Help Location services not working?

[satinkzo]

I have a moment as I traded my Hero in to give it a try since my hero ended up with dead lines on the screen.

Anyways,
For the life of me, I cannot get wireless or GPS location services to work. If I use wireless, google maps puts me somewhere over in China and if I try GPS, it never locks.
In sprint nav with wireless, I am in Virgina (I'm in Michigan) and GPS never locks.

I tried the trick I learned on the hero to disable wireless services until I get a GPS lock at least once, but even that didn't work.

 

[satinkzo]

Got my gps to work but for my location to function in google maps I found that I need to have both gps and wireless checked. Gps alone did not seem to work and wireless alone puts all over the globe like carmen sandiego

 

[emcube]

i'm not even able to locate my current position in Google maps. it tells me that location service is temporarily unavailable. it has been 2 days since i got the phone??? btw, i have both wireless network and gps enabled.

hmmm... just read an article from http://www.smartdevicecentral.com/article/Samsung+Moment+SPHM900+Sprint/245341_1.aspx

"The Moment's GPS has some issues. Its Android 1.5 OS doesn't support cellular AGPS on CDMA networks, and the satellite GPS had real trouble locking in when I tried it in New York City. I wouldn't recommend this phone for location-based services until an Android 1.6 upgrade comes over the air from Sprint. They didn't give me a time frame for that."

so, what does this mean? is this the reason why apps like Locale couldnt find my current location? does HTC Hero have similar issues?

 

[yourm0m1]

i dont have any issues with my gps...all apps have put me on my street within feet.

 

[satinkzo]

i dont have any issues with my gps...all apps have put me on my street within feet.

When my GPS finally does lock (after about 4 minutes) it's very accurate, but the performance is garbage. What'smore, it seems my GPS won't lock unless I am moving also, very odd.

Hero GPS had no issues for me at all and the wirless location service worked pretty darn well (as noted the moment wireless location is literally all over the globe)

edit:
did a test this morning. Turned on GPS and was stationary, no lock for 4 minutes. Turn off google maps, got in car on way to work, turned on google maps and drove 1 block and immediate lock after pressing My Location. Very odd behavior, but the GPS is pretty accurate.

 

[KoukiFC3S]

I think HTC put A-GPS on the Hero; never had a problem getting my location indoor with it.

According to my Moment; right now I am in the UK lol.

 

[n8man1068]

I'm also in VA, and it took mine several minutes to acquire a good signal. I ended up having both 'enable gps satellites' and 'use wireless networks' checked. Looking forward to playing with the Latitude. A gps tracker app was something I wanted earlier in the year for my motorcycle trips.

 

[Bernal]

Just to clarify what is known about the Moment's location services so far. This has been gathered through armchair research so realize that I could be slightly off on some of the details.

Under Settings --> Security & location --> "My Location sources"

1. Use wireless networks

The description says "Location determined by Wi-Fi and/or mobile networks. This is misleading because the Moment can't determine location based on mobile networks, it only supports Wi-Fi based location sevices. But for the Wi-Fi location service to work, Wi-Fi must be turned on. If you have "Use wireless networks" enabled but turn off Wi-Fi, then the Moment will not be able to determine your location.

Further, the ability for Wi-Fi based location services to work is based on third-party data services such as Skyhook Wireless. For the moment to pinpoint your location using Wi-Fi, it must send the list of Wi-Fi access points within range to Skyhook and if Skyhook recognizes any of the access points, meaning they have the location of the access point logged in their database, then they can report back the location of the device based on any combination of successful matches and there relative signal strengths.

As has been noted by others, AGPS (Assisted GPS) which makes use of cell towers isn't supported in Android 1.5 for CDMA networks. HTC added a limited version of it to the Hero which only relied on the location of one tower. It didn't appear to do triangulation. The Moment will likely not get AGPS functionality until we get an OS update to 1.6 or 2.0.

2. Enable GPS satellites

Using GPS satellites does work, but takes a while to establish an initial lock and it doesn't work well indoors (even in places where the Hero was able to). It must be able to get a lock on at least three satellites to work.

...

