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gps like.. doesn't exist

M

manhattanmania

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 9, 2007
285
101
i started playing with my iphone a couple of hours ago and everything is working perfectly except for GPS! location based services on, but no application (including maps) can find my location. the little spinny thing just keeps going and going. i've turned location based on and off, the phone on and off, and reset the phone, much to no avail. also, i was inside, and tho i had full service, pogue said that nyc buildings cut GPS so i went outside to an intersection where there was space in the sky and still, NOTHING. it's as if my GPS chip doesn't exist.

any ideas on anything else to do? i'm sensing a trip to the apple store tomorrow and i'm not happy about it!
 
Both my friend and I had the same issues. I haven't discovered the exact fix however I have gotten it to work on both my phone and my friends. I tried a restore on mine however it was not required to get my friends to work. I did power off both devices in getting the gps to work. Additionally I went into the preferences and turned off the location services then exited preferences and went back in and turned them on and exited again. Lastly, I did not have to do this but my friend did, I went into general options and went to reset and there is a reset for location warnings. After you do this when you go into the maps app be sure to allow it to use location services. I hope that some combination of these things helps you out. I know I was annoyed when it didn't work at first. Good Luck!
 
J2theizzle said:
Both my friend and I had the same issues. I haven't discovered the exact fix however I have gotten it to work on both my phone and my friends. I tried a restore on mine however it was not required to get my friends to work. I did power off both devices in getting the gps to work. Additionally I went into the preferences and turned off the location services then exited preferences and went back in and turned them on and exited again. Lastly, I did not have to do this but my friend did, I went into general options and went to reset and there is a reset for location warnings. After you do this when you go into the maps app be sure to allow it to use location services. I hope that some combination of these things helps you out. I know I was annoyed when it didn't work at first. Good Luck!
Click to expand...

so far all of the software tricks you mentioned haven't worked, but i'm going to try a restore now for the heck of it. hopefully that works!

thanks for trying :)
 
To be completely honest I don't know exactly what did it but eventually they both started working.
 
Have you tried zooming in to your state/city and then trying the locate me button?

I have heard this works in many situations. The first time I told my phone to locate me after getting it, it took about 30 seconds. After this it takes barely any time at all.
 
firstapple said:
Have you tried zooming in to your state/city and then trying the locate me button?

I have heard this works in many situations. The first time I told my phone to locate me after getting it, it took about 30 seconds. After this it takes barely any time at all.
Click to expand...

i've done everything mentioned in this thread and nothing is working.
 
Funnily enough I have exactly the same problem - wheel in maps keeps on spinning with no result. I did try outdoors too! Not even the wifi location finder works. My local area doesn't have 3G coverage (or even edge) but I don't think that should make any difference.

I'm trying all sorts of combinations of software control changes, but I suppose I may have to get a replacement.

If anyone finds a fix please post here!
 
gw1 said:
Funnily enough I have exactly the same problem - wheel in maps keeps on spinning with no result. I did try outdoors too! Not even the wifi location finder works. My local area doesn't have 3G coverage (or even edge) but I don't think that should make any difference.

I'm trying all sorts of combinations of software control changes, but I suppose I may have to get a replacement.

If anyone finds a fix please post here!
Click to expand...

Turn off the option for the phone to 'auto lock after x minutes'. Settings -> General -> Auto lock.

Go sit outside somewhere where you can see plenty of sky.

Fire up maps and hit the locate button.

Be very patient - leave the phone in 1 spot and let it have a good scout around for the GPS satellites.

It can take up to 10 or 15 minutes to locate you.

Once you have done this further location fixes should be much quicker.
 
Tried that - & it worked!

Took about 5 mins & it suddenly dropped a blue dot where I was sitting - very impressive.

Many thanks!
 
I got it to work by sitting in a park as well. However, I can't get it to work at all indoors. Is this across the board or just mine? I'm a little disappointed as my iPod touch would give me my location using the cell towers and wifi triangulation even indoors... I would expect to get at least that level of accuracy with the gps in iPhone....
 
