Googlemaps

[jimeller]

Google maps shows my current position of several streets away. I know it says accurate to 400 metres so I'll live with it, but when it states my address as being a village several miles away it annoys the hell out of me, particularly as I live in a medium sized town... is there a reason for this??

 

[LaughingJohn]

Have you switched on the GPS? If you don't it attempts to locate your location using triangulation from the cell network masts and this is less accurate especially if you don't have many masts nearby.

 

[sundials]

Hi, I have had this too, couple of things that might sound really obvious are,

If you are indoors the GPS wont get a satelite lock so it will be way off, have you tried it outside?

Also if you are outside, then stuff like clouds, trees, buildings etc will also hamper the GPS lock.

 

[cintra]

Google maps shows my current position of several streets away. I know it says accurate to 400 metres so I'll live with it, but when it states my address as being a village several miles away it annoys the hell out of me, particularly as I live in a medium sized town... is there a reason for this??

You should worry, it places me in the middle of the Oslo fjord.. if I don't use GPS

 

[jimeller]

Thanks for the input. No, I don't have GPS on very often, so I can see now why its not so accurate to my location. Should have figured that one out really.....

Cintra. At least there is a tunnel beneath Oslo FJord to keep dry in!

 

[FADviral]

If you don't it attempts to locate your location using triangulation from the cell network masts and this is less accurate especially if you don't have many masts nearby.

I don't think it even uses triangulation. It gives the nearest cell tower location. In big cities with lots of transmitters, this works fairly well (but even then, not exact), but in semi-rural/rual/poor coverage areas the results will be disappointing.

Google's My Location technology is really just a quick fix for phones without GPS, so that everybody can use location services, regardless of the capabilities of the cellphone in their hand.