Develop Bugs

GPS/Location Problem

Hello,
Since I have rooted my myTouch 3G Slide I started to notice GPS problems.
But it's funny how some things related to GPS work, and some don't.
Examples:
- Weather: can determine my location perfectly and show weather from that region.
- Maps: can't determine my location, or shows it in completely random place, or maybe like 2-3 miles off. But now I just checked it works perfectly when plugged into usb (charge mode). But now if I unplug and use maps it will work perfectly. But sometimes it's just gay...
- Facebook Location: sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. Pretty much same as maps
I have tried many roms and this happens on every rom there is.
Currently I am using stock rooted rom with su.
Possible thoughts: GPS doesnt work on full power when not plugged into usb and thats why it cant find location...
P.S. Off-topic question. Anyone knows good offline navigation with gps tracking?

Are you using a Froyo ROM? And if so, did you upgrade to the latest radio? In my experience, anytime I switched to a ROM that changes a major version of the software, the radio had to be upgraded. The latest is 7.09 still I believe... The "randomness" of location working is probably because you're not waiting for a GPS lock. When maps shows you not exactly in the same place, it is not "random", it has located you based on the cell towers in your area, as a "calculated" approximate location. Think of "triangulation" that was popularly used in the movies when they would track a person via cell phone. Almost all the apps that can use your locations can use either location by GPS or location by network.

fermunky said:
Are you using a Froyo ROM? And if so, did you upgrade to the latest radio? In my experience, anytime I switched to a ROM that changes a major version of the software, the radio had to be upgraded. The latest is 7.09 still I believe... The "randomness" of location working is probably because you're not waiting for a GPS lock. When maps shows you not exactly in the same place, it is not "random", it has located you based on the cell towers in your area, as a "calculated" approximate location. Think of "triangulation" that was popularly used in the movies when they would track a person via cell phone. Almost all the apps that can use your locations can use either location by GPS or location by network.
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Hmm I never updated the radio cause I have had no idea what it is, but I will look into upgrading it. And hmm, maybe GPS doesnt work at all and those apps that work use network to figureout location.
But anyway I installed CoPilot and it worked great so far.
Lokking forward radio upgrade, and thanks for info

[Solved][Q] Course Location Problems (not GPS)

I've been dealing with a problem on my G2 for a while now, but not sure when it started exactly. Basically, I'm no longer able to determine my location using the cell towers (ie: coarse location).
Several programs I have rely on coarse location, such as the News and Weather app and Beautiful Widgets, not to mention latitude via Google Maps.
I originally thought it was an issue with CyanogenMod 7 starting from RC2 and up, but after having reverted to CM 6.1.1 I found that it was not working there.
If I use GPS or WiFi my location is found pretty quickly, and if I set "only use 2G networks" (or whatever the setting is called) then coarse location works.
My testing method is to reboot the phone and then when it stabilizes to go into the News and Weather app to see if it can find my location. When it does not work I just get a screen that says as much and a link to set my location manually.
I've done this same test on clean roms with no settings or restorations and I get the same results.
Thinking that maybe the radio was to blame I went so far as updating it, while at the same time doing the "real" S-OFF routine through gfree (I permrooted using the original method when it was found, which I've read was some type of fake S-OFF...). This didn't change anything, unfortunately.
While I know this is not related to GPS, I wiped the EFS data as well since I updated the radio (thread 1028405). This didn't help either, though I didn't expect it to.
I've called T-Mobile a few times about this, and had them do a clear location, which didn't seem to change anything.
Lastly, while not the same equipment, I did put my SIM back into my Nexus One (Completely Stock, running latest GB from Google) to see if the problem followed me. Using 3G with that phone, I was able to get my location nearly instantly, so it seems to be something with my phone directly. A G2 demo unit at my local T-Mobile store also was able to find it's location quickly via coarse location.
So, I'm lost as to what to do now. Is it broken? Do I need to replace it? Do I need to flash it back to utter stockness and test all over again?
If there is any additional information that I can provide, please let me know.
Edit: I found a solution using the app Location Cache in the market. Just wipe the location cache using the app and it should fix your problems. Here's the link:
https://market.android.com/details?id=ch.rrelmy.android.locationcachemap

I have the same issue. It started while on CM7 and now if I go back to any other ROM the issue persists. Always wondered what caused it.

