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Google adds cell tower based positioning to Google Maps


Guest PaulOBrien

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in Holborn, London today and all working fine now and very accurate as well. initially got the unavailable message but after about 30secs the map refreshed and my location was displayed.

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Guest bydandie
Look at the potential tho, for 'where's my nearest' type applications it'll be awesome!

P

And that's the whole point for me. It's NOT GPS guys! It works great on the Touch 256Mb, great work google! :(

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Guest pd.ryder

No luck at all with "My Location..." this morning - "temporarily unavailable..." despite having data listed in Help>About>myl.

I have also noticed a complete alteration to the menu system following a soft reset.

:(

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Guest FragMeister

It works on my T-Mobile UK Vario II (WM6) at home where I have a 2G reception, but not at work where 3G signal.

This might just be an issue with the transmitter near work being known to google, so will try a few more locations and report back

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Guest Monolithix
This is exactly what your developer contest was all about!

I wonder how they obtained all the info of where each cell tower ID is located?

Its publically available information in the UK (for now at least...)

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Guest dearsina
http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/

Punch in your postcode and away you go. Dunno if you can download actual coords, might need to contact ofcom directly?

I remember when we were playing around with triangulation last time, that a complete list was unavailable (to Joe Public anyway), maybe things have changed since then.

Also, does anybody else have the sneaking feeling that this isn't triangulation, but simply the location of the nearest tower?

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Guest Monolithix

Click the triangle for the cell ID :( No lat/long thoguh by the looks of it. If its on there though i wonder if the coords are available somewhere too?

Edit: and anyway, my point was if its on the OFCOM website surely its not that large a leap to think that a company like Google would be able to negotiate a list of coords?

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Guest wizgnome

Wow! I just downloaded the update to my HTC S710 (On Vodafone in Amsterdam) whilst sitting in my office - I got my location within a few yards - The next building actually!!

It will save having to carry my GPS receiver around all the time.

The integration with my Contacts is great also, with route directions for geting to them shown on the map.

For a free aplication this looks amazing.

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Guest falconb

Has anyone tried it on Samsung i600... and/or in Italy???

Mine says "myl: N/A" but.. is the phone or my carrier that don't support it?

:(

Edited by falconb
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works brilliantly on my Vario III

- it is really quick to estimate your position - only a few seconds at most

- stops you having to laboriously zoom in to your location starting from a full UK map, and it should really just be seen as a quick start / shortcut to your rough location

- accuracy of 1-2000m or so is enough for seeing where the nearest petrol station is, or where all the cash points in your area are

it isn't gps - people shouldn't moan about it not being that accurate. however according to the register, when people use google maps with gps active it will report back the cell info and gps position info and hence improve the accuracy of the database

what it does need is a better search database refined for this type of usage - if i search for railway or tube i want the nearest transport location, not the local plastic tube supplier or the railway inn!

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Guest pd.ryder
what it does need is a better search database refined for this type of usage - if i search for railway or tube i want the nearest transport location, not the local plastic tube supplier or the railway inn!

That did make me chuckle!! :( :D

How infuriating!!

:D

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Looks like it may have something to do with the useragent of the device IMO. That's the only reason I see for it working on My P3600 and not on my LG KS20 (says myl:N/A on it) .

Edited by MAK11
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Guest mstephenson

Just downloaded the new Google Maps, works fine on my T-Mob S710. It did randomly change my colour scheme to a rather ugly green but that was easily fixed. I use and carry my gps receiver with me all the time anyway so not too sure how much i'll use the cell tower location feature thingy. My only slight complaint is that they've got rid of the ability to zoom in by using the centre button on the keypad, found this really useful on the old version. With this, and the fact I carry my gps receiver all the time in mine, is there a way of going back to the old version at all?

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Guest chingf0rd

Downloaded it tonight - works really well on my S710 VOX on Vodafone UK. Followed it on the train from London to Kent (the GPRS map loading was a tad slow obviously, but blue blob kept on track).

Thing is, the company is moving us from Vodafone to O2 soon - has anyone got this working on O2 UK?

I love the use of cell sites - on the Symbian platform, there's some great 3rd party software that does things like change profiles when moving into different cells - there's also an alarm program that sends SMS or sounds an alarm when hitting your designated cell - great for those falling asleep on the train after a few too many festive jars!

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Guest xorangefirex

The most important thing in my mind (if you have GPS on your phone) is that it can get you close to your location within a building. My kaiser cannot find me within a building (obviously), and I am fairly impressed with ts accuracy. Although it is 5000 meters which is a far cry from perfection (which is just under 3 miles), I do agree with Paul on this one. The applications of this really does increase the worth of a phone without GPS. As an American user I like the idea, and am really looking forward to google developing this software. Perhaps it could be good enough to be a worthwhile traffic information device, thanks for the post Paul and I look forward to updates.

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Guest shadamehr

I appreciate it's maybe slightly OT, given that I am about to talk about SYMBIAN devices, but you did ask WHICH devices this worked well on so...

On my Symbian Nokia N95, on T-Mobile, the NONE gps based CELL LOCATION is excellent - it places me almost spot on near where I live, and then when I click the button to REALLY locate me using the phone's own real gps, it shows my true location as not far off at all.

But, I live a mere 100 yards max from my nearest T-Mobile 3G mast.

On my Noka 6120c (another Symbian Nokia with the exact same OS version as the N95 but NO real gps in the phone), it again locates me really really close using CELL location, with my T-Mobile sim.

On my partner's Nokia 6120c, on 3, without real gps, it places her in the correct village/area, but around half a km away from where we actually are.

WHAT DOES THIS INDICATE...? WHY DO I POST THIS?

Because it would INFER that the accuracy of your location IS INDEED just as they say, dependant on various factors, especially including the info Google has on your Towers, and also WHICH network you are on, and thus what towers are near you.

As in my case, my own T-Mobile tower is real close to me, and my accuracy is great.

But for my partner, her nearest tower is a long way off (I know this from SiteFinder, local knowledge, and the fact that I used to be a local Councillor, thus have a useful list of exact tower locations, for previous use at former Planning and Development Committee meetings, when deciding on mast applications), and her accuracy is not as hot as mine.

So hopefully this info is useful.

But remember, just like Google say, this is "LOCATION" services for those without gps hardware - it is NOT a full gps service.

Nevertheless, even to be within a km of your correct location - even placed as far out as that, it's still GREAT to know roughly where you are, as well as for finding local services or businesses, etc.

KUDOS to Google for such a really nifty feature.

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Guest Wombleuk
Downloaded it tonight - works really well on my S710 VOX on Vodafone UK. Followed it on the train from London to Kent (the GPRS map loading was a tad slow obviously, but blue blob kept on track).

Thing is, the company is moving us from Vodafone to O2 soon - has anyone got this working on O2 UK?

I love the use of cell sites - on the Symbian platform, there's some great 3rd party software that does things like change profiles when moving into different cells - there's also an alarm program that sends SMS or sounds an alarm when hitting your designated cell - great for those falling asleep on the train after a few too many festive jars!

Hmm, same setup as me - so it doesn't explain why mine is unavailable.

BTW if you want the same functionailty on WM as those Symbian apps, try cellprofile switcher - works great.

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