Eris and Google Maps My Location

[jcromer]

I recently purchased a Droid Eris for my wife. When you start Google Maps on her phone it pins "My Location" as somewhere in Northern India. Additionally, the weather HTC clock/weather widget on the home screen is showing weather for that location. The only way that I can get it to detect the correct location is to turn turn off cellular/wifi location detection and use gps exclusively. I have seen one or two posts on the Verizon forums claiming that the Eris is incapable of determining location using the cellular network and will only work with gps outdoors. I have looked through the forums here but can't seem to find any similar posts. Is anyone else having this problem with the Eris or could it possibly be a problem with this particular phone? I am hoping it is just this phone in which case I can take it back and exchange it for another one. After showing her so many different apps on my Droid that use location detection to give local information, it would be a shame if these will only work outdoors with a clear view of the sky.

 

[snorge]

The location feature works fine for me in either mode.

 

[Blizzard]

I have the same problem.

 

[jcromer]

The location feature works fine for me in either mode.

So you are able to determine your location indoors without gps on by just using cellular network location?

 

[Garick]

mine was set to only use the network and it was not accurate at all in several areas. I would get approximations within 2.5-3.5 km. Turned the gps on and it works great, even in my house currently. Gives locations accurate to 5-20M. Is it supposed to work well only using the network?

 

[jcromer]

My wife's phone doesn't budge from India unless i turn on only gps and stand outside. I am thinking about taking it back to the store and swapping for a new one.

 

[Doit2it]

That's one of the issues that will hopefully be fixed in the OTA update next month. Page 1 under Apps / non Verizon

HTC Droid Eris OTA Update Coming Too | Android Phone Fans

 

[Grizzld]

It should be fairly accurate using the cellular network. I believe the device uses tower triangulation to approximate your location. Basically, it bounces your cellular signal off of 3 different towers and puts you somewhere in the middle. Someone please back me up or elaborate as I'm not 100% sure on this.

When I pull up Google Maps on my Eris with the GPS turned OFF, it puts me .9 miles from my actual location.

 

[jcromer]

That's one of the issues that will hopefully be fixed in the OTA update next month. Page 1 under Apps / non Verizon

HTC Droid Eris OTA Update Coming Too | Android Phone Fans

Doit2it That section of the OTA update says that it may take several minutes to display the correct location and that turning on gps will improve accuracy but drain the battery faster. I have let the phone sit for 15 minutes with no gps on and it never moves from India. It only works if i turn cellular location off and gps location on.

It should be fairly accurate using the cellular network. I believe the device uses tower triangulation to approximate your location. Basically, it bounces your cellular signal off of 3 different towers and puts you somewhere in the middle. Someone please back me up or elaborate as I'm not 100% sure on this.

When I pull up Google Maps on my Eris with the GPS turned OFF, it puts me .9 miles from my actual location.

Grizzld I was under the same impression that it uses triangulation to determine location.

I read a post in one of the Verizon Forums where someone claimed that the ability to do this triangulation was intentionally disable on the Eris. I don't know where he got this information however because i have not been able to find that anywhere and I have been searching about this problem for days. Additionally that post was the only one that i could find like that so I am wondering if there was a bad run of phones because the person with the problem was from the same part of Florida as I was. Maybe we got two phones from the same bad lot. Who knows.

 

[Garick]

That's one of the issues that will hopefully be fixed in the OTA update next month. Page 1 under Apps / non Verizon

HTC Droid Eris OTA Update Coming Too | Android Phone Fans

that doesn't really say that anything to do with location will be updated. Its just informational.

If its saying you are in india something is definitely wrong. have you tried it in several locations to eliminate any network problems? It is far from perfect though in my experience with gps off. I don't really understand how the tower based location is so inaccurate as it works pretty well with vz navigator on old phones.

 

[jcromer]

I have tried it in multiple locations all with the same result. The Motorola Droid that I have gets pretty close to accurate using just triangulation and it does it pretty quickly at that.

 

[Doit2it]

I can't find anything either to tell if the Eris uses cell triangulation. I see you've tried various locations. Sounds like a problem with that specific phone. Possible a bad antenna causing a weak signal. Do you have any problem with voice calls too?

