[Q] Wifi based location used in Gmaps not used in apps - HTC Desire X

Hi there,
i don't know if this question is device specific.
Android uses wifi networks to determine my location. It is fast and accurate enough for most cases. Thats why i turn off GPS completely, since it uses battery and is slow or not available in buildings.
Today i wasn't able to use this way to determine my location within foursquare app. I switched over to Google Maps and it showed my exact location with a very tiny blue point (perfect!). I then went back to foursquare app again and it still showed the last location where i disabled GPS. I went over to Whatsapp to make sure it's not foursquares fault, but the same issue.
I'm coming from Android 2.2 (Motorola Defy) so maybe i missed something. My assumption was that when Gmaps has my exact location (even via wifi) it provides it to all apps. Is there a setting/flag/whatever which prevents this?
I have no clue what is going wrong.
Update: The behaviour disappeared after i rebooted the device. It remains a fragile impression...
cheers, rokr
PS: I searched the web and this forum but didn't find a similar topic. Please point me to it.

It may be due to a glitch that only allows the app to display location data only when the location service is on, even WiFi is on at the same time
Sent from my HTC Desire X using xda app-developers app

Related

So honey comb breaks the gps??

I was out checking out marina's for my boat yesterday... I was actually surprised.... google maps didn't need ANY data connection at all (they all were in the same town) to accomplish this task, I even used "navigation" while doing this and never had to connect at all, seems like google maps/navigation must download all the maps for your area the first time you connect??
Anyway, I'm on the OTA honey comb and what I noticed is that the GPS would find my location, zero it in on the map and almost go to sleep? I was driving down the road and it'd find my location......the arrow would freeze then the gps ICON would start searching for a lock and it'd grab my location about 15 seconds later.
It did this over and over. Never being able to hold on to my location, just grabbing it, losing the lock and trying to find it again.
Does LeeDroid fix this problem?
Didn't fix it on mine... Of course, ymmv
via Tapatalk
My phone (htc Inc2 running mt4g rom) did this last week. I think it has more to do with the quality of the GPS signal. Try the rapid GPS lock fix posted in the flyer forums.
Sent from my mobile typewriter with tapatalk
On all the HC ROMs, GPS works but not fully. It will pick up an initial fix , work for a about 30 seconds, then reset and may or may not fix again. Its fine if you just need to know current location, but not good if you try to use navigation.
No one has come up with a bug fix yet. The rapid fix helps, but may not fully solve your problem.
Yeah I had the same issue. Wonder if a third party navigation app might fix the issue
Sent from my HTC_Flyer_P512_NA using XDA
J3ff said:
I was out checking out marina's for my boat yesterday... I was actually surprised.... google maps didn't need ANY data connection at all (they all were in the same town) to accomplish this task, I even used "navigation" while doing this and never had to connect at all, seems like google maps/navigation must download all the maps for your area the first time you connect??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It may have been that the cached local map data was just not bumped out of memory yet, and you didn't travel outside that initially cached area. You can do this to some degree on any device with Google Maps, AFAIK. You just have to be careful not to open too many apps and whatnot.
yes, hc needs upgrades for gps, something in the system makes it crash after a minute. possibly an upcoming small ota from htc to fix this?

