GPS Assist Feature

Joemhz

Member
Jun 16, 2008
24
0
0
Visit site
After reading about the news on the blog concerning the GPS assist feature of the new iPhone....

Does anyone know if the GPS feature will work without the assist from the cell towers ???

:confused:
 

anon(1217668)

Well-known member
Jul 4, 2008
87
1
0
Visit site
I kinda wondered this too, but my best knowledgeable guesstimate is that the cell towers are there to assist in GPS navigation, hence "aGPS." It's much quicker for the phone to get a signal from towers, than from satellites in space, so by getting a good idea of it's position based off the towers, the satellites pinpoint the phone once a proper signal is acquired. The other thing I read was that the GPS location of the cell towers is recorded for guidance as well, so the phone's not going "OK where in the world am I?" but more like "Alright where exactly am I between Tower X,Y, and Z?" However unless you have some way to save the maps to your phone, you're going to need the cell towers to download the map data anyway.
 

dhp1080

Well-known member
Jun 30, 2008
48
0
0
Visit site
If you're on wifi and GPS in the middle of no where, I would assume it just uses standard GPS satellite finding methods to get your location. Probably uses much more battery than you would like, but I suppose it would work.
 

anon(1217668)

Well-known member
Jul 4, 2008
87
1
0
Visit site
If you're on wifi and GPS in the middle of no where, I would assume it just uses standard GPS satellite finding methods to get your location. Probably uses much more battery than you would like, but I suppose it would work.

Theoretically sure, but who gets wifi in the middle of nowhere =P. I sure wish it was that easy. As it says in the tech specs and whatnot, it has "aGPS," or assisted GPS, which is real plain old GPS, assisted by cell towers and wifi for a quicker lockon to your position, or to give a best guess when too much interference blocks your GPS signal.
 

Latest posts

Trending Posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
260,011
Messages
1,765,316
Members
441,221
Latest member
CØR