GPS functionality in Europe?

[silverthornne]

I'll be taking a trip to Europe in September and am interested in using my Epic to record my position in order to geotag my photos and to use the new Google Maps feature that allows you to download a map area when you have a data connection present and thus have the map around when the data is off.

However, I've no idea if the GPS chip in the Epic will work while on the go on Europe. I could always just buy a separate GPS for my camera, but if I can save the money because of the phone, I'd be quite happy

 

[Stearmandriver]

I think the chip will work fine, except you'll need an internet connection to get your initial fix. This means wifi in Europe, then leaving gps active all day, which will drain battery fast. So unless you leave it plugged into a car charger all day it may not be practical.

 

[jk175d]

I think the chip will work fine, except you'll need an internet connection to get your initial fix. This means wifi in Europe, then leaving gps active all day, which will drain battery fast. So unless you leave it plugged into a car charger all day it may not be practical.

why is internet connection needed for gps fix? isn't the gps radio independant?

 

[ratsttam]

why is internet connection needed for gps fix? isn't the gps radio independant?

It's assisted GPS. My understanding is that it will generalize your location using the network, and that helps the geolocation center in on your location. It should work just fine w/out internet, but may take several minutes to get a lock.

 

[Stearmandriver]

Really? I've tried and tried, and never been able to get a lock at all, not in 15 mins of trying, without an internet connection. A GPS chip itself is network-independent, it receives signals from satellites, but a lot of cell phones require an internet connection for the initial lock. Some don't. Some have hacks to enable stand-alone gps.

Can anyone confirm an ability to get a gps lock with no network signal? Like, if you haven't had a gps lock in a while, and you put your phone in airplane mode, can you get a lock?

 

[silverthornne]

Thanks for the discussion guys. So far I'm leaning towards the separate GPS module for the camera from the nature of the responses.

As for the battery drain, I'm not worried. I have a 16,000 maH portable charger. I think that should get me through each day

 

[RSPC]

Make sure that your GPS will work with the Europe satellites. Some will not.
Also I think Sprint offers some kind of plan that you can go International for a week or month at a time, for an extra fee of course. But it may be beneficial to have your phone fully functional while your over there.

 

[GPF]

Make sure that your GPS will work with the Europe satellites. Some will not.
Also I think Sprint offers some kind of plan that you can go International for a week or month at a time, for an extra fee of course. But it may be beneficial to have your phone fully functional while your over there.

Having turned on the phone in Paris, I have found that the maps will not display until you are on a wi-fi network. The phone will not update position until it gets its Google position via a network IP (Google knows where IP addresses are located?).

Also, it is a CDMA phone. I haven't yet found a CDMA signal in France, GB, or Germany. But I still use the phone on wi-fi which still makes it useful via email, skype, latitude, etc.

 

[DaveWW00]

Make sure that your GPS will work with the Europe satellites. Some will not.

I don't think you quite understand how gps works. There are no "europe" gps satellites. The gps system is a US system with a whole constellation of satellites covering the entire globe. There is the galileo system the EU is trying to get going but that is a completely different system from gps and doesnt exist yet. the issue here is purely whether you need a network connection or not.

To see if the assisted-gps absolutely requires the network connection to get a gps fix try turning on airplane mode to shut off all the radios and go outside and see if it gets a gps lock. it might take longer to get the initial fix but if it does where you are now it should do it anywhere. i would try it myself right now buts its about 100 degrees and 90% humidity outside and i dont want to go back out into that.

 

[silverthornne]

To see if the assisted-gps absolutely requires the network connection to get a gps fix try turning on airplane mode to shut off all the radios and go outside and see if it gets a gps lock.

I hadn't thought about that! I'll give it a shot once I can do that; lacerated some ligaments in my left hamstring recently and am not too big on going outside right now

 

[coolqf]

i have been across asia and my epic never tracks my location unless if i have internet. the google map downloads is ok. my phone has died twice andthis cache gets reset every time. so always keep your phone turned on

 

[ratsttam]

To see if the assisted-gps absolutely requires the network connection to get a gps fix try turning on airplane mode to shut off all the radios and go outside and see if it gets a gps lock. it might take longer to get the initial fix but if it does where you are now it should do it anywhere

A lot of devices, using "airplane mode" will also for some reason disable the GPS receiver. I haven't tested this with my Epic, but I use an old iPhone 3g as a GPS with the TomTom app (stores all the maps locally, to the tune of like 2.5gb space used, and since the work truck doesn't have anything besides a tape deck, it's ideal for both nav and music). I have it running in iPod mode, so no sim, no data, nothing. If I let it complain about the lack of SIM it works just fine, but if I put it in airplane mode, it will never get a lock. I'll have to cache an area around my house, and turn off the 3g, put it in sprint only, and see what happens.

 

[suleyman]

When you have wifi access, download these apps from market; Airplane Mode Wi-Fi Tool, GPS Status & Toolbox. Then use either an offline navigation app, like navigion or download the region that you will be with latest google maps.

Also using GPS Status Toolbox, reset and download agps data (under tools menu).

When you are on the go, use Airplane Mode to turn off cdma and turn on wifi if you need.

Open maps and wait for a gps lock, if you have several buildings around, it may take several minutes.


I used this scenario while I was in Europe, which worked well.

Good luck

 

[silverthornne]

Little update: I bought a separate GPS logger device, which is cheaper than a dedicated GPS unit or than the GPS unit that connects to my camera. It's the QSTARZ Travel Recorder XT, cost $109.69 at Amazon, and it's much more accurate than the GPS in my Epic!

I tried it last night alongside the Geotag Photo's application on my Epic and compared the recorded tracks. The Epic was usually off by a few meters, placing me off the road quite often. The Travel Recorder had me on the right track all the time, even when I went inside a store, and at a friend's house. During those moments, the Epic's log simply marked me outside the place, in a close, but general area. The Travel Recorder had accurately followed my every step, from where I parked, to my going back to the car to grab my camera, and the steps I took while inside the house. It did lose me at a point while inside the store, but the Epic didn't even try to track that.

So, just from that experience, I think I'm happy that I bought the GPS logger, as its GPS chip is so much more accurate than the Epic's! I can also buy a separate bluetooth module for the camera that lets me directly tag the photos with it rather than by running a separate application to tag after the fact if I am inclined to invest a little more.

 

[werkx]

OP, sounds like you made a decision already. but fyi, i just got back from paris and had my epic on airplane mode the whole time. i turned on wifi when there's wifi available (cached location) and turned on gps whenever i needed it. i rarely needed gps, but it does take awhile to lock on (still runny froyo). also, i had the wifi assisted location on the whole time so it captured location (roughly) for all my pics (with gps off).

by the way, the camera's panorama setting was awesome.