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Help Incorrect Location - GPS Wrong

sweetkm

Lurker
Hey all. I have a Moto X 2nd gen, running 5.1.

For the past few weeks I've been having a location problem. When I am at work, in the Financial District in Manhattan, NY my GPS routinely locates me in Tuscon, AZ near an Olive Garden there. I can get it to reset by turning my phone on/off and by deleting the cache on google maps. It doesn't do it 100% of the time, more like 25%. I don't know why.

This week I was on a trip to Denver, Colorado and my location listed me in Atlanta GA. Whyyyy?

Thanks for your help if you have ideas!
 
Silly question... but is your Wifi turned on.. Android will sometimes use the nearest wifi hotspots to work out where it is... (from its super secret database of where all the wifi hotspots are) ... and if these move about, or if the database is wrong, it may think you are somewhere else....
 
Hmm. My wifi is currently off and the location has switched to Philadelphia since I posted 40 minutes ago.

I usually do keep my wifi on, but the problem typically occurs when I'm at my office. those hotspots don't move around, and none of my coworkers experience this issue, so I'm not sure if that's the issue, although I appreciate the hunch.
 
Try installing the 'GPS Status & Toolbox' app from Google Play and use it to reset your phone's GPS. In its menu there are options for 'Compass calibration', 'Calibrate pitch and roll', and 'Manage A-GPS state'. Do all three as it sounds like while your GPS is at least functional there's obviously something messed up. Hopefully it's just some corrupted settings file that will be wiped by resetting the GPS.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eclipsim.gpsstatus2&hl=en
 
@svim took the words right out of my fingers.

that is the first thing I do when I need the GPS to lock in.

I turn on DATA, which is always OFF.
then I bring up GPS Status & Toolbox

Typically, if it has not been used in a while, the first thing you should see near the bottom of the screen, and you gotta be sharp and witty:
"Downloaded current Ephermeris" or words to that effect...

.... GPS Assistance data downloaded.png ....

be sharp now, the info is hidden.

but, what happens here is that the app downloads the current ephermeris from the NASA servers and knows exactly where to look for the GPS satellites.
It saves a humongous amount of time to sync the GPS to the sats.
 
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