[SOLVED] Question about phone detecting it's location

Need a little help.
I'm Running AJ's Semi UCLE5 rom. It run's great. no problems with force closing or anything. I noticed something happening that I've never seen before.
On my home screen I run a widget (Beautiful Widget) for weather, location and it has a clock on it. It also allows for the location to be determined by geolocation, which is what I have it set on.
If I have wifi off, using "4g" data, my location is accurate. If I turn wifi on the widget says I am in Mesa, AZ which is about 1200 miles from where I actually am.
Two things that changed recently were that about 2 weeks ago I got a new sim card for my phone because the other one was old and curved and not making constant contact with the pins. Also, I recently got a new wireless router at home. My first guess was it could be the router since this only happens on wifi, but other apps on my phone (i.e. google maps) will be accurate with location when on wifi. Since the widget app I'm having the issue with was working with regular data, i thought i wasn't the app.
Any one with any idea here? would a wireless router cause this problem? The router works fine as far as I can tell otherwise.
edit: now it's looks like it's happening randomly. but still bothersome.
also regarding the app, i didn't think it would be the app because i've had it for a long time and it has never done this. it hasn't been updated in a while (and i don't do auto updating on Market apps.)
Please someone with more knowledge correct me if im wrong... But im pretty sure it uses your GPS for location and only data for the weather in that area... Maybe try clearing all app data and giving it a fresh start?
Clay
Sent from my SGH-I777 using XDA
clay101eve said:
Please someone with more knowledge correct me if im wrong... But im pretty sure it uses your GPS for location and only data for the weather in that area... Maybe try clearing all app data and giving it a fresh start?
Clay
Sent from my SGH-I777 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well through all of this the gps has been turned off. It usually finds my location using the network and by that method i can understand a wider radius and less accuracy - but 1200 miles? I have used this widget for about 4-5 months, most of the time without gps turned on, and it is just now showing this problem. I will clear all the data and report back.
edit: well, just removed the widget and wiped data on the app. When I replaced the app to the homescreen (with wifi turned on) it "geolocated" me immediately to Mesa, AZ, the incorrect city. When I plcae the widget using cell data, the geolocation is correct.
jack man said:
Well through all of this the gps has been turned off. It usually finds my location using the network and by that method i can understand a wider radius and less accuracy - but 1200 miles? I have used this widget for about 4-5 months, most of the time without gps turned on, and it is just now showing this problem. I will clear all the data and report back.
edit: well, just removed the widget and wiped data on the app. When I replaced the app to the homescreen (with wifi turned on) it "geolocated" me immediately to Mesa, AZ, the incorrect city. When I plcae the widget using cell data, the geolocation is correct.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try cryted's gps patch.... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1447599
BROKKANIC said:
Try cryted's gps patch.... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1447599
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think gps is the issue. over the last few hours I've been trying to narrow down the problem. When I am away from my home wifi everything works perfectly. I decided to go into my router settings to see what would happen. When i took off all of the security and made it an open wireless network the problem seemed to go away. I gave it about 30 minutes on an open network and it located me fine without gps turned on.
I don't know much about tweaking security settings on routers but i guess it's time to branch out to learn.
edit:
now, with wifi on, every time i refresh the weather widget it flips between my city and Mesa, AZ (remember they are about 1200 miles apart). I don't know. I guess my problems could be worse. at least i'm not boot looping or bricked.
I may have fixed this. When I got a new wireless router and programmed it, I gave it the same network name and password but it had newer and higher levels of security settings. The phone was still programmed with the old username and password so it picked it up automatically and logged on.
I went into the wifi settings on the phone and "forgot" the network and then re-logged in. So far it has shown it is fixed. Crossing fingers but I don't know enough about wireless routers and signals to know if this would do it.
edit again:
It is my network somehow. I have since been on two other wireless networks (neighbors) and it did not do this strange location behavior. (what I though fixed it in this post above did not)
Anyone want to give me insight as to why my router would tell me I am halfway across the country?
jack man said:
I may have fixed this. When I got a new wireless router and programmed it, I gave it the same network name and password but it had newer and higher levels of security settings. The phone was still programmed with the old username and password so it picked it up automatically and logged on.
I went into the wifi settings on the phone and "forgot" the network and then re-logged in. So far it has shown it is fixed. Crossing fingers but I don't know enough about wireless routers and signals to know if this would do it.
edit again:
It is my network somehow. I have since been on two other wireless networks (neighbors) and it did not do this strange location behavior. (what I though fixed it in this post above did not)
Anyone want to give me insight as to why my router would tell me I am halfway across the country?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, its your wireless network, go into settings and uncheck location set by wireless network. will force GPS, and be more accurate, but also cost more battery.
EDIT:
Thats location settings or some crap depending on your build.
jack man said:
It is my network somehow. I have since been on two other wireless networks (neighbors) and it did not do this strange location behavior. (what I though fixed it in this post above did not)
Anyone want to give me insight as to why my router would tell me I am halfway across the country?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you buy that router second hand or new? If you bought it new, it was probably either a return or a refurbish. What's happening is the MAC of the router was registered in Mesa by Google when their street map cars came by scanning for BSSIDs. Same thing happened to me with a used router I bought and my old router when I moved across the country. AFAIK, there's no way to reregister the MACs location other than use the _nomap optout and waiting for google to get around to updating it's database. Can't post links yet but here's some more info.
supportDOTgoogleDOTcom/maps/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1725632
tomshardwareDOTcom/news/Google-Maps-Wi-Fi-Location-SSID,14000.html
zdnetDOTcom/blog/btl/google-offers-street-view-opt-out-for-wi-fi-mapping-unethical-snooping-yet-we-must-opt-out/63456
Edit: here's a tool for geolocation of MAC addresses. blogDOTwlancontrollerDOTcom/?p=67 Search, then get the lat/long and choose show in gmaps. Mine shows my old street when I lived in a another state.
spiralout1 said:
Edit: here's a tool for geolocation of MAC addresses. blogDOTwlancontrollerDOTcom/?p=67 Search, then get the lat/long and choose show in gmaps. Mine shows my old street when I lived in a another state.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's something weird after I did what you mentioned here. After looking at the map when searching the MAC address it put it in Manhattan, NY, at the other end of the country. Any idea?
Thanks, by the way, for the links.
wow. I finally fixed it. Yes, my router was purchased used so I guess Google had mapped it and the MAC address was still showing as it's old "home." This link showed me how to opt out of Google's MAC address mapping and within about 20-30 minutes, my location was finally showing correctly on all of our mobile devices.
http://support.google.com/maps/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1725632
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Google-Maps-Wi-Fi-Location-SSID,14000.html
Thanks again for the help.
Glad that helped ya and especially so quickly. That **** had me stumped for around half a year before I figured out what the deal was and even then, it took well over a month for them to update my MAC in their database.

