Help Does the Droid need a cell signal for GPS?

[madmathew]

I'm in Iraq and I don't have cell service but I was trying to get the GPS to work and I didn't get anything. Do you need cell service for the GPS to work? The GPS symbol shows up but I got no map. Maybe I didn't let it search for satellite's long enough?

 

[celios]

I'm in Iraq and I don't have cell service but I was trying to get the GPS to work and I didn't get anything. Do you need cell service for the GPS to work? The GPS symbol shows up but I got no map. Maybe I didn't let it search for satellite's long enough?

The map is loaded over the cellular data connection, so if you have no cell service you won't get a map from Google Maps. The GPS should be able to give you your lat / long coords without any cell service. although it uses the cell towers to give an initial rough estimate so it will take longer to get a position with no network. I think there are a few alternative mapping apps that use maps stored on the device, but you'll need to google a bit as I can't remember what they're called.

 

[madmathew]

That's OK, I'll be out of here soon enough. I just wanted to try some of the features out. It sucks to have it and not have any service yet

 

[celios]

That's OK, I'll be out of here soon enough. I just wanted to try some of the features out. It sucks to have it and not have any service yet

If you can get to somewhere with a WiFi connection, Google Maps will use that to load the map data instead. It still might be a bit slower picking up a lock, but if you have clear blue skies that'll help

 

[waremaster]

I'm in Iraq and I don't have cell service but I was trying to get the GPS to work and I didn't get anything. Do you need cell service for the GPS to work? The GPS symbol shows up but I got no map. Maybe I didn't let it search for satellite's long enough?

If you are in iraq and serving in the armed forces I would like to Thank You for your Service.

 

[youllberad]

Ditto. I thank you as well.