How to manually initiate the GPS location?

Question

Level 1

18 points

How to manually initiate the GPS location?

*Main question: Can anyone advise how I can point the GPS application (Maps) to where I am to speed up the GPS initiation?*

While I am at it...
Also perhaps a recommendation a good GPS application for in the Desert (no roads, need to plan a route, waypoints save track, trackback etc). Currently using X-motion which is fairly good but drinks the battery like there's no tomorrow - or perhaps that is just the use of GPS...

Thank you!

MAC Pro, MACBook, Mac OS X (10.5.7), 8Gb Mac, 4Tb, Aperture, FCE, Apple TV, iTouch

Posted on Sep 6, 2010 6:25 AM

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Answer 1

van D Author

Level 1

18 points

Sep 7, 2010 3:06 AM in response to van D

Position finally established by using GPS from X-motion with accuracy filter off. However this took several hours and still did not get a sat fix (triangulated with cel towers?). This could be down to a problem with sats in Libya where I was trying to get fix. This is odd however as the iPhone using X-motions same programme worked fine. I will put it down to the first initialisation requiring a lot of time.... given no one has commented.

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Answer 2

Sep 8, 2010 8:46 AM in response to van D

I hate to say it but I think you are better off with a dedicated GPS for this sort of thing. It's probably also more rugged than the ipad, would use replaceable batteries, able to dowload to a laptop, etc.

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Answer 3

Nov 28, 2010 3:15 AM in response to van D

I'm getting very interested in GPS problems across the entire iOS device range. Ive got a 3GS and the GPS satellite fix stopped working completely recently. A fix identified using jailbreak and an ssh terminal tells me a good proportion of these problems are with locationd, the gps process in the iPhone, or more accurately, I think that it's possible for some of the data this process uses to become corrupted; the "fix" involves stopping the process and deleting the data it uses. On restart, locations is forced to rebuild the data, and everything then works.

I suspect this is true across the iPhone range - and worse, I think that the backup function in iTunes actually backs up the bad data. Thus, when you restore from backup, you actually put the problem back in! Either that, or GPS cache data isnt deleted when the iphone is restored.

What we need is an option in iTunes, or the iPhone settings, to clear GPS ephemeris and related data down and restart locationd: this will save apple a fortune in support at genius bars, as I reckon everyone who is getting a replacement is just getting a reblanked refurbished iPhone with no hardware fixes - they could be turning them around in the back of the stores!

We need to get some group pressure together to get an answer out of apple on this really - they do seem to have an approach which has much in common with the way the UK banks were dealing with overdraft fees - if you complained, they refunded just to keep you quiet and make sure you didn't shout. If this issue is an underlying gps driver or application demon issue, they should give us a way to work around the issue.

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Answer 4

pominoz

Level 1

108 points

Dec 29, 2010 7:29 AM in response to Basexperience

I have just travelled from Brunei in SE Asia to Argentina and all my apps that rely on the GPS place me in either the middle of the South Atlantic or in Namibia in Southern Africa. I have tried all the suggestions in this thread but the iPad (wi-fi only) and my iPhone 4G locate me in the middle of the ocean or in Namibia.

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