Android 4.3 and KitKat, wrong GPS location

[nickdalzell]

seems to affect every KitKat device, my two Nexus tablets, even my Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 with 4.2.2 on it. any app (say Weather Channel) or Google Now tends to locate me extremely far from where i am actually at. Maps shows me correctly in Owensboro, KY, but other apps that attempt to use GPS show me in places like Cupertino, CA, Tacoma, WA, or even London, England. is this some bug in the 'high accuracy' feature that came with 4.2? ever since that became part of the location settings the GPS has been wrong almost every time. the only workaround is to set it to 'device GPS only' but for some reason it kills Google Now and it sends a card asking me to put it back in High Accuracy mode, so i won't get any local data anymore until i do, in which it just puts data relevant to those other locations and not Owensboro, KY. is there a way to force Google Now to rely only on the device GPS which it did before?

 

[Rukbat]

Strange - My Note 3s, which came with 4.3, have about the same accuracy as any GPS device - 15-100 feet, depending on conditions. I've never even been on the wrong side of town, let alone the wrong coast.

As far as forcing an app to work differently. not really unless you rewrite it or write an app to fool it into thinking that it's getting data that it's not.

 

[Thom]

I use "High Accuracy" on a Droid Maxx with Kit Kat and it is within a few feet. Of course there is a lot of WiFi helping out. There was no toticable change from Jelly Bean to Kit Kat.

... Thom

 

[nickdalzell]

if i use 'device GPS only' it works fine. widgets and weather data are correct within a few feet. in High Accuracy mode it tends to put me in the wrong place. often another state or country, or it shows my current location as the location of a cell tower (and GNow tells me i'm like 20 mins from home when i'm already there). in this mode, it seems to never use GPS radio at all, relying entirely on wifi and cell towers. this wasn't always part of the location settings, it just showed up with the update. before it was just GPS on/off. and it worked fine then. but now if i use it in GPS only it kills Google Now entirely and it won't show local data. i am not sure why it seems to 'force' the use of cell towers and such when it obviously doesn't work. this isn't just one device, it's not a root issue, as my two Nexus tablets also do it, and they're not rooted or running any custom ROM--both think my location is Tacoma WA. this often happens at home, and my router runs DD-WRT firmware, so could my router be to blame here? it shows the correct time/date in the stats though, so it has my time zone correct.

 

[Thom]

OK. I'm not root-ed. I just asked "OK Droid find me a sandwich" and it listed all the restaurants within one mile of my current location.

There are about 14 WiFi Signals including my two.

... Thom