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paulkbiba
USA
5064 Posts |
 Posted - 13 juil. 2008 : 21:24:56
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I got my new iPhone the other day and finally had a chance to test out the GPS a bit. There is no indication on the phone, itself, that it has a GPS and no mention of the GPS in any of the menus. The only thing I can find is a menu called "Location Services" which has an on and off switch. This turns the receiver on and off, but that's all there is. No satellite screen or any other indication of how reception is doing.
These are actual screen shots taken with the new iPhone's built in screen shot utility. The first shows location triangulation without a GPS fix and the second shows what happens when you get a lock
 
That grey circle surrounding the blue dot expands and contracts at odd intervals, but there is no indication if this is an display of signal strength or just an animation.
Here is the display while driving. The gps exhibits a small lag - this was taken when I was in the center of the Cherry Lane intersection. I don't have 3G here, but the map display was able to keep up with and Edge connection at a zoomed in level while I was doing about 35 - 40mph. I don't know what would happen on the highway.
I then used Google Maps to get directions to my home and drove the route. The GPS would follow me along, but the route pages would not automatically change when you went off the map. You have to update them manually. This makes the GPS pretty much useless for following directions unless you have an operator to scroll along the pages. Here are a couple of shots showing how the GPS goes off the screen. As you can see, without scrolling to page 2 I was not able to see the turn I needed to make.
 
That's it. There are no GPS application up on the App Store as of today so there will be nothing more to report until something shows up. The GPS is pretty much locked away from us techies.
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paulkbiba
USA
5064 Posts |
Posted - 14 juil. 2008 : 02:56:05
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As to the GPS chip, according to ifixit.com, who took apart the iPhone:
"The GPS chip is the grey chip in the middle-right side of the board. It is an Infineon PBM2525 Hammerhead II! Rumors that it would be integrated into the processor have been disproved." |
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gpspassion
93393 Posts |
Posted - 15 juil. 2008 : 13:55:36
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Thanks for the review of the current state of GPS on the iPhone v2. Yes, I read elsewhere that someone had seen the gll.dll's somewhere which would point to Globallocate's hardware being used, I wonder if that deal was already in the pipeline when Broadcom bought them in June 2007 for $146 million in cash upfront and a $80 million in case some goals were met.
Not a lot to get excited about then so far for GPS in the iPhone v2, it would still come in handy to locate yourself on foot, but the added value over typing your adress is not huge and potentially less accurate in a dense urban area, if you get a chance to try it in downtown Manhattan it will be interesting to see how it performs and if there's any sense of whether it uses some type of WiFi (Skyhook have hinted at it) or GSM assistance to get the GPS fix.
I played with an iPhone v2 in London yesterday and we ran Google Maps on it. Coming from Windows Mobile what's striking is that it's very "dumbed down" in the sense that everything is automated, no settings available. In particular you can't choose between GSM and GPS positionning to get your location on the map. We were indoors next to a window and pressed the "blue" button to see our position and it took a good 5 minutes to get a very approximated position, which would tend to indicate it was not "assisted" (GSM or WiFi). Based on my recollection it was location triangulation as we did't have the blue dot.
Does GPS need to be turned on in "Location Services" for the Google Maps button to be active ? |
Discounts and Assistance/Réductions et Assistance (Club GpsPasSion) / Où commencer? |
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danham
USA
7339 Posts |
Posted - 15 juil. 2008 : 15:10:47
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Just FYI, the Location Services preference is part of firmware 2.0, which also runs on my Gen 1 phone with no GPS chip.
Location-aware applications (AP Mobile News, for ex., as shown below) can use your location to offer localized content (if you click OK when it asks permission). Obviously on the Gen 1 phone this is done via WiFi and cell tower data (often incorrectly cited as "triangulation").
The Google maps button remains active regardless of the preferences setting. AFAIK, the Gen 2 phone consults its GPS chip first, then WiFi, then the nearest cell tower in that order to determine location. Gen 1 does the same without GPS.
Among the improvements in firmware 2.0 is much better drawing and location on the Google maps, even without GPS.
-dan |
- Nüvi forum moderator -
Nüvi 760 in a '10 Jetta TDI Diesel SportWagen & zumo 660 on a BMW F800 ST
Guide to working with pre-programmed routes: >> details <<
Language Guide / US Topo / 350 & 680 / MacBook & Intel iMac with OS X & Win XP / BaseCamp / Cape Cod, MA
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Edited by - danham on 15 juil. 2008 15:36:06 |
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danham
USA
7339 Posts |
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gpspassion
93393 Posts |
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danham
USA
7339 Posts |
Posted - 15 juil. 2008 : 16:48:06
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The list shown in my screen shot is places I chose to have AP Mobile News fetch local content from - stories about New York City, Portland, OR and Lake Clear, NY (there is a known bug in the app which prevents use of leading zeroes in zip codes, so my truly local news will have to wait for an update from AP).
Each app (when applicable) has its own screen like this which taps into the Location Services on the phone. The dialog box is system-wide, with the "Mobile News" field changing depending on the app.
Obscured in my screen shot by that dialog is a button which says "Find Current Location." Tap that and it will use GPS/WiFi/cell to fill in a spot on the list automatically. If you look carefully you can see that it is blue (meaning it was just tapped) and says "Finding Location." That's how I got it to display the dialog.
-dan |
- Nüvi forum moderator -
Nüvi 760 in a '10 Jetta TDI Diesel SportWagen & zumo 660 on a BMW F800 ST
Guide to working with pre-programmed routes: >> details <<
Language Guide / US Topo / 350 & 680 / MacBook & Intel iMac with OS X & Win XP / BaseCamp / Cape Cod, MA
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Edited by - danham on 15 juil. 2008 16:54:14 |
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gpspassion
93393 Posts |
Posted - 15 juil. 2008 : 16:58:23
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I wonder if it might be different on the v2 then, since Paul was referring to an on/off switch, maybe he can post a screenshot later so we can see what it looke like.
Just noticed your comment about "triangulation", are you certain it's pure Cell of Origin on the iPhone v1 ? On the windows mobile version of Google Maps there is clearly some type of enhancement as I often get positions where there is clearly no GSM tower present and my phone is not WiFi enabled. |
Discounts and Assistance/Réductions et Assistance (Club GpsPasSion) / Où commencer? |
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danham
USA
7339 Posts |
Posted - 15 juil. 2008 : 17:20:39
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Here is more than you ever wanted to know about how iPhones determine position [g]:
http://www.howardforums.com/showpost.php?p=11240768&postcount=32
Here's a "switch" screen shot - it's under General preferences.
-dan |
- Nüvi forum moderator -
Nüvi 760 in a '10 Jetta TDI Diesel SportWagen & zumo 660 on a BMW F800 ST
Guide to working with pre-programmed routes: >> details <<
Language Guide / US Topo / 350 & 680 / MacBook & Intel iMac with OS X & Win XP / BaseCamp / Cape Cod, MA
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Edited by - danham on 15 juil. 2008 17:25:33 |
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paulkbiba
USA
5064 Posts |
Posted - 15 juil. 2008 : 17:52:42
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I don't know exactly what this switch does. With the switch set to On I get "triangulation" and an actual GPS position. With the switch set to Off I don't get a GPS reading and I also don't get "triangulation". There is no way of figuring out if this switch physically turns the GPS receiver on and off or leaves the receiver on and just ignores it's output.
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gpspassion
93393 Posts |
Posted - 15 juil. 2008 : 18:03:35
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So GPS works regardless ? There is probably some timeout mechanism as you would run the battery to the ground pretty quickly if you left it on at all times, maybe you can test for that by leaving a full charged iPhone v2 on the Google Maps app.
@danham - An interesting...and long read, I fixed your link to point directly to the summary though as the original poster made some statements that were a bit hasty. The bottom line is that as I had posted above, Google Maps Mobile, regardles of the mobile device, uses "enhanced cell id" positionning that has some connection to triangulation (or rather trilateration) as the enhancement is GPS based (data collected from GPS enabled mobile devices). |
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ve7mdt
Canada
170 Posts |
Posted - 18 juil. 2008 : 12:20:49
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I got my iPhone 3G but I haven't really spent much time with the GPS side of things. So far the likely providers, if everything goes, will be from TomTom, iGO, and TeleNav.
I have used Mapper under Maemo, the platform for the Nokia Internet Tablet and even that one is a lot more flexible than this "Mapping" app on the iPhone.
No voice guidance for the iPhone app.
The location based utility is indeed fast because you don't have to wait for a GPS fix, so that one works well, and there are tons of apps that can use that info, from photo sharing, buddy searching, social networking, or surrounding searching etc. That one is fast even if not under GPS fix environment (indoor).
The hardware is indeed capable of having a full fledge nav package, no doubt. From storage for map, CPU and GFX, and even the GPS (antenna too small? that I don't know).
Now if I can find a full docking mount, I'll be set! |
iPad WiFi w/ RoqyBT to use BT GPSr, LG Optimus G2x, BenQ S6, Samsung Q1, Toshiba e830, Toshiba e805, HTC Advantage X7501, Nextar MN2707 running P7, Magellan Springboard GPS on Visor 2MB, Haicom HI-303III + BT slipper, Holux GPSlim236, eTrex yellow
TomTom 1.9 for iOS, Navigon 2.0 for iOS, Navigon for Android, Garmin Mobile XT, Delorme Street Atlas 2009, Streets & Trips 2010, MapPoint 2010, APRSIS/CE, APRSIS/32, APRSDroid |
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gpspassion
93393 Posts |
Posted - 01 août 2008 : 19:40:54
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Count me in ;-) The iPhone 3G in good company :
Here's a brand new app that shows the speed : http://www.car-vs-car.de/speedbox/
 