Now, why people are getting locations in other parts of the world is indeed strange. In any case, relying solely on the Wi-Fi based location service is not a good idea and will likely have as negative an impact on battery life as using GPS (that's just a guess on my part).

If you are turning off Wi-Fi and GPS, then you should make sure you shouldn't use any programs that poll for your current location (ie. weather widgets).

--Bernal

 

[kayawire]

Just to clarify what is known about the Moment's location services so far. This has been gathered through armchair research so realize that I could be slightly off on some of the details.

Under Settings --> Security & location --> "My Location sources"

1. Use wireless networks

The description says "Location determined by Wi-Fi and/or mobile networks. This is misleading because the Moment can't determine location based on mobile networks, it only supports Wi-Fi based location sevices. But for the Wi-Fi location service to work, Wi-Fi must be turned on. If you have "Use wireless networks" enabled but turn off Wi-Fi, then the Moment will not be able to determine your location.

Further, the ability for Wi-Fi based location services to work is based on third-party data services such as Skyhook Wireless. For the moment to pinpoint your location using Wi-Fi, it must send the list of Wi-Fi access points within range to Skyhook and if Skyhook recognizes any of the access points, meaning they have the location of the access point logged in their database, then they can report back the location of the device based on any combination of successful matches and there relative signal strengths.

As has been noted by others, AGPS (Assisted GPS) which makes use of cell towers isn't supported in Android 1.5 for CDMA networks. HTC added a limited version of it to the Hero which only relied on the location of one tower. It didn't appear to do triangulation. The Moment will likely not get AGPS functionality until we get an OS update to 1.6 or 2.0.

2. Enable GPS satellites

Using GPS satellites does work, but takes a while to establish an initial lock and it doesn't work well indoors (even in places where the Hero was able to). It must be able to get a lock on at least three satellites to work.

...

Now, why people are getting locations in other parts of the world is indeed strange. In any case, relying solely on the Wi-Fi based location service is not a good idea and will likely have as negative an impact on battery life as using GPS (that's just a guess on my part).

If you are turning off Wi-Fi and GPS, then you should make sure you shouldn't use any programs that poll for your current location (ie. weather widgets).

--Bernal

Ok , Sprint Navigation seems to work fine for me, but when I start the app. "Where" it is just stuck on "finding your network location.Please wait..." for ever!!!

So this worked fine on my Hero, but not my Moment... And your saying that any app. such as Where, Locale etc. will not work until we get an update to 1.6 or 2.0?!?

Just when I thought the Moment had the Hero beat! .... I'm pissed

 

[satinkzo]

Ok , Sprint Navigation seems to work fine for me, but when I start the app. "Where" it is just stuck on "finding your network location.Please wait..." for ever!!!

So this worked fine on my Hero, but not my Moment... And your saying that any app. such as Where, Locale etc. will not work until we get an update to 1.6 or 2.0?!?

Just when I thought the Moment had the Hero beat! .... I'm pissed

What Bernal said is pretty much my summary of it too. The location feature in the moment works fine if you can get a good GPS signal or happen to be near some known wifi. Overall it's much below what the hero can do, but since AGPS is not supported on 1.5, it's nothing we can do and not really a quirk of the phone, just lack of support at the software level. I leve my GPS on in the OS since it only gets activated by apps that need it, but if you run one that is based on location (like weather channel widget), then it can be a drain.

Hopefully, it will all get worked out when they update.

 

[jmz768]

I just posted in another thread about this very same issue. When I use the wireless network to determine my position it puts me somewhere in Alabama (I'm in Michigan). If I switch to using the GPS sattelites I get an accurate lock within a couple seconds.

I called tech support and while the guy couldn't help me, he did say that it's something they've been receiving calls about.

My advice would be that everybody with a Moment calls and complains even if they don't use their GPS. It might light a fire under sombody to get us upgraded to 1.6.

 

[Edaze55]

Push for 2.0, dont push for 1.6, which will be just as outdated as 1.5 is now when/if they update.

Besides. Ive stated over and over again the biggest two draws to 1.6 were CDMA Support. Which obviously we have, and VPN capabilities.

