How to: GPS Explained

waffabix wrote:i am struggling to get my gps to work (i'm not sure what i need to do) please could some one write a FAQ on how to use maps and other gps software on n95

Regards

It should be straight forward. Just open the Maps app and it will start looking for satellites. This can take up to 5 minutes depending on various factors (if you are moiving, how clear a view of the sky you have, how long its been since it last looked for satellites etc).
Once it finds strong enough signal it will show your current position and the little satellite icon in the bottom right will lose the red X
You will need to open the keypad (the GPS receiver is actually in that part) and also need a net connection.

It seems most likely you haven't waited long enough for a signal (it can take a long time especially the first few times and on the old firmware).

The Keypad part is really crucial too. Its makes the difference between a 2 mnute lock on to a 10 minute lock on!!

You don't need a net connection if the maps are locally stored though I beleive. Certianly don't on mine anyway.

You need to download the maps using MapLoader (takes quite a while - like overnight).

Then you should have a street directory on your phone.

Paid The Umpire wrote:You need to download the maps using MapLoader (takes quite a while - like overnight).

Then you should have a street directory on your phone.

It's significantly quicker if you load the maps onto the SD card using a card reader instead of through the phone.

So it's best then to download all the maps you need on to the micro sd before trying the gps?
I need to know this as mine is being delivered tomorrow?

I think it says you have to run it once before you add the maps. Make sure you use the correct desktop PC 'Maploader': there's another similar-sounding app for one of the E-series, I think. Having said that, even it you're using the right app, it's pretty Micky Mouse. You can either connect the handset in "mass storage" mode, or put the flash card in a card reader. I did mine in the handset but it took several attempts to get it to see it. Then people aren't kidding when they say to leave it overnight: the server is ridiculously slow. I left mine overnight and even then, because I have a hairy (but cheap) adsl connection that goes down intermittently, it still took me a few attempts. Don't give up: the 'Maps' application isn't nearly as bad as people make out. It's not a patch on TomTom, but far better than nothing.

neilhoskins wrote:I think it says you have to run it once before you add the maps. Make sure you use the correct desktop PC 'Maploader': there's another similar-sounding app for one of the E-series, I think. Having said that, even it you're using the right app, it's pretty Micky Mouse. You can either connect the handset in "mass storage" mode, or put the flash card in a card reader. I did mine in the handset but it took several attempts to get it to see it. Then people aren't kidding when they say to leave it overnight: the server is ridiculously slow. I left mine overnight and even then, because I have a hairy (but cheap) adsl connection that goes down intermittently, it still took me a few attempts. Don't give up: the 'Maps' application isn't nearly as bad as people make out. It's not a patch on TomTom, but far better than nothing.

Cheers Neil,good explanation :icon14:

The GPS receiver is stored under the 0 key according to wikipedia.

my pc refuses to recognise my phone under mass storage mode through maps application and generally full stop i think its missing some driver or summat. then again i am running vista which practically screws evrything up (my bluetooth)

OK, is it possible that some brave and kind soul might be able to do a video tutorial of the N95 built in GPS in action?

I'm asking as I have yet to see it working in any useful way I can recognise (indeed I am not even certain I have witnessed it working at all yet).

When I start the maps application (having pretty much filled one entire spare 2GB memory card with maps of more or less the largest part of Europe (although really, it would be neat/preferable to just have global maps at my fingertips), when I start the Maps application (having opened the keypad slider first to expose the (alleged) location of the built in GPS receiver, I see a little globe/earth type icon in the center of the screen and a little satellite dish with a red X next to it on the bottom right. This never changes no matter how long I wait, or how long I ensure that the phone keypad slider stays open/exposed.

I can zoom in to street level (although I haven't worked out how to do this deliberately yet - as I only seem to be able to do it accidentally at the moment, by pressing some random set of controls or other) but my chief suspicion is that I am not actually connected to any satellites and that as far as I can tell, I have not been able to connect to any satellites yet either. So I guess the first question I have is, how can I tell which, if any satellites I am connected to?

Other than that, some kind of visual tutorial (video/Youtube or maybe photos) and a demonstration of the various GPS features in action would be very much appreciated. Or even just a text/written tutorial of some kind would more than suffice if anyone had the patience or time to supply one.

Thanks in advance for any input anyone can offer.

GJ

PS

To be clear I am just using the built in GPS receiver, no network, no bluetooth etc. Just the native NOKIA handset GPS receiver. I have heard that there is a native version of Tom Tom GPS for Nokia handsets (and that it comes with it's own bluetooth GPS receiver - although I don't know if you need a laptop or a PC to use this - which would kind of defeat the purpose) but I'm not certain if this is either better, or whether it is even compatible with the N95?

