sussertown
Lurker
Some google lookups appear to be using my current location. Other times my location seems to be my prior residence. I have to watch the mileage estimates.
-
After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.
location
- Thread starter sussertown
- Start date
I am dumbfounded by the insistence by Android alerts that I switch to "high accuracy location" instead of GPS (which is now called "device"). Perhaps in some God forsaken urban areas you are better off taking your chances with random wifi location assignments, but anywhere in the 99% of the rest of the world (including the US) , GPS is WAY more accurate, down to 10 feet often.
If I make the MISTAKE of switching my Android location mode to "high accuracy" my location often jumps around to places miles away, sometimes 70 miles away. Others have complained, few pay attention. Just plain stupid.
Oh, maybe I'm the stupid one + I have missed something. Maybe Google is trying to collect data and trying to trick everyone into gathering this data by lying about accuracy. That make much more sense.
Google, either SHUT OFF THE ALERTS THAT (MISS) DIRECT PEOPLE TO USE SO CALLED "HIGH ACCURACY LOCATION" OR PROVIDE A SWITCH TO SHUT OFF THESE ANNOYING AND INCORRECT ALERTS.
If I make the MISTAKE of switching my Android location mode to "high accuracy" my location often jumps around to places miles away, sometimes 70 miles away. Others have complained, few pay attention. Just plain stupid.
Oh, maybe I'm the stupid one + I have missed something. Maybe Google is trying to collect data and trying to trick everyone into gathering this data by lying about accuracy. That make much more sense.
Google, either SHUT OFF THE ALERTS THAT (MISS) DIRECT PEOPLE TO USE SO CALLED "HIGH ACCURACY LOCATION" OR PROVIDE A SWITCH TO SHUT OFF THESE ANNOYING AND INCORRECT ALERTS.
I guess these 2 posts may be related. sussertown, did you move your router when you moved residence, and do you get incorrect locations when near home? If so it could be because Google are using the presence of your "home" WiFi to identify your location, but your WiFi network has moved in the meanwhile.
I almost always use "device only" (i.e. GPS only) for location. In principle "high precision" can be more accurate because it uses more information - networks in addition to GPS - so the alert isn't in principle crazy. But if they disagree I've seen enough cases where it chooses the wrong one.
Personally I don't see those alerts very often. I don't allow many apps to access my location at all, but even when using Google Maps I don't usually get them, even though I'm invariably GPS-only. But of course Google's interest in your having network-based location enabled is that they can only collect location data that way (which is the reason I generally disable it).
I almost always use "device only" (i.e. GPS only) for location. In principle "high precision" can be more accurate because it uses more information - networks in addition to GPS - so the alert isn't in principle crazy. But if they disagree I've seen enough cases where it chooses the wrong one.
Personally I don't see those alerts very often. I don't allow many apps to access my location at all, but even when using Google Maps I don't usually get them, even though I'm invariably GPS-only. But of course Google's interest in your having network-based location enabled is that they can only collect location data that way (which is the reason I generally disable it).