. not sure what it is doing.
I got mine and tested.
In the beginning I had a perfect fix on location. When I started moving, however, I experienced this "jumping around" issue with a huge loss of accuracy. The circle of accuracy was also changing constantly. I think I show something about the wifi seeing (or not being able to see - can't remember) some hotspots although my wi-fi was turned off.
Maybe indeed - the phone detects wifi networks even if the wifi as such is off and possibly compares it to an internal database (thus explaining the persistence of the problem even when the radio is off and the phone is not connected on the net).
Do you know any good free program that would allow me to get some test data - e.g. number of satellites / signal quality etc (unless there is already one somewhere in the interface - I am new to Android).
Can someone else run a test? Can some one run a test in an area where no wifi exists.
That's bad news,i'm really interested in this phone (money-forgiving for a while ),but i need great gps performances...
Evans_Prophet said:
Do you know any good free program that would allow me to get some test data - e.g. number of satellites / signal quality etc (unless there is already one somewhere in the interface - I am new to Android).
Can someone else run a test? Can some one run a test in an area where no wifi exists.
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Click to collapse
Try "GPS Test" its on the market for free. From my test the GPS is actually quite nice, several 18-25 SNR connections and a few 26-30 SNR ones ( When outside I even find one or two 31-40 SNR ones which is really great).
Anyway I notice that GPS had become far more accurate when I disabled the Wifi-location option. The only problem is that locking down takes some time ( about 10-20 seconds max) in my area.
kitsune223 said:
Try "GPS Test" its on the market for free. From my test the GPS is actually quite nice, several 18-25 SNR connections and a few 26-30 SNR ones ( When outside I even find one or two 31-40 SNR ones which is really great).
Anyway I notice that GPS had become far more accurate when I disabled the Wifi-location option. The only problem is that locking down takes some time ( about 10-20 seconds max) in my area.
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ok - i will test with that and revert..
By the way, in my wm6 Touch HD there was a utility called quickgps which would download data from server instead of having them downloaded from a satellite with a low speed connection. This increased speed of cold lock. Furthermore there was also another option to enable assisted gps (not sure whether this was different from the quick gps application and what this did exactly). I wonder whether these application / features are automatically enabled in our case.
Evans_Prophet said:
I got mine and tested.
In the beginning I had a perfect fix on location. When I started moving, however, I experienced this "jumping around" issue with a huge loss of accuracy. The circle of accuracy was also changing constantly. I think I show something about the wifi seeing (or not being able to see - can't remember) some hotspots although my wi-fi was turned off.
Maybe indeed - the phone detects wifi networks even if the wifi as such is off and possibly compares it to an internal database (thus explaining the persistence of the problem even when the radio is off and the phone is not connected on the net).
Do you know any good free program that would allow me to get some test data - e.g. number of satellites / signal quality etc (unless there is already one somewhere in the interface - I am new to Android).
Can someone else run a test? Can some one run a test in an area where no wifi exists.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It can also be a problem of google navigation beta?? Did anyone try another gps navigator?
i felt the same thing about GPS, as it is not that good , as there's no wi-fi Google can detect hear. the performance was not that good at all!.
but tonight i used the GPS without the Wifi (i turned it off) and for a surprise the performance was amazing, I was with my friend in his car watching the road as he drive and watching the google map in my phone and was very good indeed.
that's strange!.
Is there a "Smart Protect" or similar available for the GalaxyS?. I do have the sim swap security enabled but would like to track the phone if it's lost or stolen. I have SP on my Omnia and it's been brilliant.
i use 'lookout mobile security' there is a free version and a paid version (or 30day free trial) and i think its awesome..... i can quickly go to the website mylookout.com if my phone is lost or stolen. i can switch gps on,,, track it down ,,, do a complete wipe of the phone,,, block the phone and loads more.. all from my pc..
and it doesnt drain my battery either (i keep mine active 24/7) cause i never know when im gunna get jumped by a load of chavs when im walking my doggie lol
Thanks ADazzle I installed lookout and it works well but...............
GPS needs to be turned on all the time (cell locate too inaccurate). GPS uses google maps so consumes data all day ? GPS consumes battery all day? or am I missing something
well i never have gps activated on my phone. but when i activated it thru mylookout.com it turned gps on and tracked it down quite well... there are a few 'gps fixes' out there that could improve the accuracy.... just put it in the search bar...
ive never looked this up as im happy with my gps accuracy
OK, thanks, maybe I was confusing GPS enabled with turned on.........you are correct......from Lookout FAQ
"Yes! Lookout makes use of the Android phone’s GPS receiver as efficiently as possible. When a locate is requested for an Android device, Lookout can remotely turn on the GPS while the locate is running and then turn it back off again (locates can run for a few minutes to get the best location results). This helps to conserve your phone’s battery life. Lookout only uses the GPS to get your location when you explicitly request it.