[Q] GPS performance issues Australia

Hey Guys,
Loving my galaxy s3 however something strange is now happening. I used to live in Brisbane and recently moved to Sydney, whilst I was in Brisbane I often used the GPS and google maps navigation (google navigation whatever you want to call it ) and it performed amazing! it locked onto location instantly and would guide me and track my position superbly.
Now I've been in Sydney for 3 days, and I tried to use the navigation several times and it was terrible! It would take a minute or two to lock onto my position but would still be fairly innacurate and would not engage the navigation, just sat in that screen where it is zoomed out and roughly shows the route to take, sometimes it would engage into the navigation but then would stop tracking me and just say it lost GPS location.
Has anyone experienced this problem? or know what I can do to fix it!! Thanks
Couple of suggestions:
Have you changed your Google location? Whenever I've changed ROM's I get asked to let Google use my location - maybe there is something in the Google set up that still thinks you are in Brisbane and has to keep scanning for your new location?
Have you got the map for Sydney - I know you can get maps on your phone but maybe only your home location is auto-downloaded, so you get a zoomed out version for other places? Maybe go into the Maps app and select Sydney and see if it brings down a more detailed version?
Maybe check for Maps/Navigation updates? I got a Maps one a few days back.
I hope this helps - not sure at all if any of them are applicable but it is what I'd be checking...
For the google location, I sort of reset it, I turned it off (the option to let google use your location) and turned it back on. Not sure what else you can do in that department.
Ive got the map for sydney and my maps and navigation are up to date! Thanks for the suggestions but, its just really frustrating as it used to work so well
Use either GPS test or GPS status to see how well your GPS is working. Both are available free in market. They will also download agps data to help with a faster fix.
Check that you do have satellites switched on in settings.
If you are rooted you could try the wildfire agps patch. I think it is posted in the development thread.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
thanks for the suggestion! just downloaded GPS status and one of the reviewers had the same issue that was resolved by clearing and downloading agps data (just like you mentioned). So will try tonight and hopefully problems will be gone, thanks!
AGPS Patch Galaxy In development may be of use .
jje
dk125 said:
thanks for the suggestion! just downloaded GPS status and one of the reviewers had the same issue that was resolved by clearing and downloading agps data (just like you mentioned). So will try tonight and hopefully problems will be gone, thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That method always worked for me on the S2 when I was in a different location. Takes seconds to reload the new data.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
I can't really help but my s3 in sydney has almost instant lock, except when in a tunnel.
By a strange quirk of fate I have just experienced the same issue that you faced.
After a lot of frustration I found a simple fix.
Turn off GPS and other location settings in main settings, power of and reboot. Switch everything back on in settings and all should be well again.
Hope this, belatedly, helps.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
If you are on a custom ROM then the first line of the GPS.conf file in system/etc will be set to "north-america.pool.ntp.org". Change the "north-america" part to "au" and restart. Then reset/redownload gaps data.using GPS status. Hope this helps.

