81
GPS is a receive-only technology. There are satellites in orbit around the planet and these satellites transmit. Your device receives these signals, but does not communicate back to the satellites. Using your device with GPS is no more dangerous than using it without GPS.
Airplane mode is basically equivalent to "turn off transmitters", though you can also ...
16
GPS itself does not need a network connection to any server to work. It just needs a signal from a least 4 GPS satellites to calculate a good position fix.
There is also the GPS Almanac, which basically provides future data on where the satellites are expected to be in a given time in the future, usually up to 7 days. This can be used to speed up the ...
16
That is done by gpsd. The XTRA files are the current GPS Almanac. The location of where to download the XTRA files to is defined in /system/etc/gps.conf.
These files contain data that speed up the GPS, which will result in faster GPS position fixes.
14
OsmAnd (on Play store or F-droid.org (version is sometimes a little behind)) has those features:
Fully open source
Fully offline (w/ option for some online features)
Play Store: Limited to 16 downloads (free) or costs ~6EUR (for funding)
(build it yourself or use a nightly build if don't want to pay or use the free one)
Offline vector maps:
based on ...
13
For Android 6.0
To Enable use :
For GPS : adb shell settings put secure location_providers_allowed +gps
For Network : adb shell settings put secure location_providers_allowed +network
To Disable :
GPS : adb shell settings put secure location_providers_allowed -gps
For Network : adb shell settings put secure location_providers_allowed -network
12
Is it possible to enable Location Services(GPS or Google NetworkLocation) via ADB or Terminal Emulator?
The command is:
adb shell settings put secure location_providers_allowed gps
where,
settings would makes changes into settings.db (part of com.android.providers.settings)
put is to update key location_providers_allowed with value gps in table secure.
...
11
Since Jun 27th 2012, Google Maps for Android is offline featured.
They provide a 10-mile radius of map cache, and since you can point to different locations and cache them, you can virtually cache the entire world.
Open Google Maps App;
After the map loads, press the menu button and select "Settings";
From the "Settings" panel, select "labs" and enable the ...
11
One of the apps you have a picture of, the venerable GPS Status & Toolbox, describes this claim in the app description:
Keep your GPS fast: reset it or download A-GPS data regularly for faster fixes
Wikipedia does a great job defining the basic concepts behind Assisted-GPS:
Standalone GPS provides first position in approximately 30–40 seconds. A ...
11
If you look at my previous answer to a similar question you can see that by Google's testing utilising WiFi will use more battery than using GPS. This seems broadly in line with the figures given in an answer mentioned in the comments.
However as Izzy mentions these are ballpark figures and actual consumption is dependant upon what exactly the phone is ...
10
For the best resource out there, use PDADB.
This details every comprehensive chip-set used, for the Droid Charge, this is the spec sheet given.
As for Huawei U8160, this is the spec sheet given on that page.
Depending on how open the manufacturer is with the more intimate details, some may be marked proprietary which will be stated clearly.
The other ...
10
It sounds like Google Latitude does what you want. Once you opt-in you can then share your location data with your wife, and she should be able to check your location anytime. As far as I know, once you choose share your location data with someone they can retrieve it anytime without having to explicitly request your permission.
Latitude is built into the ...
9
The GPS icon in the status bar means that an application is currently using the GPS so it is draining the battery. GPS does not however drain any battery just because you have it enabled in the settings menu.
9
No it's not.
Commercial GPS receivers (like the one in your phone) only work below 18 km and below 515 m/sec. The rationale behind this is that this way they can't be used in ballistic missiles (yes, I'm serious.)
In order to circumvent this you'd need to flash a different firmware to your GPS chip, if you didn't do this you're safe. No current android ...
9
Apps can get your approximate location without GPS, but only if they have the "coarse location" permission. The "fine location" permission lets an app get your GPS location too, if GPS is enabled.
When you an install an app, Android shows you the permissions it needs. If you don't see coarse or fine location in the list, the app can't get your location.