Not sure if it will help, but have you tried any of these programs to see the signal strength of the towers around you. A weak signal may indicate a bad antenna in the phone.
CellID Logger v0.0.4 Application for Android | Communication
RF Signal Tracker v1.2.2 Application for Android | Tools
CellFinder v1.3 Application for Android | Tools

 

[hendrickson.dj]

Our phones (my wife and I both just bought Erises) don't land us in India, but there is a disconnect somewhere between the Eris My Location and Google Maps. If I'm sitting at home, My Location consistently puts me about 3/4 of a mile away. I've gone to street view at the location and then tried to "drive" the phone over to my house. It will get to my house, but gives a very wrong address.
However, if I go to Google Maps online and type in my address, it takes me right to my door.
I also tried a golf GPS app over the weekend. Sometimes it was very accurate, but a couple of times it had me 14,000 yards away from the green. And it was a par 4!

 

[Doit2it]

I also tried a golf GPS app over the weekend. Sometimes it was very accurate, but a couple of times it had me 14,000 yards away from the green. And it was a par 4!

WOW. An 8 mile par 4!!!!

 

[Blizzard]

Mine is consistently 2 miles south of where I live.

 

[snorge]

So you are able to determine your location indoors without gps on by just using cellular network location?

Well without GPS on it gets my small town right and a street location a couple minutes away from mine, if I turn GPS on it gets my exact address and I can even see my house in satellite view so it works pretty good for me.

 

[hendrickson.dj]

WOW. An 8 mile par 4!!!!

Yep. The good news is, according to that golf GPS app, my drive covered 13,850 yards.

 

[Doit2it]

Yep. The good news is, according to that golf GPS app, my drive covered 13,850 yards.

Impressive!!!
Here's something for you to put on your chest:

 

[OfTheDamned]

I have found, with most phones, that cellular triangulation is impressively unreliable. In most cases it can work ok for location based info like weather, traffic, etc, but for directions or trying to pinpoint a location it is just terrible. This is where the GPS really comes into play.

 

[GPLarge]

agree with the aGPS inaccuracy (assisted GPS using triangulation) I am also getting the .5 to 1 mi off. Not India but the regular GPS is spot on. Triangulation goes off the GPS data for closest cell reported by the towers so if they were off when they wer installed then that could cause an issue. Don't know about the India problem though.

 

[Doit2it]

Does "Location" have to be turned on for triangulation to work?

Home / Menu / Settings / Location

 

[Garick]

Does "Location" have to be turned on for triangulation to work?

Home / Menu / Settings / Location

I find these settings very confusing.

having only the first one on...'use wireless networks' seems to allow apps to find your location as needed based on the network.

The second one...'location setting' seems to broadcast your location at all times to the network, if you turn this on you will notice the location icon change in the status bar. If you only turn this one on apps cannot find your location. In order for GPS to work this option has to be turned on.

If you enable gps through the widget this also forces 'location setting' to be turned on. If you then turn gps off with the widget 'location setting' remains on. I'd really like to see a widget to control both on or both off as there is no reason to have 'location setting' on unless you are using gps and in my experience its a battery hog.

 

[DigitalPasture]

I have the same exact issue as parent (north India)... Save for that GPS very rarely connects (even outside). This means I have a perpetually wrong "My Location" throwing things off like the Weather, Google Maps, Google Sky Maps and a compass application I have downloaded. I even reset the phone to factory default which did detect my proper location (via GPS) but only for about 10 minutes. I cannot get the location setting to stay put. Great phone, but this issue is a pretty big one for what I wanted the Eris for. I am also current with my OTA updates. I've tried everything listed in this thread. I'm thinking of going down to Verizon and seeing if they are all effected by this or if it's just mine (and I'll get it swapped out). Please post if you've sucessfully fixed (and it stays fixed) this issue.

Thanks!

 

[DigitalPasture]

Forgot to mention, I'm in the Tampa Bay area of FL.

 

[gluis]

I have all three turned on and get good batt usage from my phone. Of course, I'm a 20% usage user so your mileage may vary.
I keep the GPS turned on so that the Locale app can use it for my various settings.
I've never had an issue with an "off-center" location.