Back ground history first, skip to second paragraph for my fix.
I got the droid online when it released. I used this forum to answer all my pre and post buy questions with great results with even registering. My original phone (43/09) had the random reboot problem, it got progressevily worse and I finally swapped it today. I had zero problems with the return. I spent sometime with the new phone (39/09, odd right?) In the parking lot. Then on the way homde I tried google nav. It was weird it knew where I was kinda, but it kept searching for sats and never started to navigate me. at my house I tried to locate me but it was always way off (over a 1000ft). Well after reboots, battery pull and even a factory reset with no luck nothing seamed to help it. Any apps that used gps would not work, weather, compass, a dyno program. I found on this site an app "gps status" and it tells u how many sats you are using. So I had 2 sats above me and no lock.
Solution came from the help page of "gps status" he talked about re calibrating the magnetic sensors in the phone (classic figure 8 came to mind) but he said the theroy was to really spin the phone 3 times on each of its three axis. Well sure enough I did it, and before I was even done I was locked onto 6 of 7 sats, accuracy was with in 6 meters! So I went to google nav, everything worked perfectly!
I will keep an eye on it the next few days and post an updat. I hope this info helps
The above technique actually worked for me. I had to do it about 3 times so it may have just been a coincidence but I have the updated maps and I tried to get it to lock onto my location. After spinning the phone on all 3 axes 3 times, it had me right at my house. It was perfectly accurate.
__________________
My phone is smarter than a fifth grader.
Device(s): LTE Galaxy Nexus & Asus Transformer; Droid Classic(tm), Ret.
Thanks: 42
Thanked 89 Times in 41 Posts
Haven't noticed any problems w/ my GPS accuracy. Has been pretty dead on since day 1. If you're sitting in the middle of your house or if you're in the middle of any sort of substantial building, don't expect the GPS to work. To be truly accurate, you need a clear view of the open sky.
That's rather interesting about the magnetic sensor calibration. I'm not ruling it out, though I find it interesting that the mag sensors being misaligned/calibrated would cause the GPS receiver to go wonky.
Yeah GPS Status will give you a graphical as well as a text indication of the number of satellites locked onto.
That's rather interesting about the magnetic sensor calibration. I'm not ruling it out, though I find it interesting that the mag sensors being misaligned/calibrated would cause the GPS receiver to go wonky.
Yeah GPS Status will give you a graphical as well as a text indication of the number of satellites locked onto.
Alright, another app downloaded. I think I am going to need a bigger phone.
My GPS works great EXCEPT, I'm a pilot and if I travel several hours with the phone in the "Airplane" mode, after I land it can take forever to get the GPS up again. Today after I landed it took a couple hours. It will work fine until I move it several hundred miles then turn GPS back on.
Device(s): LTE Galaxy Nexus & Asus Transformer; Droid Classic(tm), Ret.
Thanks: 42
Thanked 89 Times in 41 Posts
All GPS receivers get 'jetlag'. They have to download new data from the sats and go thru the whole initialization process as if they were being used for the 1st time whenever you move them a large distance while they're shut off. You should wait until you're outside before turning the GPS back on - it will reinitialize and get a new sat lock faster.
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Gunner For This Useful Post:
That's rather interesting about the magnetic sensor calibration. I'm not ruling it out, though I find it interesting that the mag sensors being misaligned/calibrated would cause the GPS receiver to go wonky.
I'm confused too. I don't see how those two things are related at all.
Mine's always been mind-blowingly, Big Brother status accurate. I can zoom in when I click My Location on Maps, and the dot will be the exact room in my house that I'm currently in. Scary.
mine has always been pretty accurate. i get to 6 meters within a minute. keep in mind the gps probably isn't going to be as strong as a powered stand alone.
I'm confused too. I don't see how those two things are related at all.
I wonder if this is what is happening. I have GPS status on my phone too.
When I am indoors, it takes a little bit of time to get a fix on satellites....sometimes if the order of a few mins.
I also do not understand how the magnetometer can mess with the GPS.
BUT I can vouch for the spinning on three axes calibrating the compass (magnetometer)
I wonder if what's happening is that the OP happened to spin while the GPS was searching for a fix. While it was just a matter of time.....he attributed it to the spinning that allowed him to get a fix.