GPS does not work (tried everything)

Hello,
I am using SGH-i777 outside USA (in Kosovo). I purchased it unlocked so everything works as expected, except GPS. The phone came with Gingerbread (not rooted). I tried GPS through google maps but i was getting "You location is temporarily unavaliable" and the scan was taking ~10 minutes without any results. Applications such as AccuWeather were also not able to find my location.
After this dissapointment, i decided to root the phone and install a custom ROM. I followed the guide posted at this link and followed the steps there 100% without making any changes/mistakes. I installed the Siyah 2.6 Kernel and the ROM that i choose to install was Aberration. I also followed the guides for this and did everything as advised. I turned the phone on but the GPS was still behaving the same. After this, i purchased GPS Doctor and clicked "Quick Fix". After this i downloaded GPS Test to see if the signal was alive, and after ~2 minutes of scanning, GPS Test found around 7 satellites and the signal appeared green within this app. I followed this by opening Google Maps and i got the correct location after ~2 minutes scan. This made me happy and i believed the GPS issue got fixed. But after trying after few hours, i saw that maps was again facing the same issues and apps that require location access were not being able to do so.
And the last step that i did was install a gps fix as posted on this thread. I know this thread states that they do not officially support sgh-i777, but i was out of options so i had to try something else. I followed all the instructions and downloaded and installed the Google Specific v 1.3 from that website. But this did not fix the problem either.
To conclude; the GPS is simply not working as expected. Finding the location takes to long and i was able to get the location in Google Maps only 10% of the time (my old iPhone 3gs finds the location in 3seconds!). I have tried this indoors and outdoors but the problem remains the same. During all the times, Wi-Fi, GPS and Data were turned on
Currently i have un-rooted the phone (followed the guides here) and am currently running the official ICS which i installed through Odin. Tried GPS again and it still does not work.
Sorry for the long thread but i wanted to explain all the details.
Hope someone can help me.
Looks to me like one of 2 problems:
1) You're not getting a good time from NTP server, try downloading FasterFix and selecting your area (need root). Not very likely, since with good GPS you'll still have a fix within 1-2 min.
2) HW problem, possibly antenna contacts.
So any go around for hardware problem?
Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2
HW problems are solved in HW. You can't "go around" and make the bulbs light in your house when the power has been cut off, can you? So how exactly can you "go around" a bad contact with antenna, that practically equals a missing antenna?
Just fix it.
In settings under location services did you check "use internal GPS" ?
Not even sure if aberration has that option. Jelly Bean ROMs do.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda premium
All the ROMs do. It's a stock Android option, equals to toggling the "GPS" toggle on in pull-down toggles.
And of course if he didn't have it toggled, he wouldn't see any satellites at all.
Plus, the original post is 2 months old. I believe the OP has already solved the problem or moved on.

