Droid gps- real or fake?

[RW-1]

I have yet to test the maps while at 500' in the heli, will do so this weekend ...

But so far on the road with my Garmin 496 from the heli in road mode, they seem to be in sync for location whilst moving.

[takeshi]

That sounds like great news, but I thought there were cases where people left it on and aftera few hours the phone said the GPS was using the majority of the battery?

That's really more of an issue of an app that uses the GPS receiver not releasing it in my experience (or an app that uses it frequently accessing GPS). I suggest keeping an eye on the GPS icon in the notification bar. It should disappear if you're not using an app that uses the GPS receiver.

No, you just need to cache your maps and you won't need data.

Good point. I should have clarified. My statement was in reference to those expecting to use Google Maps and have it work in the same manner as a standalone GPS unit in areas with no coverage. If you can cache ahead of time that approach works. The problem is that you need data to cache and that may not be an option in all situations.

I'm guessing you haven't checked on what sGPS really is, because it's not what you think it is.

Oops -- you're right. The specs page isn't really all that useful then.

I do check the Droid specs. the problem is cell company's frequently want to sell theIr "fake gps" cell/ internet product as a true alternative to STANDALONE gps units.

I was referring to the manufacturer's specs, not the carrier's specs (which are frequently off in my experience) however Motorola's specs page is actually quite useless in this regard. Sorry for the earlier comment.

However, My Location in Google Maps can give you a rough idea of how it is determining your location based on what it claims the accuracy to be.

I just fired up Google maps, with GPS turned off. It claims to know my location "Accurate to 70 meters," but it's probably 200 meters off. When I turn GPS on, it says "Accurate to 20 meters," and it's off by about 5.

How do you get Google Maps to indicate that? On the Blackberry it automatically does so.

[mikes]

I just fired up Google maps, with GPS turned off. It claims to know my location "Accurate to 70 meters," but it's probably 200 meters off. When I turn GPS on, it says "Accurate to 20 meters," and it's off by about 5.

How do you get Google Maps to indicate that? On the Blackberry it automatically does so.

When you open Maps, it comes up on your location, showing it as a blue dot surrounded by a circle of uncertainty. Touch the location, and an info bubble will pop us showing the estimated accuracy.

[Jonny Kansas]

How do you cache the maps?