The Science of GPS

You all need to understand that GPS is not going to work indoors. GPS relies on LINE OF SIGHT signals from the GPS satellites, so rarely will you get a good signal indoors or anywhere you can't see the sky (just like you can't put your DirecTV dish inside and expect it to work). On the iPhone, if you aren't getting any GPS data, it still will give you the large circle of uncertainty you're used to seeing on your old iPhone (based on cell tower and WiFi locating).

Even when outside, the quality of your GPS fix will vary based on many factors (for example, the number of satellites you're seeing a signal from, atmospheric conditions, signal reflections off nearby buildings, etc.). On your iPhone, if you have a GPS fix and zoom in all the way, you'll notice that the blue pin actually is inside a light blue circle of uncertainty that will vary in diameter based on how accurate your fix is.
 
What Flipperman75 said...

You need a REALLY broad view of the sky, and it still may take a few minutes to lock on the first time. Think open field in a park, or top of the Empire State Building... Unless you're extremely lucky, the "canyons" in a large city don't have enough sky view.

The GPS chip is doing a lot of work, receiving from 5 or more satellites, all moving in different directions at over 17,000 MPH... Give it a little time, and you'll be good to go.

:apple::apple:
 
flipperman75 said:
You all need to understand that GPS is not going to work indoors. GPS relies on LINE OF SIGHT signals from the GPS satellites, so rarely will you get a good signal indoors or anywhere you can't see the sky (just like you can't put your DirecTV dish inside and expect it to work). On the iPhone, if you aren't getting any GPS data, it still will give you the large circle of uncertainty you're used to seeing on your old iPhone (based on cell tower and WiFi locating).

Even when outside, the quality of your GPS fix will vary based on many factors (for example, the number of satellites you're seeing a signal from, atmospheric conditions, signal reflections off nearby buildings, etc.). On your iPhone, if you have a GPS fix and zoom in all the way, you'll notice that the blue pin actually is inside a light blue circle of uncertainty that will vary in diameter based on how accurate your fix is.
Click to expand...

alright, im willing to accept that if thats what the science is. however, my iphone does NOT give me the large circle like it used to on the ipod touch i had. it just keeps spinning and spinning. id rather the large circle than nothing. any ideas on how to get it?
 
flipperman75 said:
You all need to understand that GPS is not going to work indoors. GPS relies on LINE OF SIGHT signals from the GPS satellites, so rarely will you get a good signal indoors or anywhere you can't see the sky (just like you can't put your DirecTV dish inside and expect it to work). On the iPhone, if you aren't getting any GPS data, it still will give you the large circle of uncertainty you're used to seeing on your old iPhone (based on cell tower and WiFi locating).

Even when outside, the quality of your GPS fix will vary based on many factors (for example, the number of satellites you're seeing a signal from, atmospheric conditions, signal reflections off nearby buildings, etc.). On your iPhone, if you have a GPS fix and zoom in all the way, you'll notice that the blue pin actually is inside a light blue circle of uncertainty that will vary in diameter based on how accurate your fix is.
Click to expand...

well indoors for me gps is phenomenally accurate and works like a charmm
 
This may sound stupid but do you need to be in a 3G network for the the GPS to find your exact position because I live in an edge only network so far and it still cant find my exact position even outside?
 
^ no. GPS is independent. the iphone puts together the pieces like a puzzle.. the cell tower info is also not 3g specific.
 
I just tried the GPS for the first time using WiFi. I went outside, opened Maps and pressed "Locate Me", 3 seconds later boom :) pinpoint accurate precision of where I was!

And BTW, I live in Portugal (which somehow made me think it would make the job of finding me harder)!

Indoors is obviously a no-go for me, just keeps spinning like Mac OSX's beachball when I'm running more than 2 CS3 apps at the same time :D
 
i still havent managed to pick up a GPS signal since I got the phone yesterday lunch time. I tried from my bedroom window; nothing. My back garden; nothing. My walk to the pub; nothing.