9
No. Bad cellphone coverage decreases battery life because the phone has to transmit with more power to be able to communicate back to the cell tower. It's like when you can barely hear someone hollering at you: you shout louder too to make sure they can hear you. But GPS is a one-way signal: the phone only receives it, it doesn't transmit anything. It doesn'...
9
According to Ifixit's teardown, the Nexus 7 2013 uses the Qualcomm 8064 Snapdragon S4 Pro SoC. Qualcomm's specs show that SoC uses their IZat Gen8A GNSS chipset, which according to their overview does include GLONASS support, though this doesn't necessarily mean GLONASS support is actually active and available in software.
A simple means to test whether ...
8
While Websites can not directly access the GPS, then can get the current location from the device (But of course only if the user has granted the permission). I think that this is done via HTML5's gelocation API, but I am not sure.
8
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/
A good starting point. They usually note also the chip/part numbers in their teardown reports.
8
Yes, but the application has to request the LOCATION_COARSE permission.
This uses a couple different sources used to find the approximate location.
Wifi access points: Google tracks the location of access points by gathering information about them when people have GPS on. Then they can use these access points to tell you where you are when you don't have ...
8
Follow these steps, if the icon in (3) has a line through it then it will not store your location in your images.
Open the menu
Choose settings
Tap the location icon
7
I can't speak to the instructions you linked to, but @Ryan Conrad is correct in saying Galaxy S and Galaxy S II devices shouldn't be treated the same.
Whenever I've had GPS trouble the GPS Status & Toolbox app has helped me. In their tools menu you can use the reset or download A-GPS data options - those steps seems to reset my GPS when it hangs.
7
With LBE Privacy Guard you can block positioning permissions for certain apps.
You can download it here: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.lbe.security.lite
It is important to note that LBE does require your phone to be rooted.
7
There are a number of possible reasons for an inaccurate location, mostly relating to the lack of a good GPS fix. If the phone cannot get an accurate GPS fix, it will use more approximate methods of deriving its location - such as cell tower locations and wifi hotspot locations.
Possible reasons for no good GPS fix, in vague descending order of likliness:
...
7
You might want to take a look at ShareGPS:
ShareGPS allows you to use your mobile's GPS just as you would an external one for your PC. It has the ability to send GPS status strings out over Bluetooth using virtual com ports and over USB using TCP ports. Then you can use your favorite mapping program such as Google Earth to display current GPS position and ...
6
The GPS chip used in the Android devices (usually SiRF Star 3/4) are of civilian grade. Civilian grade chips has some deliberate limitations in par with military grade chips. The civilian chips does have some intentional errors called "Selective Availablity".
Hence, whether it is Android or iPhone or Bluetooth GPS receiver or a dedicated unit which could ...
6
GPS - all GPS systems get signals from the satellites. They never send data to the GPS satellites. Your phone would need a much larger antenna to send a signal to them.
Systems like OnStar do send your position back to their servers. Google servers do get your position information so they can calculate directions and pull in the tiles for the map.
The US ...
6
If you are ready to compromise the third requirement, Google's My Tracks, fits your other needs perfectly.
6
In short: GPS works without an active connection, it's completely passive.
GPS has however an addon feature called A-GPS (assisted GPS) which speeds up the startup (time to first fix) considerably. It basically warms up the receiver with GPS status data such as time, coarse location and most of all GPS satellite orbit location data (ephemeris data download)....
6
Basic Concepts
You are confusing two different concepts: "GPS" and "Navigation", that are used for two distinct scenarios on your device.
GPS is used to pin-point your location in the globe. Navigation is used to plan and track your movements from point A to point B.
While Navigation may depend on 3G or Wi-Fi to access the internet and retrieve maps and ...
6
Tasker can have approaching/leaving a location as a trigger, and sending a text message as an action. I've read before of people setting it up to do exactly what you're asking for.
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