Maps doesn't show right direction

[Octaviannn]

Hey everyone. Google maps' compass doesn't show me the right direction. If im staying on a street, holding my phone directioned straight ahead, maps is showing me that i'm actually looking 30? to the left. Is it maybe a hardware problem, because i dropped my phone about 10 times?

Posted from my Nexus 4

 

[dkhmwilliams]

I'm not sure that I know exactly what you are speaking of but is it possible that the street that you are on doesn't point 100 percent in any direction? Just because a street says it runs north south doesn't mean that it runs exactly in those directions. If it is not what you meant then disregard my answer.


Sent from my iPhone 5S. The "S" is for sexy.

 

[Octaviannn]

Well...yeah din't understand the second part if your comment, it's also hard to explain. :| yeah, the arrow on maps, doesn't point 100% exactly in the direction the phone is pointed to.. It's like you point your phone to a location that is straight ahead, but the maps' arrow point 30? to the left. I hope you undetstood..

Posted from my Nexus 4

 

[acejavelin]

Does moving well doing this help? Sometimes the internal compass in the device can be less than perfect or can be influenced by external magnetic sources, but once you start moving direction of movement is calculated using the GPS and other location services in addition to the compass.

 

[zorak950]

The compass on both the Android devices I've owned- including my current Nexus 4- was never very accurate, and sensitive to interference. I could have just been unlucky, but my impression is simply that the N4 compass sensor isn't very good.

 

[booboolala2000]

The arrow will point askew in the game Ingress as well. Is some issue with the N4. But when you are in Navigation Mode it is true to the direction on the road you are traveling.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Octaviannn]

Turning my phone 90? to the left, the arrow shows exactly the same move, 90? to the left, but it's also not pointing the right direction. navigation- i'm driving straight ahead, the dark blue arrow from navigation shows me the right directions - no problem with it. But now being in the navigation, and driving the arrow moves in the right direction pointing though 30? to the right. Okay so it's a software issue, not from dropping my phone. Thanks!

Posted from my Nexus 4

 

[N4Newbie]

You're going to think this is ridiculous but it is true nonetheless - the magnetometers used in most cell phones need to be 'calibrated' before each and every use. If not done, the compass headings will be off from several degrees to 45 degrees or more.

Try this: place your phone down on a flat surface such as a table and align it with one edge. Turn it on and load your favorite compass app (consider https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...s?id=com.eclipsim.gpsstatus2&token=9ut3KIoV); give it a few seconds to settle down and note the compass heading.

Now, pick up the phone and wave it about in a large figure-eight pattern, first horizontally and then vertically (that's the recommended way but I have found that simply shaking the phone up works just as well). Place the phone back on the table in the same position as before. Do you see the difference?

My Nexus 5 will typically gain or lose about 5 degrees after calibration. My previous Nexus 4 and my wife's current N4 often move quite a bit more.

 

[zorak950]

Calibrating on my N4 has rarely made a significant difference; but good call, that is something the OP should try.

 

[Octaviannn]

Okay i'll give it a try thanks

Posted from my Nexus 4

 

[Wireless Gadget]

This has happened to me on my nexus 4, Samsung galaxy s3 mini and my Xperia z ultra and moto g. I gave up on google maps. I think google wants you to use navigate separate from maps. I just want to use maps with the traffic so I can look up the side streets or alternate route.


I'm using Waze, it works on all my devices and tells me my direction of travel. Gave maps a low score on the apps store and expressed my frustrations but there are too many users and they don't listen at all.

Waze is simple to use. Google if you ever bother to listen... Fix it.

Posted via the Android Central App on my Xperia Z Ultra GPe

 

[Bloccity]

I understand totally what you mean. I had this issue also.
You need to change the Navigation Settings and enable "Tilt Map"