It should also be noted that if your GPS is enabled, that only means apps have the ability to use it. It does not mean it is being used continuously or that your location is constantly being tracked"
Where in the world are you? For some countries the built in security does just this plus remote lock/wipe.
Tehpriest, I'm in South Africa. I think I misunderstood 'Remote Tracker' as being activated only by a sim swap. Probably because of the way the description is written. Having read carefully once again as a result of your post, it appears it's a full function tracker.
I'll follow up and test it. 'Lookout' is working well and has back-up and a virus scanner too.
Tried it and web responds......."for legal reasons this service is not in service in some countries"
Checked with service provider and they confirm RT not enabled in RSA
I use Prey, it works by sim swap or activation text, never had reason to use it yet, but you can use it for multiple devices so have it on my iMac and my kids phone as well.
Hey guys,
I tried searching on google but to no solution.
The problem is when I switch off all forms of data except cellular coverage, my location changes to a City where I'm not at. I went to that place maybe thrice since I got the phone.
My location in Maps, Weather or even location saved along when I take pictures will be that other/wrong location.
Its easily fixable by just starting one of the data services, but why should I even face it in the first place.
Its happened on all ROMs and wipes don't fix it. Done a full wipe twice from cwm.
My GPS works normally when I'm using maps, it takes about 30 seconds to get a lock on my location.
Any workaround or solution or fix? (except for not keeping data switched on all the time)
Thank You.
Cheers.
death__machine said:
Hey guys,
I tried searching on google but to no solution.
The problem is when I switch off all forms of data except cellular coverage, my location changes to a City where I'm not at. I went to that place maybe thrice since I got the phone.
My location in Maps, Weather or even location saved along when I take pictures will be that other/wrong location.
Its easily fixable by just starting one of the data services, but why should I even face it in the first place.
Its happened on all ROMs and wipes don't fix it. Done a full wipe twice from cwm.
My GPS works normally when I'm using maps, it takes about 30 seconds to get a lock on my location.
Any workaround or solution or fix? (except for not keeping data switched on all the time)
Thank You.
Cheers.
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Click to collapse
Location without GPS is online service. I hope that answers your question about "fixing" it.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
There's three things at play in plotting location: 1) GPS, 2), aGPS, and 3) Geo-location
GPS is the onboard chip functioning alone to pick up satellite signals and lock on them. You can test how well your GPS chip alone works by putting the phone in airplane mode and rebooting it.
All aGPS does is use a wireless signal (Wi-FI or cellular) to help the chip get its first lock faster. Once lock is established the chip is on its own.
From Wiki...
"Assisted GPS is a system which can, under certain conditions, improve the startup performance, or time-to-first-fix (TTFF) of a GPS satellite-based positioning system. It is used extensively with GPS-capable cellular phones as its development was accelerated by the U.S. FCC's 911 mandate making the location of a cell phone available to emergency call dispatchers."
Geo-location uses wireless signals alone to approximate position. Devices w/o a GPS rely on this for location based services.
From Wiki...
"Geolocation is the identification of the real-world geographic location of an object, such as a radar, mobile phone or an Internet-connected computer terminal. Geolocation may refer to the practice of assessing the location, or to the actual assessed location."
Once the chip locks, it memorizes the position of the satellites. So if you had your wireless on to get first lock and then turned it off the chip is still using the satellite locations aGPS helped it find. If you want to test the performance of your chip itself reboot it in airplane mode. Download GPS Test from Play. It'll give you a much better picture of what's happening with your phone. I just tried it on mine and indoors it locked and got down to 15’ accuracy in less than a minute. Conditions affect performance but, at least outdoors, yours should do as well or better than mine. If it doesn’t, it’s a h/w problem.
tkolev said:
Location without GPS is online service. I hope that answers your question about "fixing" it.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
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Click to collapse
BarryH_GEG said:
There's three things at play in plotting location: 1) GPS, 2), aGPS, and 3) Geo-location
GPS is the onboard chip functioning alone to pick up satellite signals and lock on them. You can test how well your GPS chip alone works by putting the phone in airplane mode and rebooting it.
All aGPS does is use a wireless signal (Wi-FI or cellular) to help the chip get its first lock faster. Once lock is established the chip is on its own.
From Wiki...