The next time....the fix was quicker because it did not need to be re-calibrated since he had not moved too far from where it was last calibrated.
That's rather interesting about the magnetic sensor calibration. I'm not ruling it out, though I find it interesting that the mag sensors being misaligned/calibrated would cause the GPS receiver to go wonky.
Yeah GPS Status will give you a graphical as well as a text indication of the number of satellites locked onto.
Gee, I hope you are normally able to lock on to more than 3 satellites. 128 meters is a couple of football fields. I normally can get 9-12, even inside my house.
well, I just spun mine and now the gps is 200 ft off from the true attitude. WTF is with that? Spinning not that good.
How do you refresh lattitude?
There must be something wrong with your GPS. I've always been able to lock in within 10 meters or less with 10-12 satellites. I'd take it back to Verizon if that's the best you can get.
worked like a charm on mine! my fix/sats number was at 0/10 before spinning it and it was 5/10 after spinning it. it also has me pegged dead on my house whereas before it was off by at least a mile.
You shouldn't discount this spinning thing too quickly. From the point of view of people who didn't design the device, the auto focus bug being related to time didn't make sense either.
With that said, some GPS units make use of data other than from satellites to calculate it's position and velocity. Some GPS units are known to use internal sensors to help adjust their calculations. An example of this is the use of an inertial navigation system which uses rotation and motion sensors to aid in GPS tracking. So if the Droid does use its internal sensors for GPS error compensation, then having the sensors provide incorrect measurements would affect the GPS's accuracy.
I have to go with the "Works for me" end of things.
Have not really checked GPS accuracy too much, but for the compass, dead on.
I did a recalibrate via the figure 8 (both horizontal and vertical) and it [compass] was off by 15* easy. Spun the Droid on all three axis and it was dead on.
You shouldn't discount this spinning thing too quickly. From the point of view of people who didn't design the device, the auto focus bug being related to time didn't make sense either.
With that said, some GPS units make use of data other than from satellites to calculate it's position and velocity. Some GPS units are known to use internal sensors to help adjust their calculations. An example of this is the use of an inertial navigation system which uses rotation and motion sensors to aid in GPS tracking. So if the Droid does use its internal sensors for GPS error compensation, then having the sensors provide incorrect measurements would affect the GPS's accuracy.
Google Nav app does utilize the combination of GPS position and the magnetometer to properly orient the directional system. Many new stand alone GPS units use this system to assist the user when there may not be a strong sat signal. The Droid also has the added ability to use local cell tower triangulation to give even more info to the unit.
Try this. If your Magnetic system shows as off by some degrees, get in your car and set a location to navigate to. Purposefully deviate from the path selected and you should notice a slight lag in the time the arrow indicator corrects to your current direction. Now try it after recalibrating the magnetometer and it should show your direction as you are turning very accurately.
Mine was off by close to 120' before calibration and within 5' after and the "lag" disappeared after. Just my observation and a bit of research into stand alone vs. pda based navigation.
It's prolly old hat to everyone by now but it REALLY freaked me out (and was more than a little creepy) the first time I used GPS navigation to go home and when I pulled into my driveway the google map switched to a google streetview photograph of the front of my house from the angle I was pulling in with my car in the driveway. Just for fun I went around the block and came at the house from the other way and the picture changed to reflect my new incoming direction.
Glad I wasn't on the front porch in my underwear smoking a cig on picture day!
Does any body get accuracy under 1 meter, precision farming GPS systems guide your machine within 1 or two inches of a target line. I would like to see my DROID do that too.
Interesting thread. I'd like to try the '3 spin' method. I understand HOW, but not sure WHEN. I assume the GPS has to be on. I can't find a setting that says "calibrate GPS". Thanks in advance. You guys always help me out.
The Motorola Droid - the first ever Verizon Android Phone - exploded onto the mobile market with an incredibly successful ad campaign that brough Android to the masses. With a huge and vibrant touchscreen, solid metal body, full QWERTY keyboard, 5M... Read More
gps accuracy fix!...... maybe
Yes