Another app that shows your position : Here I am and can send them via email.
Haven't tried them yet.
I took some geocoded pictures the other days, good quality camera if you're standing still (very warped if you're driving !) but there appears to be a bug in the longitued, it puts a - sign for an Estern Longitude. I had to fix that manually with the www.geosetter.de app.
Another app |
Discounts and Assistance/Réductions et Assistance (Club GpsPasSion) / Où commencer? |
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paulkbiba
USA
5064 Posts |
Posted - 01 août 2008 : 22:20:30
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| Welcome to the iPhone club! |
Don't forget the GPSPassion Club! |
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MiniMe
22 Posts |
Posted - 02 août 2008 : 06:50:27
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I read somewhere on the apple site saying that turning off the "Location Service" actually turns off the GPS power and you can save the battery life.
And if you tap the target shaped icon at the bottom left corner of the map screen, the map will scroll and your position will be always at the center of the screen.
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Edited by - MiniMe on 02 août 2008 06:54:49 |
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gpspassion
93393 Posts |
Posted - 02 août 2008 : 20:16:19
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1. Possibly, will try
2. Not really, that icon is the way to get your position in the first place, it doesn't necessarily stay centered, it wil stay at the position where you set it by scrolling the map and then the map moves with you. If you're referring to Paul's comments above that was in "itinerary" mode not in browing mode. |
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[TOPIC] GPS on the new iPhone v2 - Apps, Tips