Hiya,

i had trouble getting my gps working on my new N95 as well. In the end i did get it working. here is how i did it, for referene i am using just the pure n95 on o2 in the uk

Goto maps, open the application

Once the map has zoomed into where ever, i looked up my address, where it did eventually load the street map.

i opened the menu, went to view then to satalite status, and gradually the more into the open that i got the more signal that i got and eventually after about 6/7 mins i locked onto 4 satalites and i was away.

it took me 4/5 attempts to do it tho. wasnt as easy as i had hoped, i think it worked fine once i got the damn thing to connect to that. once it was connected it worked fine.

Good Luck

Pete

i finally got it to connect to some sattalite!!! everyime i try noe it only take like a minute now its ace

i think i might have posted my 2 cents a little late then 😛

Pete

The best way to check something is happening is:
Open maps and slide the keypad out (as you have done)
Skip the little zooming in animation (right soft key)
Click the left key for Options > View > Satellite Info

This will display some numbers and bars. The numbers are the satellites reference numbers and the bars' size are the strength. These will be changing as it gets a fix but you generally won't get the gps working until you have 5 strong signals.

If you are in clear view of the sky etc and just see "no satellite data available" instead of the bars, wait a minute and if its still there, something is definately wrong with your device

petedcollins wrote:i think i might have posted my 2 cents a little late then 😛

Pete

😞 Me too!

raid517 wrote:I see a little globe/earth type icon in the center of the screen and a little satellite dish with a red X next to it on the bottom right. This never changes no matter how long I wait, or how long I ensure that the phone keypad slider stays open/exposed.

As a sidenote, the GPS of the N95 is problematic for someone not used to GPSs. But you eventually learn its quirks and adapt to it. Then you start using it regularly when needed and are just a happy to have it... Actually, what I know dislike the most is that the slide for all practical purposes always need to be open. Then I feel that they could just as well have manufactured a candybar phone from the start...

Well I guess it's possible I might be subject to some interferance. I live in the city centre - and there are a lot of quite tall buildings. However I went to a large city square with open access to the sky in an area of about 4 or 500 meters on each side.

I imagined that this should be enough to get clear access to some sateltes.

However I did as suggested above and pulled up the screen showing 'satelite info' - and it did show a bunch of numbers eventually (about 6 in total after a few minutes) but there were certainly no 'bars' or signal stength meters, or anything like that.

Maybe I didn't wait long enough? I think I probably waited about 4 or 5 minutes in total on each attempt - and I tried about 4 times.

Maybe I just need to go somewhere where there really is total freee access to the sky's from miles around?

Having said which does this mean that the GPS functionality isn't really very usable on an average busy city center street? We're not talking about New York with all it's skyscrapers here, just good old Newcastle upon Tyne.

P.S.

Some sort of video, or picture tutoral would still be nice, both to show basic functionality (i.e. how things should work) and also so I can see what I should be looking at. But of course, if no one has the time to do this, this would be completely fine too.

Well 500 meters square is only 22 x 22 meters, but maybe that's not what you meant but rather a large city square, as you also wrote. You waited 4 or 5 minutes. Well, that's when things are usually starting to happen if the circumstances are not so optimal (cloudy sky, building close etc). So you should wait a bit longer. If you get the numbers of all five satellites (no bars necessary), then you're close.

If "the GPS functionality isn't really very usable on an average busy city center street?" Yes, it is. But you need the satellite lock first. Then you can move about quite freely also in a city as long as the slide is open.

Yeah well what I meant was a large city square about 500 meters each side sorry.

Well it looks like I will have to try to persist with it.

Odd that someone should mention signal strength bars though.

Seems strange I haven't seen those.

raid517 wrote:Yeah well what I meant was a large city square about 500 meters each side sorry.

Well it looks like I will have to try to persist with it.

Odd that someone should mention signal strength bars though.

Seems strange I haven't see those.

The GPS was some what unstable with the first firmware. I sometimes had 4-5 sattelites for a looong time but didn't ever get a lock/fick. On other occasions I got a lock in 30 sec. Couldn't see any logic (such as buildings, weather etc..). After firmware upgrade to 11.xx it has become more stable and in general much faster fix (seems more sensitive), but it's not 100%. Most of the times I get a fix within 2 minutes even from within car (...and the car has electrical heated windscreen as well which tends to disrupt my TOMTOM bt GPS...).

So, my question is: Do you have the 11.x firmware?

Yes I do.

The changelog from the 11 FW does not mention the GPS. I personally can not confirm that it has changed from 10 to eleven. Anyway 😊
Lookup the GPS-Article in Wikipedia. Read about the 'Almanach'. It is basically the track-data of the satellites and usually takes 12 Minutes to be completely received by the GPS-Receiver.

