Does Droid GPS reception suck?

[Chris.Nelson]

Where I live and work around Albany, NY, "My Location" in the Maps application can tell me which end of a building I'm in. Last weekend I traveled to RI and every time I asked for directions, the Droid told me it was searching for a GPS signal. My wife's Magellan navigator was a little slow to lock on but got us where we were going. When I got home, my Droid knew just where I was. Why would GPS reception vary so much? Doesn't the "G" in "GPS" stand for "global"?

 

[hinky]

signal fine. location accuracy... sucks.

 

[KZIWarrior]

The GPS radio in the Droid is one of the best you'll see on ANY phone (and I've had/used a lot of them) and one of the better GPSs you'll find in any nav system (ESP for the price).

The problem lies in the maps that it must communicate and coordinate with... they are less that perfect and in MANY areas down right useless..

If you are in doubt d/l one of the various GPS tools on the market. If your unit is faulty get it replaced (1yr warranty:icon_ banana

 

[Trooper]

signal fine. location accuracy... sucks.

The accuracy on mine is dead on after I unchecked the "use wireless networks" tab in the location & security settings menu.

 

[MNTNBKR]

Yeah, mine can show me which room I'm in at my house...and sometimes even at work. I have no idea how, as my office has no windows.

 

[toddegreene]

Since I've had my Droid (11/13/09), I've been to NYC, Boston, San Antonio, Phoenix, Cleveland, Omaha and Toronto. I've had no problems with location, accuracy or navigation. I'm familiar with all save Omaha and Cleveland, so GPS and maps/navigation were for fun rather than necessity. Navigation didn't work in Toronto, but maps were fine.

 

[LT*]

I have mostly had great luck with the GPS. Yesterday however, I was looking at the map (not navigating) for traffic, and it kept telling me I was in the middle of lake Huron. :icon_eek: I was in the Boston area at the time. A battery pull seemed to fix any issues.

 

[butch350]

signal fine. location accuracy... sucks.

The accuracy on mine is dead on after I unchecked the "use wireless networks" tab in the location & security settings menu.

I to find the same to be true. I've seen posts on here where some people
say they check both the "wireless" and the "GPS" buttons. WHY?

Why check both boxes? Please explain, I'm missing something. If given
two choices you make one. Either check "wireless" or "GPS".

If you want the most accurate of the two, then check the "GPS" box,
ONLY, and make sure you in a place to recieve a good signal, like being
outside. When I need "GPS" I am usually outside.

When I check the "wireless" it places my location near a CELL tower.

I am not a radar or gps expert by no means, but I am intelligent. If someone who is an expert
can explain why both the "wireless" and "GPS" buttons should both be checked, then I would
like to learn something new - so explain why it's beneficial to check both. If both boxes are checked then
what setting will the DROID default to?

 

[Chris.Nelson]

signal fine. location accuracy... sucks.

That is the opposite of the problem I've had: when I get a signal, I know *exactly* where I am but all last weekend I couldn't get a signal.

 

[Chris.Nelson]

The GPS radio in the Droid is one of the best you'll see on ANY phone ...The problem lies in the maps that it must communicate and coordinate with... they are less that perfect and in MANY areas down right useless..

The map it showed and the route it (Google Maps) recommended were fine. I could see the building I was in and the road I was on. It was just My Location that didn't work. When it worked at all, it was a half-mile or so resolution.

 

[MNTNBKR]

signal fine. location accuracy... sucks.

The accuracy on mine is dead on after I unchecked the "use wireless networks" tab in the location & security settings menu.

I to find the same to be true. I've seen posts on here where some people
say they check both the "wireless" and the "GPS" buttons. WHY?

Why check both boxes? Please explain, I'm missing something. If given
two choices you make one. Either check "wireless" or "GPS".

If you want the most accurate of the two, then check the "GPS" box,
ONLY, and make sure you in a place to recieve a good signal, like being
outside. When I need "GPS" I am usually outside.

When I check the "wireless" it places my location near a CELL tower.

I am not a radar or gps expert by no means, but I am intelligent. If someone who is an expert
can explain why both the "wireless" and "GPS" buttons should both be checked, then I would
like to learn something new - so explain why it's beneficial to check both. If both boxes are checked then
what setting will the DROID default to?

I leave both checked...when satellites are available, accuracy is usually within a couple meters... if I'm at the mall or someplace else where sat signal isn't available, the tower GPS takes over and sets my location within a few miles. The phone automatically picks the most accurate method available, and I see no point in manually switching one "off" and the other "on" based on where I'm at. So, leaving both turned on works just fine for me.

 

[hinky]

The GPS radio in the Droid is one of the best you'll see on ANY phone ...The problem lies in the maps that it must communicate and coordinate with... they are less that perfect and in MANY areas down right useless..

The map it showed and the route it (Google Maps) recommended were fine. I could see the building I was in and the road I was on. It was just My Location that didn't work. When it worked at all, it was a half-mile or so resolution.

I have the exact same experience. On my iPhone it worked fine. With the Droid I'm frequently a half mile off and never better than a quarter mile. It's noticeable, especially with dense city streets.

 

[KZIWarrior]

The GPS radio in the Droid is one of the best you'll see on ANY phone ...The problem lies in the maps that it must communicate and coordinate with... they are less that perfect and in MANY areas down right useless..

The map it showed and the route it (Google Maps) recommended were fine. I could see the building I was in and the road I was on. It was just My Location that didn't work. When it worked at all, it was a half-mile or so resolution.

I have the exact same experience. On my iPhone it worked fine. With the Droid I'm frequently a half mile off and never better than a quarter mile. It's noticeable, especially with dense city streets.

... you two do realize that the maps have to be coordinated accurately in order for the GPS coordinates the system calculates to be displayed/overplayed on the map correctly don't you. GPS is NOT a hit or miss system unless your radio is bad (and then most of the time with a bad radio it just won't lock). If you are showing a lock and the map shows you off than that is the fault of the map (again, it wasn't put into the system and coordinated correctly).

It sounds like you both are using the network locations and not the GPS. How big is the 'blue circle' around your location point? Even as poor as GoogleMaps is (as far as mislabeled and/or missing streets ect. the GPS accurately reports the locations.

 

[hinky]

The map it showed and the route it (Google Maps) recommended were fine. I could see the building I was in and the road I was on. It was just My Location that didn't work. When it worked at all, it was a half-mile or so resolution.

I have the exact same experience. On my iPhone it worked fine. With the Droid I'm frequently a half mile off and never better than a quarter mile. It's noticeable, especially with dense city streets.

... you two do realize that the maps have to be coordinated accurately in order for the GPS coordinates the system calculates to be displayed/overplayed on the map correctly don't you. GPS is NOT a hit or miss system unless your radio is bad (and then most of the time with a bad radio it just won't lock). If you are showing a lock and the map shows you off than that is the fault of the map (again, it wasn't put into the system and coordinated correctly).

It sounds like you both are using the network locations and not the GPS. How big is the 'blue circle' around your location point? Even as poor as GoogleMaps is (as far as mislabeled and/or missing streets ect. the GPS accurately reports the locations.

AFAIK, it was using GPS. Using the iPhone I received fairly accurate readings. With the Droid it has been way off... I'll check again but I was disturbed by the inaccurate readings twice when I tried to determine my walking location in the street.

 

[stmomma]

When I got my Droid in January, the maps app showed me dead on where I was. Since the update it has not been nearly as accurate. I had both wireless and GPS checked and when I unchecked wireless it actually moved me a bit farther from my actual location. It's not off by much, but could be an issue if I actually needed to use navigation.

Seems to be related to the update...