 

[akenis]

Thanks for the info. I didn't know about the wireless location option. I tried it here near the airport in Newark. I think I actually am somewhere in the huge circle!

With both gps and wireless disabled...I think I was in Latvia.

Correct about the GPS not working well indoors. It does sometimes seem to take a while to lock on. Moving around tends to help. Had similar issues on the 800w. Someone figured out that you could dial ##GPS# and it opened a screen where you could dump all the gps data. Quick lock after doing so.

NEW QUESTION: Has anyone been able to get the GPS to lock on with the phone turned off? I was looking forward to a free app with internal maps and using the GPS with the phone off. Didn't seem to work.

If I had the phone on, with a good lock and Google maps working fine.....then turn off the phone...."LOCATION TEMPORARILY UNAVAIL"

I fly a lot....love the WX channel ...current location option. Is it really a wasting a lot of battery if the GPS is off and the phone has no data?

Thanks...

 

[chixdigit]

I fly a lot....love the WX channel ...current location option. Is it really a wasting a lot of battery if the GPS is off and the phone has no data?

Thanks...

I am no pro with this phone yet, but here is my recommendation regarding your concern below:
I was having problems with the WX Channel widget always telling me that I was in AL (I am in TX), so I just deleted the (large version) widget that came on the 3rd screen of my phone.
From there, I went into apps, and opened the WX Channel app. Somehow I adjusted the settings to list my zip as my "Home" location. (I think once I entered that location, I press and held on it to get some more options for that location).
After doing that, I now have a pretty cool little temp icon in my "notifications" bar at the top of my screen that always shows the current weather (for my correct location too!). If I drag down the notification bar and click on that notification line, it opens up the WX Channel app, which always shows my zip as the location.
Bottom line for me (and anyone else interested) is that I fixed the problem with the larger, pre-loaded app always giving me weather for AL, and now I have a cool little icon at the top of my phone that always shows the current weather for my zip.
Bottom line for you is that this way does NOT use my GPS at all, and I WOULD think that the widget always calling on your GPS to get weather for "your location" would negatively affect the battery. Getting to my point- maybe try what I've done, and then when you fly to a different location, just pull down the notification to get into your WX Channel app (instead of widget) and enter the city. From then on, the cities that you've entered will always be on the first screen of that app, and you can just choose the one that you're in/ flying to. That way will not always be calling on your GPS, and I think it's simple to just manually select the location you're in/ flying to.
Just my 2 cents. Hope it was helpful.

 

[stantheman]

I intially had the same problem with location being shown about 2000 miles away. I had to go right to the widget for , not the shortcut widget, for the Sprint navigation app and do the set up.

 

[masbirdies]

My GPS works so well, I got Golf Card for Andriod. Tried it out at the golf course yesterday. It was amazingly accurate. Used Google Maps during the drive home. My location was always spot on. Even when I pulled up in my driveway, the blue "my location" dot was right in front of my garage.

I found I had to enable wireless networks and gps and MAKE SURE the WiFi was OFF.

 

[Ms_Kady]

My GPS works best when I am outside directly under the sky. It has a hard time finding my location indoors.

 

[DanDroid]

Location services has been acting up for me since December 18th. The HTC Clock / weather widget city would always change based on my location, and would change back to my correct location after I got home. Prior to December 18th, as I would drive and change locations, that widget location would change based on where I was at the time. Now it doesn't change at all, and sometimes while the phone is sitting on my desk, the city will change 3 times! WTH is going on here?

 

[Petemeister]

Try disabling using network locator and use GPS satellites only on location and security option on Settings. Also don't download and install US Traffic as this seems to conflict with Sprint Navigation, Trapster and Maps. I was told after getting a replacement phone there was no fix to the problem reported by many but I found a Sprint manager who knew of this fix and it seems to work again.

 

[pastafarian]

First, you're digging up an old thread about a long ago fixed issue. Second, TMI.....don't post your phone number EVER!

 

[roadster]

yeah was in the south and what a deadzone gps neverworked after Georgia. till I got back North it worked likea charm

Old thread ornot, its a topic.