"Assisted GPS is a system which can, under certain conditions, improve the startup performance, or time-to-first-fix (TTFF) of a GPS satellite-based positioning system. It is used extensively with GPS-capable cellular phones as its development was accelerated by the U.S. FCC's 911 mandate making the location of a cell phone available to emergency call dispatchers."
Geo-location uses wireless signals alone to approximate position. Devices w/o a GPS rely on this for location based services.
From Wiki...
"Geolocation is the identification of the real-world geographic location of an object, such as a radar, mobile phone or an Internet-connected computer terminal. Geolocation may refer to the practice of assessing the location, or to the actual assessed location."
Once the chip locks, it memorizes the position of the satellites. So if you had your wireless on to get first lock and then turned it off the chip is still using the satellite locations aGPS helped it find. If you want to test the performance of your chip itself reboot it in airplane mode. Download GPS Test from Play. It'll give you a much better picture of what's happening with your phone. I just tried it on mine and indoors it locked and got down to 15’ accuracy in less than a minute. Conditions affect performance but, at least outdoors, yours should do as well or better than mine. If it doesn’t, it’s a h/w problem.
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Click to collapse
Thanks, that was a very informative post.
Well I switched on GPS and put my phone in airplane mode and restarted. The Maps App keeps saying "Your current location is temporarily unavailable" and I can't figure how to use the GPS Test yet.
Okay, I did get a lock-on from the Maps and the GPS Test app. I went closer to my window lol . Now I'll see if my location comes up wrong.
Edit:Location came up accurate in weather.
Edit2:Location is accurate in a photo I clicked with everything off.
By accurate I hope you understand what I mean, when all the data goes off the phone should still think its in the place/location where it was when the data was on. Ii.e Surat in my case. But what used to happened before today(gps in airplane) was without data the phone will think its in Pune, which is a 12 hours drive from here.
I'm not the only one who's faced this, some say its a bug in sense :/
Anyways here's a thread I saw earlier
http://www.htconesource.com/forum/htc-one-x-discussion/1042-incorrect-location.html
The answers the guy gets are retarded.
To be sure, are you saying that when only on mobile data and relying upon that, you cannot get an accurate location down to 1 KM?
If so, this sounds like a software issue or a carrier issue.
If your GPS has poor reception then I would advise getting warranty repair. It might have the same issue as the Wifi antennas do.
Yeah just so you know pure GPS is line of sight, you have to have a clear view of the sky to work (no clouds either).
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app
Hunt3r.j2 said:
To be sure, are you saying that when only on mobile data and relying upon that, you cannot get an accurate location down to 1 KM?
If so, this sounds like a software issue or a carrier issue.
If your GPS has poor reception then I would advise getting warranty repair. It might have the same issue as the Wifi antennas do.
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Click to collapse
jonshipman said:
Yeah just so you know pure GPS is line of sight, you have to have a clear view of the sky to work (no clouds either).
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app
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No no.
My location when all services are on shows up fine. But say I have a weather widget and all my data services are off, instead of showing the location detected last when data services was on the widget and other settings will show another city.
I'll explain it with an example.
Lets have a hypothetical country with all the letters as its cities.
I stay in 'S' at present. I have visited 'P' and 'M' a couple of times but I'm back to 'S' now. On the occasion that my data services switch off, intentionally or because of weak coverage. Instead of showing 'S' as my location in the weather widget, app and geotag the phone will show 'P' which I had visited days ago.
Hey guys, I've got a Verizon GNex, 4.2.2 radios, aphrophis's current AOKP build. When you guys open maps, does show you in some entirely random location for a few seconds, then lock? I'll open maps and it'll show me in a location 50 miles away, then lock. It's a problem because apps like Google now report my location to be far from where I actually am.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Yup, mine dies that too when I'm at work, where no gps signal penetrates the building. Even though I'm on Wi-Fi, maps seems to think I'm somewhere far off. I think it might be pointing me to the nearest 4g tower, but I'm not entirely sure.
Now, queue the gpsconf mod fanatics...Lol
There should be a light blue circle on the map (not the darker blue one that represents the position the system has).
This one shows the error margin of the location. You can actually be anywhere in that light blue circle (for gps and wlan this should normally be a very small one) and the darker blue dot is just a good guess by google (based on a number of different factors I think).
Using a mobile connection only to locate you is not very precise and can vary depending on the number of phone towers you have around you.
And it also takes some time to acquire a GPS lock. Since a GPS lock will only be done when necessary it will start when you open maps and have GPS turned on. Until there is a lock it will show your location based on whatever is available and activated by you in the settings.