Google Maps Has Me Going the Wrong Way!

[Benjamin_NYC]

Seems something is wrong in Maps and/or with the phone's directional finder. See how I am on a one way street, in a car, and according to Maps, going the wrong way! I'm not, though I'm going the correct way, with my phone pointed forward. It shows my direction 180 degrees the wrong way. Anyone else?

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Rukbat]

While you're in fairly decent motion? If you're crawling behind a truck trying to weave between double-parked cars (unfortunately I drove in the city for enough decades to know what crosstown traffic is like almost anywhere between Wall St. and CPS), it's not going to show your correct heading. It takes readings about once per second (that's the GPS receiver, not the app, and all GPS receivers work about the same way) and even if you're standing still, changes in the air path from the satellite can have you moving by a few feet, so the app may think you're traveling east when you're crawling west. (If you run GPS Status & Toolbox and look at the HDOP figure, you'll see that it's not 0. [It's the a measure of the horizontal error in the indicated position.] And it varies when you're standing still - especially in a car in a canyon of buildings.)

The problem is a combination of how GPS works and the wonderful traffic in the city. (Which is why, before I retired and moved south, I'd find almost any other route I could rather than driving in Manhattan. If you call that driving. Snails go crosstown faster than cars sometimes.)

 

[Irish1842]

The compass has never pointed in the right direction while driving with my Note 2 or my wife's S3. It's always off by between 45 and 180 degrees.

 

[realbanana]

I noticed the other day. Something is very wrong with Google maps.

 

[Benjamin_NYC]

It happens when going over 30mph. There is an issue.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[SteveISU]

Head up to 57th and 6th. Hit up Angelos, so good!

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[RealDogBoy]

This probably isn't relevant to most users but I'll say it anyway.

Most of the time (probably 99%) I keep my location setting on "battery saving" -- which means the system doesn't use the GPS (a bit of a battery hog) but instead uses various radio signals (cell towers, known wi-fi locations) to guess location.

Anyway, I was heading out to the exurbs to buy a CraigsList item about a month ago and I actually needed navigational help. I had forgotten about the battery saving setting (which was making the device useless for navigation in the boondocks). It didn't dawn on me until a couple hours later why Google Maps was so inaccurate.

I won't make that mistake again. It's worth pointing out that if you see weird results in Maps check to be sure your location setting is on "High Accuracy". And if you're a battery-saving geek like me remember to put it back on "Battery Saving" when you're finished using Maps.

 

[Benjamin_NYC]

This probably isn't relevant to most users but I'll say it anyway.

Most of the time (probably 99%) I keep my location setting on "battery saving" -- which means the system doesn't use the GPS (a bit of a battery hog) but instead uses various radio signals (cell towers, known wi-fi locations) to guess location.

Anyway, I was heading out to the exurbs to buy a CraigsList item about a month ago and I actually needed navigational help. I had forgotten about the battery saving setting (which was making the device useless for navigation in the boondocks). It didn't dawn on me until a couple hours later why Google Maps was so inaccurate.

I won't make that mistake again. It's worth pointing out that if you see weird results in Maps check to be sure your location setting is on "High Accuracy". And if you're a battery-saving geek like me remember to put it back on "Battery Saving" when you're finished using Maps.

Its on high accuracy. Location is accurate. The direction is skewed!

Posted via the Android Central App