Google Sky or GPS problem?

Clementine_3 · November 27th, 2009, 09:45 AM

I love Google Sky but it seems to be off, by a goodly amount sometimes. I was showing my son the app last night (he likes astronomy and was home for Thanksgiving) and, no matter where I pointed, all we could see was the Southern hemisphere, I live in NY

I checked all the settings and had GPS on, didn't see a "user issue" (never out of the realm of possibilities though. lol). After he left I tried it again and it was closer to being right, but still not exactly right. I could see the friggin' moon in the sky yet could not find it on Google Sky, it was waaaay west of where it really was. I mean, it's the moon, it's not like I didn't know what I was looking at. No matter how I positioned the phone the moon stayed in the wrong place.
Was I having some dreaded GPS issue or has anyone noticed Sky being not so accurate?

Sitting Duck · November 27th, 2009, 10:47 AM

Mine works well but can be a few degrees off. The magnetic compass in the Droid is a bit quirky and can be off by 180 degrees at times. Try firing up Google Sky, hold the phone flat with the screen pointing up and then move it in a figure 8 pattern a couple of times. Sometimes gizmos with an electronic compass need to be recalibrated to magnetic north. And make sure there's nothing metal close to the phone.

Clementine_3 · November 27th, 2009, 11:18 AM

Thanks. I had calibrated it earlier in the day, after I installed a compass app. I wondered if that (compass) was the culprit so calibrated again to be sure. It's not like I am going to be steering ships at night so it's no biggie that it's not spot on anyway. At least I'm in the right hemisphere now.