I've tried everything listed above. Restored it twice, restarted it a million times.
Once it picked me up with triangulation, gave me a diameter of about 20 miles, which is about 60 miles south of where I actually am. Before 2.0 triangulation on my 1st gen was great. Within half a kilometer easily.
 
Upon first getting my new 3G, I went to Maps and pressed the locate button. It first gathered the wide view from the cell phone towers in my area, and then in about 2 seconds, zoomed right in to the little blue dot. I was very impressed with the speed, especially when driving down my curvy road, all was accurate and fluid.

It seems some people just can't get it to work. Even in my friends house it found where I was without direct access to the sky.
 
ive tried everything. I left my phone in my garden for half an hour this morning, and its just spinning away! Tried with 3g off wifi off, both on, both off, combinations of everything. Its so annoying it cant even pick up the old circle location thing. GPS was one of the main reasons I upgraded.

I tried restoring it 3 times, once restoring from my old iPhones backup, once just syncing, and once without syncing anything at all. It refuses to find me!
 
I spent about 4 frustrated days not getting it to work but i know manage to get it to work all the time.

I tried standing in my cul-de-sac for 15 minutes and nothing, nada, niente.... however try the following steps if its not working and it should suddenly work..

1) Restart the phone - hold the hold button and slide to off
2) Go to Settings > General > Auto-Lock > set it as 'never'
3) Get in your car, put it on the passenger seat or in a roadtrip or something, and go for a drive for up to 20 minutes. Then open uo maps and press your little bottom left crosshair button, and drive off!
4) Dont lose heart because the first time it took 20 minutes to lock me on, now when i go out it only takes about 1 minute to lock on, it seems the first time is the hardest.

For some random reason, it works better 'on the move' rather than just standing still, no idea why!


Im sure someone has suggested this fix before but its good to have it again.

I went to turn home angrily thinking my phone was faulty and then suddenly it all happened!
 
mkwomble said:
I spent about 4 frustrated days not getting it to work but i know manage to get it to work all the time.

I tried standing in my cul-de-sac for 15 minutes and nothing, nada, niente.... however try the following steps if its not working and it should suddenly work..

1) Restart the phone - hold the hold button and slide to off
2) Go to Settings > General > Auto-Lock > set it as 'never'
3) Get in your car, put it on the passenger seat or in a roadtrip or something, and go for a drive for up to 20 minutes. Then open uo maps and press your little bottom left crosshair button, and drive off!
4) Dont lose heart because the first time it took 20 minutes to lock me on, now when i go out it only takes about 1 minute to lock on, it seems the first time is the hardest.

For some random reason, it works better 'on the move' rather than just standing still, no idea why!


Im sure someone has suggested this fix before but its good to have it again.

I went to turn home angrily thinking my phone was faulty and then suddenly it all happened!
Click to expand...

Took your advice, stuck my phone on my dashboard and went for a drive. Spent about 20 minutes in country lanes, 10 minutes on the motorway, and 10 minutes driving through town. It got the big circle but no gps lock on. I went to my local shop to get some bread and milk, came back home and now its got a lock on. Im afraid to leave maps incase i lose it. I think it is just a matter of waiting, for seemingly endless time until it locks on.
 
well thats a good sign, it does mean that it is working.... you can turn it off, but it might take a minute or two the next time you use it.... it seems to get better and better for me as time goes...

i never get pinpoint through my wi-fi though, it just doesnt work at all....

but im not too bothered about that because i know where i am!!

just keep trying and it should get a bit better, im sure location is a key factor...

let me know how you get on.. im based in bedford so would be interested to hear how other bedfordians are getting on with it.
 
you can submit your routers mac address to skyhook, and then it will know where you are on the home wifi. It takes 2 seconds to submit, 2 weeks to be worked into the system. But my GPS picks me up from inside my house now anyway. Just tried it again when i was out walking the dog, picked me up in 2 seconds. Im glad it just works now.
 
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