NetworkLocationLocator Wakelock

Hello all,
I am more than happy with my SIII but I'm finding a wakelock rather disturbing. It happens as soon as i turn on the "Use wireless networks" under the Location services settings.
If it's turned off, the wakelock disappears. But you know, it's hard to live with it turned off, as it greatly helps the GPS set a location way faster than it would do on its own... So using location based apps while it's off is a pain in the ass.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Alphadan said:
Hello all,
I am more than happy with my SIII but I'm finding a wakelock rather disturbing. It happens as soon as i turn on the "Use wireless networks" under the Location services settings.
If it's turned off, the wakelock disappears. But you know, it's hard to live with it turned off, as it greatly helps the GPS set a location way faster than it would do on its own... So using location based apps while it's off is a pain in the ass.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nothing can be done about it really. Applications poll location data constantly when this option is ticked. It even tells you data is collected in the background regardless of what you are doing. To be honest many can cope with the 5-10 second wait for a GPS fix. Either deal with the drain or disable it.
5-10 seconds?? Most of the time I get message saying current location is temporarily unavailable, especially when I'm indoors.
I can't believe I have to deal with this problem. Am I the only one with this problem?? I was expecting a better answer.
just deactivate it. if you use a gps-app it will tell you to activate GPS anyways and while doing that you can then activate the network location as well.
with lbe privacy guard you can Block it if you are rooted
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
So basically there's no proper fix for this. All I can do is work around the issue? Coming from an iphone I feel this is a bit frustrating.
Thing is that the option I have to disable does not use GPS. It uses mobile signal and WiFi radios, so turning off GPS is useless.
Can anybody else help?
disable Google now,I think you will find that is what is polling your location
slaphead20 said:
disable Google now,I think you will find that is what is polling your location
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's been disabled all along, as I am Spanish and the current support for that language is nonexistent.
Any other ideas guys?
Alphadan said:
So basically there's no proper fix for this. All I can do is work around the issue? Coming from an iphone I feel this is a bit frustrating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
coming from iPhone then you should know that the 4S had a similar problem when it came out, and the workaround was about the same...how you felt back then??
edit
how do you check if you have partial wakelock on an iphone btw??
Disable location in general and use Tasker or make a profile on AOSP rom to turn on location service when you're going out. After all you don't need location indoors right?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Tokarin said:
Disable location in general and use Tasker or make a profile on AOSP rom to turn on location service when you're going out. After all you don't need location indoors right?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, in theory, your solution sounds awesome. But as i stated earlier, there's a small problem: battery drain is not caused by the GPS itself, but by the other "tricks" the phone has in order to find a location (wifi and radio).
I don't know about that problem with the 4S, but as you said, it occurred when it came out. The SIII has been out for 6 months now, and there's been several updates, yet the issue is still there.
BTW, i check the partial wakelocks with Better Battery Stats (you can find it for free here on the forums)
Just a general question... Does anyone else have this issue? If any of you guys do, then i'll learn to live with it, but being the only one would really make me feel silly.
Well, I just don't use that option, AFAIK the new cm10 build changed the GPS so that it no longer favor the North America but search for the nearest satellite instead. I notice this change already make my gps quick enough so I don't bother..
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
I have the same problem. The only solution I found was to disable networks location. Is there any app to identify clearly what is the app that it's requesting location from Google services? It is not maps because with 3g watchdog installed it reports separated (maps and Google services) the leak is on Google services.
Ps: I have found that this problem only exists when connected to a WiFi network. On 3g the requests are less intensive.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
Well I've just been doing some investigating with Better Battery Stats to find out why my battery was so bad with JB compared to ICS, then googled the NetworkLocationLocator as that seems to be the problem which brought me here (I'm a member anyway).
I must say it's pretty disappointing that this problem is occurring because surely the same option was being used in ICS and it never drained my battery back then. The only thing I can think of is Google Now has something to do with this. I have Google Now disabled anyway as (although it's a brilliant feature) it doesn't really benefit me as I don't travel around much, but I get the feeling that is the root of this problem because that's the biggest change in coming from ICS to JB (other than cosmetics and UI) right?
This is not even a problem.
People tick all kind of options or fail to go to see their apps properly starting from Facebook, Google+ , Google now, weather apps... And then complain how come they get excessive polling.
Problem lies in those same people wanting those services to record their location , but don't want any battery drain... At least case with all those around me that asked.
Trust me without WiFi and network triangulation the same services when allowed waste way more power using real GPS.
Testing JKay alpha on GT-I9300
Idan73 said:
This is not even a problem.
People tick all kind of options or fail to go to see their apps properly starting from Facebook, Google+ , Google now, weather apps... And then complain how come they get excessive polling.
Problem lies in those same people wanting those services to record their location , but don't want any battery drain... At least case with all those around me that asked.
Trust me without WiFi and network triangulation the same services when allowed waste way more power using real GPS.
Testing JKay alpha on GT-I9300
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the sweeping generalisation but I had the exact same option ticked in ICS and it was never a problem. Fact is in JB it causes a problem for some reason. It may be Google Now, who knows, but one things for sure, I should be able to have that option ticked and not have it keep my phone awake all night.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
Maybe I misunderstood. Sorry.
I use Google now and maps for network location as well as fancy widget polling every 2 hours. All other apps I individually where permitted set to off.
This setup does not keep my phone all night. I see where it wakes the phone in intervals and does its thing and goes back to sleep. Combined with my exchange email polling every hour overnight, I don't see any excessive battery usage compared to what I had with ICS.
Testing JKay alpha on GT-I9300
Turn of location history, leave the rest on. Wakelock is still there but less.

Categories

Resources