is there a way to calibrate gps on ipad?

Question

Level 1

9 points

is there a way to calibrate gps on ipad?

Hi, I purchased an iPad Mini 2 (cellular version) a couple of weeks ago to use on my boat with the Navionics chart plotter app. The app shows the boat location as a triangle and a number of ways to view it, one of which is the boat heading view where the map rotates according to the direction of the boat. The problem I'm having is that the app basically shows the boat tracking diagonally across my screen (from bottom right to top left), where it should be dead center from bottom to top. I also notice that the direction it is pointing when not moving is always off by roughly 30-40 degrees. Obviously these two issues are probably related. I'm not sure whether it is a problem with the app or the iPad. As for the iPad I thought maybe it was an issue with the GPS and that it needs to be calibrated. I have been searching in vain for the compass app, only to realize it is not on the iPad. Anyone have any suggestions or ideas on how to correct this problem?

iPad Mini, iOS 8.0.2

Posted on Oct 19, 2014 11:08 PM

Reply

Answer 1

paul_s_45 Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 20, 2014 7:41 PM in response to paul_s_45

Answered my own question. Firstly Apple should change this link as it is misleading - iPhone and iPad: Calibrating Compass - to say only iPhone. There is no Compass on the iPad. This kind of tied me up in circles for a while.

Meanwhile, to force a calibration of the compass on the iPad I had to open the Maps app and dial in an address to navigate to (also note, I don't have a SIM on this iPad so I had to teather it to my iPhone to get the network connection). Once that started I tapped the heading triangle to force a change on the heading display and almost immediately the calibration tool came up. Once the calibration was done my iPad displayed the correct heading on Maps as well as my Navionics app. Hope this helps other users.

Reply