GPS distress!

[Froyo is yummy]

Hey all, I have a question for you all. When I was going though my settings I noticed that I can turn GPS on. It says that GPS needs a view of the sky. I want to turn this on but I'm afraid it will go though my data (I have no data plan so if I do use 3G it is quite expensive). The odd thing is: GPS works even with 3G turned off, so at this point I'm very confused about wether it needs internet or not.
Thanks is advance!
Sent from my SGH-T589R using Android Central Forums

 

[EvilMonkey]

GPS is just the system that determines your present longitude, latitude, and approximate altitude, and does nothing more. It does so directly with the GPS satellites, and does not require data plan. That's why I can have a standalone GPS in my car or for hiking and I don't need to have a data plan. However, all the software and maps exist on the device and it doesn't need to download anything.

For your phone, it's when you want to do something with the GPS (such as navigating with Google Maps or pulling restaurants near your location) then you'll need the data. Lots of apps will use your GPS location to provide data.

Guess it depends what you want to use it for. If you want to navigate, you'll need local maps (stored on the device) that don't need to stream data (Google Maps streams the maps, for example...although there is some limited caching abilities you could load on wifi). There are a few apps available that will give you maps on the device so you don't need to stream them, but I don't know them off the top of my head.