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Help Android Device Manager - incorrect location, missing location points.

Z

Zee99

Lurker
Greetings,
I have very limited knowledge of mobile technology, GPS etc. so my questions may sound a bit dumb:
  1. Checking my Location History (Android Device Manager – Google) I can see sometimes huge gaps in the timeline. Say 2-3 hours are simply missing from the location points, like my phone was turned off although I’m sure it wasn’t. (I have not deleted these points.) Can anyone explain it to me why it is happening?
  2. Although I’m not expecting the system to show extreme precise location of my phone yet sometimes it locates me several hundred meters away from my current position. It mostly occurs when I’m in a densely populated area. Like driving from my home to the downtown all the way the location is correct while I got to the CBD my location is almost always somewhat “displaced”. Could it be because there are too many signals in the downtown?
Many thanks
 
There are a number of reason location precision might vary. If for any reason it loses a GPS fix then the cell-based location is actually not terribly accurate, and in a densely built area can be confused further by reflections of signals. I don't know what "the CBD" is so can't really comment on whether that's somewhere were you are more likely to have problems. GPS itself is unlikely to work inside a building though, so once you go indoors location will unavoidably become less accurate.

I don't know about the timeline because I don't share my location with Google anyway so don't know what is normal for it.
 
Thanks Hadron. Sorry for the confusion, CBD is actually the local acronym for the downtown. The funny thing in this that my phone is automatically switching from mobile data to my workplace's Wi-Fi when I enter the building yet the displayed location is about 300-400 meters away from my actual location. By the device manager it seems I'm working in a public car park... :)
Same story when I'm going to my regular shopping mall where my phone switches to a public Wi-Fi. When I'm home or at my second job (connected to company Wi-Fi) and/or away from the crowded areas then the displayed location becomes much more accurate.
 
Hmm, I wonder whether that just means that Google have the wrong location for your workplace's WiFi? That would explain it - you switch to that network, Google Base the location on where their records say the transmitter is located, and if they have that wrong then they misreport your location. I've known them get the location of shops, restaurants or pubs wrong by up to a couple of blocks, so it's not inconceivable.

Same thing happening in the Mall reduces the likelihood, but malls are big places and real GPS cover will be lost, so unless they have a good map of the routers I can imagine the location becoming imprecise.
 
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Zee99 said:
Greetings,
I have very limited knowledge of mobile technology, GPS etc. so my questions may sound a bit dumb:
  1. Checking my Location History (Android Device Manager – Google) I can see sometimes huge gaps in the timeline. Say 2-3 hours are simply missing from the location points, like my phone was turned off although I’m sure it wasn’t. (I have not deleted these points.) Can anyone explain it to me why it is happening?
  2. Although I’m not expecting the system to show extreme precise location of my phone yet sometimes it locates me several hundred meters away from my current position. It mostly occurs when I’m in a densely populated area. Like driving from my home to the downtown all the way the location is correct while I got to the CBD my location is almost always somewhat “displaced”. Could it be because there are too many signals in the downtown?
Many thanks
Click to expand...

Hi, a few thoughts on your location questions :-

GPS is by far the most accurate and requires only that your device can 'see' and receive information from at least three satellites. In good conditions the accuracy can be down to a few feet - I regularly use GPS to track me when hill walking and it will locate me to a particular path as shown on apps such as OsmAnd.

Geolocation by cell network uses the fact that as long as your device is switched on and within range of at least one tower the network knows where you are - it has to to be able to route a call to you. The accuracy of the location depends on how many towers are in range and the varying signal strengths and 'ping/response' lag times - eg one mast at a distance of 1000 metres would put you within a circular area of 1000 metres radius, multiple masts and strong signal 50 metres or less would be possible.

Geolocation by wifi requires your device to be in range of one or more wifi hubs/routers the location/s of which is/are known, eg Googles address database compiled to a great extent by the 'street view' excercise - accuracy varies from street/post code to a few metres depending on the accuracy of the address database, I believe in some cases even lat/long coordinates are given.

Assuming you don't have your GPS switched on all the time it is theoretically possible to have periods of 'no location' even with your device switched on, if you happen to be out of range of a cell tower and wifi access point/wifi switched off.
 
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Thank you for your the info. Actually, my GPS is always on - at least I've turned it on and didn't touch it since then. I've done some further checking and it appears that 90% of the "wrong location" is happening when I'm at my workplace. Also, I had to find out that my company has just moved a couple of years ago -before my employment - to it's recent location and it seems my phone's is actually showing the company's old address - or at least very close to that address. (They've just moved one street away from the original location.) The funny thing that Google maps displays my company at the right address... So confusing...
 
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