Techs & Trends
GPS on modern phones
I notice phonescoop lists some phones as having gps, and some not, but it's my understanding that in order for a phone to comply with the e911 standard which all phones do aren't they required to have gps built in. Where i'm leading with this is it follows that most phones then are already gps recievers and just need to provide some way to broadcast that data. so somehow shouldn't i be able to use any modern phone as a gps?
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No. Modern CDMA phones have a form of GPS built-in called gpsOne. The phone does receive signals directly from GPS satellites, but the process only works with help from the cell phone network.
It can't function as a standalone GPS receiver. And even with help from the network, the final steps in the process take place on a location server, not in the phone. So the phone never knows its own location - it can't report something like latitude and longitude to the user.
As for GSM phones, they use a different technology that's essentially just triangulation. The towers do all the work - the phone is involved only passively. There's certainly no GPS in the phone.
Then there's iDEN. I believe the newest iDEN phones do include real GPS in ...
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It can't function as a standalone GPS receiver. And even with help from the network, the final steps in the process take place on a location server, not in the phone. So the phone never knows its own location - it can't report something like latitude and longitude to the user.
As for GSM phones, they use a different technology that's essentially just triangulation. The towers do all the work - the phone is involved only passively. There's certainly no GPS in the phone.
Then there's iDEN. I believe the newest iDEN phones do include real GPS in ...
(continues)
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And top this entire discussion off with the dilemma that most municipalities are not 911 GPS capable. They are behind, I made a E911 call to report a Interstate grass fire and the 911 operator asked me for my position. I replied "You don't Know"? She responded "No" So much for 911 GPS Assisted Cell Phones and Local Government.
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Some places and some 911 call centers don't have the cabability. Especialy GSM providers in rural areas are having a tough time with this. Their towers are usually strung out along interstate lines and so there is no way for them to triangulate possision. Most of these have had their deadline extended for this reason.
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there are also IDEN phones that will brodcast their position to a base station. This is really good for dispatch because the dispatcher can tell where all their trucks are anywere in North america
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Eventually they are supposed to have GPS built in, but not all carriers/phone manufacturers are there yet. And, as Airwar said, the local 911 folks are even further behind in the technology.
Now if you're wanting to use your phone as a GPS unit to determine driving directions like newer cars built-in GPS systems, I think Nextel is the only one out there offering this now, although I'm sure others are looking to get in the game.
Now if you're wanting to use your phone as a GPS unit to determine driving directions like newer cars built-in GPS systems, I think Nextel is the only one out there offering this now, although I'm sure others are looking to get in the game.
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Google locator based services, GPS, phones to get a bunch of info on how different phones work. Nextel uses assisted GPS I think. Tower talks to phone tells phone were best GPS sats are and phone uses those. Supposed to work inside buildings in some cases and use less power. GPS sucks power. Good units look for 12 sats and need to be outside to get started.
Other vendors triangulate between 2 or more towers to the phone by calculationg the different arrival times of your signal to the towers. This info can be sent back to your phone if the phone has the right applications. Eventually I expect all kinds of GPS stuff to built into phones. Technology needs to mature though. Today it is used to track possible criminals who have phones althou...
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Other vendors triangulate between 2 or more towers to the phone by calculationg the different arrival times of your signal to the towers. This info can be sent back to your phone if the phone has the right applications. Eventually I expect all kinds of GPS stuff to built into phones. Technology needs to mature though. Today it is used to track possible criminals who have phones althou...
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I'm new to this forum. How can I tell if my phones have GPS? the motorola web site says both of them do according to the model #'s (V60C and T720C) I have a little indicator on the display thats looks like a 0 with a + sign in the middle and the handbook says thats a location indicator. Thanks for any help!
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