I'm having the same problem. Try switching your mobile network to 2G only and see if network location works then. It works flawlessly for me with 2G only but when i switch to 3G/HSPDA+ it fails to find my location and give me the "location temporarily unavailable" error. Wifi and GPS work fine but that's useless unless you have wifi signal available or are outside. I had this problem in the past and flashing a new radio worked before but I can't seem to get it to work this time. I"m running the CM7 Stable but have tested it on the MIUI ROM as well. So frustrating.

Solved
I found a solution!
Because of all this location tracking non-sense, I downloaded an app called Location Cache from the market. I was thinking that it might be helpful in trying to figure out my lack of location services on 3G/4G.
The information it displayed was that all my cell towers had an accuracy of -1. Thinking it couldn't get worse, I wiped the location cache, which also results in the phone rebooting.
To my surprise, after the phone came up I was now getting location services on 3G/4G. Accuracy at my home was 75 vs -1, and my location is working in my work area as well (about 20 miles North of my home).
Here's a market link:
https://market.android.com/details?id=ch.rrelmy.android.locationcachemap

Tasker Locations Not Updating

Does anyone else have any issues with Tasker locations not working. I can't seem to get it to fire when using the cell phone polling when changing locations. I have also tried Llama as well and I have the same issue. I worked fine on my EVO and EVO3D but not the Samsung Epic 4G.
When I go and create a new state based on Cell Towers it will locate them but it will never update when I leave the area. I have also tried using network option but that doesn't work either.
I would like to know if anyone has these options working.
Thanks.

I have used location. but it was based on GPS. only issue I have had so far with this phone and tasker is the proximity sensor triggers but never turns off.

I've noticed that locations in general don't properly work with this phone unless you have GPS enabled. The phone is supposed to be able to get a location based off whatever cell tower it's connected to, however it doesn't update this information unless you do a reboot. For instance, my phone still thinks it's connected to the tower nearby where I live despite being 14 miles away in a different city where I work. Google Maps, Open Signal maps, ANY application will tell me the same thing. It's an annoying bug that's been around since the phone came out.

For me, GPS and network location services seem to die after being in deep sleep for a while. Opening Terminal Emulator and restarting the GPS Daemon by typing "gpsd" gets GPS going for me again, haven't got network location restarted yet.
I also don't know if this has been an ongoing issue or not, just started really noticing it on the recent EL leaks. I'm hoping Samsung gets it fixed soon.

That's pretty much the same problem I've been having. I have gone back and forth with the developer for Llama and he said that it's a OS issue that's the cause.

steelersmb said:
That's pretty much the same problem I've been having. I have gone back and forth with the developer for Llama and he said that it's a OS issue that's the cause.
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What i did to resolve this problem is i did a full stock restore back to eg30 everything. i backed up the Network location apk and the gps.conf file. I then rooted again and flashed the latest Calkulin's v.2.8 ROM and restored the stock files into the custom ROM. GPS lock is instant and updating to current location is a snap. this kind of surgery is not very scientific but it works every and all the time. Im working on a .xml that will take care of this instead of me cutting and pasting with from ROM to ROM.

Hello, I just purchased an Epic Touch and have had the same problem, where coarse network-based location does not work correctly. It also seems as if it's an OS-related issue since coarse location does not update in google maps, either.
The only temporary resolution I've found is to release and renew the aGPS state using a 3rd part app, such as GPS fix or GPS test. However, this is useless when trying to use tasker to switch between different location-based states...
Has anyone found any resolution since the OP?

[Q][GPS]Hey guys/gals need some help.[SOLVED]

The problem: GPS Can't find location. (Samsung Galaxy S II TMobile)
A friend of mine have SGSII from TMo and the GPS and any app that uses location can't find the location, the phone is stock gingerbread no root nothing. We already uninstall Maps updates and re installed it, Cache and data was cleared too, we force stop the app do several reboots, WiFi is enabled and GPS enabled all settings on Menu>Settings>Location Services are enabled. What could be happening? There is any code to reset GPS or VRAM on the TMo variant?
Edit: We Also Factory Reset the device nothing yet... frustrating...

well get off wifi because using wifi allows you to be pinpointed with the wifi not the GPS.
then go stand outside for like 5 mins with the gps on. If that doesn't work. Download Fasterfix, choose location and click GO or whatever. Then go stand outside for quicker lockon.

