Google Maps "My Location"

[Darkjedi]

Originally Posted by weedahoe

IDK either for sure because I know it is Google Latitude but on my device the icon is Google Maps. But when you say you cant update your location when your phone is on standby what do you mean. What I mean is are you trying aGPS or GPS because aGPS would require the phone to be 'on' and in communication with the towers but GPS you can do with the phone in standby.

I wasn't aware that you go set the phone to GPS only? I think I use aGPS, only because my locks are within seconds, which isn't possible with standalone GPS. If i put my phone into standby the phone still thinks I'm in the location where I turned off my phone. When I turn it back on from standby it takes 1 or 2 seconds and relocks and shows me my updated position. Similar deal if I put Google Maps in the background and run another program like Opera on top of it. Throughout this time my phone is still in communication with the tower, by standby I just mean that the phones screen is off by pressing the power button.

[jstarner]

i have 2 Mogul, which are Sprint phones, for some reason these phones not all are very fussy and dont always want to connect when using the Google Maps program it too me 5 days before it would pickup the satelittes...
Make sure you follow these steps:
Start/Settings/Phone/Services/ Make sure 911 is off and Location is on..
Also under the settings in GPS: Make sure you have it set at COM4:0:Baud 4800: Connect Auto
And in Google Maps: under Menu, Make Sure USE GPS in on, and the Settings try using Connect Auto, if not trying setting Com4:0:Baud4800.. then go outside, it could take uptp 30mins to 1hour.. this works almost 90% of the time.

[stanmarsh01]

What the OP is talking about is AFLT, the equivalent of GSM Cell-ID on CDMA networks. Our phones are capable of this tower triangulation, but only when apps are developed by sprint, or with their help/approval. For example, Family Locator can do tower triangulation. Supposedly the Treo Pro does not have the AFLT data blocked, but I haven't seen any concrete documentation of this.

Anyways, OP, you want AFLT, which sprint hides from third party developers. This isn't really google's fault, it's sprint's. And I'm guessing sprint would have to release a rom update or something that would include the code to make the information available to third party apps. Or maybe it can be pulled from the Treo Pro if it does actually have AFLT enabled. Who knows.

[weedahoe]

Well what I didnt realize until I tried it yesterday is even though the phone itself can do stand-alone GPS with no issues, Google Maps needs the Data connection to update the maps. I would assume this is no different with other web based maps like GPSToday or Microsoft Live Search. I think the only way to circumvent that would be to add something like iGuidance to your card

[bobturismo]

hmmm...I originally unlocked my phone a long time ago to get a custom rom to use GPS, before sprint released the official release of a gps rom.

I've used that rom since up untill last night, I relocked the phone and install the official sprint gps release.

Before it would take a couple minutes for google maps to find the satellites, if we were driving in a car it would take forever untill we stopped moving.

Now, the version of google maps on the old rom is different than the one I just downloaded to my phone. In my house, in the room that I'm in, I'm away from two small windows, blinds closed and I have two large trees outside the window blocking the sky and the windows face north and west.

I click on "use gps" in google maps and it "supposedly" finds 8 satellites in a matter of less than 10-20 seconds.

It was my understanding that you had to be in direct line of sight with a satellite for gps, I know I dont have signal repeaters in my roof and I doubt that there aren't 8 statellites visible to the north.

[Darkjedi]

Originally Posted by bobturismo

hmmm...I originally unlocked my phone a long time ago to get a custom rom to use GPS, before sprint released the official release of a gps rom.

I've used that rom since up untill last night, I relocked the phone and install the official sprint gps release.

Before it would take a couple minutes for google maps to find the satellites, if we were driving in a car it would take forever untill we stopped moving.

Now, the version of google maps on the old rom is different than the one I just downloaded to my phone. In my house, in the room that I'm in, I'm away from two small windows, blinds closed and I have two large trees outside the window blocking the sky and the windows face north and west.

I click on "use gps" in google maps and it "supposedly" finds 8 satellites in a matter of less than 10-20 seconds.

It was my understanding that you had to be in direct line of sight with a satellite for gps, I know I dont have signal repeaters in my roof and I doubt that there aren't 8 statellites visible to the north.

Your old ROM must not have supported aGPS, which was mentioned earlier in the thread. With modern phones with aGPS support, the phone is able to lock with reasonable accuracy only 3 satellites. These satellite signals can even be bounced from nearby buildings so its possible to still get a lock indoors as long as you're close enough to a window. aGPS uses the surrounding cell towers to 'hint' the phone as to its approximate location.

[bobturismo]

Originally Posted by darkjedi007

Your old ROM must not have supported aGPS, which was mentioned earlier in the thread. With modern phones with aGPS support, the phone is able to lock with reasonable accuracy only 3 satellites. These satellite signals can even be bounced from nearby buildings so its possible to still get a lock indoors as long as you're close enough to a window. aGPS uses the surrounding cell towers to 'hint' the phone as to its approximate location.

Ah okay, that kinda makes sense. it was like a year ago when I unlocked my 6800, whatever rom at the time I used, was simply just to get the GPS to work.

That's kinda what I figured, I remember messing around with google maps when I first did that early rom and according to google maps, it was supposed do waht you were saying, about triangulating your location from cell towers, but that never seemed to work.

[yearn]

Google Latitude is pretty cool, all you need is a gmail account, then you can invite all your other freinds with googlemaps to join latitude, Ive got several freinds that use it and every time they pull up google maps it updates their location to all their freinds. I think its kinda cool.
If anyone wants to try it just click add freinds, mines
yearn22@gmail dot com