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Google Location showing me somewhere I wasn't

Ok so I have been very puzzled lately when I took a look at google location on my computer. I have a Verizon Wireless Samsung S5 that I recently bought last month. I connect to 4G data and use my home wifi and my school's wifi sometimes. My problem is that almost everyday it shows that I went to multiple places within california (where i live) that I haven't been to for a while or have never been too. It is really puzzling to me. The map does show my normal routine of going to my bus stop and to school and then back home but then it also shows random place like one place 25 miles east and then one about 25 miles west and then another location 15 miles NE. The only thing that I can think of is that there are cell towers that the phone is connecting too and thats why it shows me there. can somebody please help me. I have heard of this happening to other people to.
 
When it shows you away from a location where you actually are, the phone has switched from a geo location to a Network estimated location.

The Network estimated location is a triangulation of two or three cell sites and it uses time-domain calcuations to get an estimate. That estimate is very rough, and as you have seen, it can be considerly different than where you really are.

I put a stop to that by setting my Location to "High Accuracy" and leave the GPS 'ON' at all times. That does not effect the battery life enough to even be noticable. In fact, a battery monitor app will tell you that it might shorten the battery life by about 20 minutes over the time period of 18-24 hours.

So, leave the gps ON, set it for High Accuracy and things should be a lot better for you.

Now, another thing to keep in mind, the location reporting will usually be "after the fact" by time delays up to 30 minutes or more. It depends on what app is doing the gps polling.

I went to the Google+ page and told it to NOT track me.

The only time I want the gps to locate me is when I tell it to do so. I do a lot of location reports to the highway department about road hazards.

To ensure that such reports are dead accurate, I use a two step process.

1st: I start up GPS STATUS https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eclipsim.gpsstatus2
this app polls a government geo site for the current emphemeris of the satellites in the sky, it then locks the phone's gps onto that location and will typically be within 10 meters of your actual location.

2nd: I then use Find Address app
Once that looks at the current gps reading, it will then get the actual street address or block of addresses from Google Maps for that lat/long.

I then hit the Sharing icon and use the appropriate means of sending that info to the highway department.

It took me ten times longer to tell it than to just do it.
3 clicks and it is done for me.
 
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The poll must be using the "last known location" instead of forcing the GPS to get a new fix. That last known apparently is NOT a true gps derived location.

I think that if you will install a GPS tracking app and have that follow you around for a day or two, that it will be fairly accurate. such apps use a bit of battery power though.

I have used them just for grins, but do not leave them activated.
 
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FWIW just did another try of Google's location things. It puts me somewhere near Bristol, UK, when fact I've been back in China for the last fortnight, in Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Zhuhai and now Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.

google.jpg


China Unicom is NOT a United Kingdom carrier.
 
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FWIW just did another try of Google's location things. It puts me somewhere near Bristol, UK, when fact I've been back in China for the last fortnight, in Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Zhuhai and now Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.

View attachment 134871

China Unicom is NOT a United Kingdom carrier.

Darn mikedt! If I'd known that you were that close to me, (30 miles), I would have bought you a drink old son. As it is, I'll honour your name by buying myself an extra pint next time I'm in the pub. :D
 
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