Teo032 said:
well get off wifi because using wifi allows you to be pinpointed with the wifi not the GPS.
then go stand outside for like 5 mins with the gps on. If that doesn't work. Download Fasterfix, choose location and click GO or whatever. Then go stand outside for quicker lockon.
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thanks I'll try that. It worked How I did not think of that? lol

glad it worked, you would be surprise how many people overlook the simplest logic lol

Offline GPS.. completely reliant on cellular or could I not hit the satellites in JA?

I went to Jamaica last week and downloaded an offline cache of most of the island for Google Maps. I figured if the cell phone has GPS I could use it.. I guess I didn't realize how dependent the GPS was on cell signal because it never found a location. I still had airplane mode enabled because I was paranoid about incurring accidental roaming charges, but I just tried it here and it doesn't work with airplane mode enabled either.. makes sense I guess. I disabled airplane mode while I was there and it still didn't work. I had the Google Maps cached data so I just navigated by looking at street signs. Just thought the GPS should work. Did I assume incorrectly or maybe do something wrong?

o8oedo8 said:
I went to Jamaica last week and downloaded an offline cache of most of the island for Google Maps. I figured if the cell phone has GPS I could use it.. I guess I didn't realize how dependent the GPS was on cell signal because it never found a location. I still had airplane mode enabled because I was paranoid about incurring accidental roaming charges, but I just tried it here and it doesn't work with airplane mode enabled either.. makes sense I guess. I disabled airplane mode while I was there and it still didn't work. I had the Google Maps cached data so I just navigated by looking at street signs. Just thought the GPS should work. Did I assume incorrectly or maybe do something wrong?
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When I was in a Jet of all places I opened up GPS Speedometer to see how fast the Jet was going at 30,000 feet. I never got a signal but as soon as we got closer to ground and picked up AT&T for a few seconds at a time the gps started to work. So to test it again before I took off the second time, I opened up GPS Speedometer and had it lock onto my location. After take off and at 50,000 feet it was accurate the entire way. So my guess is it has to have a data connection temporarily or something.

i tried this when i was in a similar situation with BRUTE google maps (same style of downloaded cache of maps) and it was very inconsistent and buggy. in the end, i downloaded a gps app (copilot) and it worked perfectly the entire time with my phone in airplane mode.
hope that helps

wang1chung said:
i tried this when i was in a similar situation with BRUTE google maps (same style of downloaded cache of maps) and it was very inconsistent and buggy. in the end, i downloaded a gps app (copilot) and it worked perfectly the entire time with my phone in airplane mode.
hope that helps
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This is the best solution. CoPilot is the best navigation app and doens't rely at all on cellular networks or Data

Perfect! I should have done more research before leaving

Just got back from Mexico and had a similar experience. I precached my location assuming I can use navigate offline over there, I was mistaken. First, I turned off data cause roaming data costs an arm/leg so I had no data, just voice roaming. With my GPS on, I literally had to stick my phone out the window so it could lock on some satellites. When it finally did, I was able to see my location on gmaps. When I tried to navigate, that's when the app complained about needing data. All I could do was just see where I was, unable to navigate. I think I'll have to find another solution for offline navigation.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app

el_chiefo said:
Just got back from Mexico and had a similar experience. I precached my location assuming I can use navigate offline over there, I was mistaken. First, I turned off data cause roaming data costs an arm/leg so I had no data, just voice roaming. With my GPS on, I literally had to stick my phone out the window so it could lock on some satellites. When it finally did, I was able to see my location on gmaps. When I tried to navigate, that's when the app complained about needing data. All I could do was just see where I was, unable to navigate. I think I'll have to find another solution for offline navigation.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
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Worst case find an open wifi and connect to it to start navagation..