Google maps missing "pulsing blue dot"

It's funny you should say that because I was playing about with this today in a different location that had 3G coverage (my normal location doesn't).

Maps has changed in subtle ways (it seems) since 2.2, locating me mostly by the poor-quality relationship to the nearest cell-tower. When my location has been stable with good sky views for a few minutes I get the blue dot with the circle, but it was only with solid 3G and having been in a stable location for long enough that I got a stable blue dot without any ambiguity. Something that indicated that it was still trying to confirm (or improve still further) its accuracy were radio-transmission indicators around the blue dot (rather than the circle of ambiguity).

I noticed too that these indications changed when I zoomed in or out on the map too, showing greater uncertainty as I zoomed in (as you might expect).

When it works well it works really really well and when it works badly it is useless - several minutes of waiting in a location with a good sky view for a reasonable satellite position fix isn't always convenient but it seems sometimes to be necessary!

Cross-hairs indicate a GPS-tower and router (Skyhook) based location fix. The pulsing blue dot indicates a GPS fix. GPS may not work inside, in tunnels, or other locations where the iPhone can't lock on to enough of the satellites. If it doesn't work outside in the open with a clear view of a large portion of the sky, it's possible your GPS system is not working. To get it working again, try a reset (hold Home and Sleep/Wake until you get the broken silver apple logo).

Also, in Settings > General, make sure Location Services are turned on.

I have the exact same problem. I got the blue dot about 95% of the time when I first purchased the iPhone. I have not changed locations. The weather has not changed. What has changed is the iPhone firmware, and my blue dot is all but gone. Here are the steps I have taken:

-toggling airport mode
-toggling location on/off
-toggling 3G
-restarting the phone numerous times
-resetting all settings
-soft reset numerous times
-restoring my iphone to factory settings, which still gives it firmware 2.2

result? still no blue dot.
please fix this, apple...