I once was found, but now am lost - iPhone location-based fail!
July 23, 2009 4:45 PM Subscribe
When in my basement apartment, iPhone OS 2.0 could locate me within 10m of my actual coordinates; OS 3.0, on the other hand, thinks I'm 700m down the road. What gives?
Presumably it was -- and is -- using wifi to locate me, as no GPS signal should be available in underground. Any and all ideas appreciated.
Presumably it was -- and is -- using wifi to locate me, as no GPS signal should be available in underground. Any and all ideas appreciated.
From what I understand, it also uses cell phone towers to triangulate your position when GPS signal is unavailable. Perhaps some cell phone towers were moved or removed in your area, and thus the relative signal hitting each of them changed.
Here's a link describing the general idea.
posted by jangie at 4:59 PM on July 23, 2009
Here's a link describing the general idea.
posted by jangie at 4:59 PM on July 23, 2009
Response by poster: I had considered that it might have been the database changing over time, but I noticed the change immediately after updating my iPhone OS. I had seen the more-accurate location just a day or two beforehand. Perhaps it's a combination of the two factors? For example, the new OS might implement Skyhook's technology in a different way, or have different default servers (or something along those lines).
posted by onshi at 5:11 PM on July 23, 2009
posted by onshi at 5:11 PM on July 23, 2009
It's worth noting that 3.0, as much as the original release of 2.0, is a little buggy. If it's a software version, which seems likely given the proximity you mentioned between upgrading and the inaccurate location info, version 3.1 of the iPhone OS is due in the near future and may well fix this.
posted by jaffacakerhubarb at 8:05 PM on July 23, 2009
posted by jaffacakerhubarb at 8:05 PM on July 23, 2009
version 3.1 of the iPhone OS is due in the near future and may well fix this.
Don't hope and pray. File a bug. Never assume anyone has seen or reported your problem, no matter how obvious and widespread you might think it is.
posted by secret about box at 10:57 PM on July 23, 2009
Don't hope and pray. File a bug. Never assume anyone has seen or reported your problem, no matter how obvious and widespread you might think it is.
posted by secret about box at 10:57 PM on July 23, 2009
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the wifi nodes can drop out of their database after a while - try enabling the GPS unit and getting a fix while you're also connected to your local wifi node. eventually that data will make it into their db and you may get better positioning.
posted by GuyZero at 4:59 PM on July 23, 2009