Of course this is not true anymore, todays receivers (and also the N95s receiver) can get a fix a lot quicker, even when the Almanach is outdated. Look it up in the web and appreciate the fine technology you have in your hand (with any GPS receiver) 😊

What should make it easier in the future
If the mobile operators put A-GPS signals into their networks, it will be a lot easier for the GPS-Receivers to get the first fix. A-GPS basically tells the GPS receiver roughly where it is.

Example:
- you have a GPS receiver
- you have GPS-satellites

Basically a GPS-Receiver does two tricks:
- it 'knows' where the satellite is supposed to be. It does that with the track-data and the *EXACT* time (atomic clock aboard every sat.)
- it knows, how far it is away from the satellite.

Okay, and here we are:
- If you know location and distance to one GPS-sat, you know where on earth you are ON a circle, which has the measured distance to the satellite. Not good enough.
- If you know location and distance to two GPS-sats, you know you are on one of the two points, where the two circles meet.
- now if you have three sats you are there, there is only one point on earth left, which matches all three points.

If you now have a rough position through a-gps, it helps the receivre to get the first fix.

Regards,
PM

Mmm... like I said, I repeated the experiment - in several locations around the city of Newcastle upon Tyne - and while I can see the numbers in view > satellite info. I'm not sure what's supposed to happen next?

What does the little red X next to the satellite dish icon mean?

And why when I press the button on the right that says 'GPS Pos.' does it always seem to center somewhere over Berlin?

What exactly do I have to do for example, to determine exactly where I am on the map now? That's really all I want to know how to do, which is to track my position on a map.

Maybe this city isn't so well covered with GPS or something?

I think I may have to resort to the drastic measure of reading the instruction manual (which is not something that many guys do I guess) to try to get my head round this GPS functionality a bit better.

One thing that might be of note is that I loaded maps of pretty much all of Western Europe on a 2GB memory card - and it is possible that the last maps I loaded may have been of Germany. But I have all of the maps - not just the German ones, so as I said, I'm not sure how (or if at all) relevant this is.

Edit.

Well one thing I do know is, I sure as hell haven't ever seen anything like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm0LV55mt9A

That looks way cool - and it talks to you.

I'm sure I must be missing out on something....

OK I kind of get the theory, from watching this video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ymosYgHgA

Please fill me in on any steps I am missing.

1) Open the 'Maps' application.

2) Press the Options button and select 'View'.

3) Select 'Satellite info'

4) Wait until you see a bunch of numbers (Typically I get around 4 and 6 double digit numbers - not sure what these are though).

5) Select Options > Plan Route.

6) Select your starting point.

7) Select your Destination point

8) Select Options > Show route

9) Select Options > Show on map

10) Select Options Start Tracking, or Start Navigation. (I'm not sure what's different about either of these choices, as I have never used GPS before).

And this is the point where things get sticky.

If I select either Start Tracking, or Start Navigation, I get a message with an exclamation mark saying:

No GPS Position!

Which at that point kind of makes me think, WTF???

Is it possible that the SatNav on my phone may be broken?

I have followed everyone's advice here and have ensured that the phone keypad slider stays open at all times.

I honestly don't get why just the SatNav would be broken - as everything else works just fine.

btw- for 'start navigation', you have to have paid for the service.. 'start route' is what you want to do, and you must already have a satellite lock before you do it.

When you go to plan your route from where you currently are to where you want to go, it'll default to say 'gps location' or something (i forget exactly), but the satellite signals will update that field with crossroads or an address where you're at or driving by.

To raid517- just give the unit time to get a satellite lock and you will be fine.

Erm.. yeah... but how long is long enough? I've tried 3 minutes, I've tried 5 minutes, I've tried 10 minutes +. It still doesn't seem to be locking on a satellite.

I think I've got the theory down on what should be happening (as above).

I even did a simulated route - which would be funny if it wasn't so sad - in that I mapped out a route from my front door to my dentists - which is only a few streets away. (As I said previously I live in the city center). Having ran the simulation I almost ell of my chair as the software took me on a 39 KM round trip (as I said, just to get only a few streets away).

So one thing I think I've learned early, is that this software might not be entirely trustworthy.

Anyway something else I found out is that you can supplement the built in GPS with a Bluetooth GPS unit.

Considering therefore that I may wish at a later date to switch over to TomTom Mobile software instead (since everyone claims that this is the best) and since I don't have to pay for navigation options by country if I do this (I can have all of Western Europe in a Single Package) I thought I might invest in a portable Bluetooth GPS receiver.

If I want a really good one, can anyone please recommend from these options here:

http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/search.dll?sofocus=pf&sbrftog=1&from=R10&satitle=bluetooth+gps&sacat=139835%26catref%3DC6&a6=-24&a15962=-24&a14=-24&a31245=-24&a45708=-24&a31300=45712&a10244=-24&alist=a6%2Ca3801%2Ca15962%2Ca14%2Ca31245%2Ca45708%2Ca31300%2Ca10244&pfmode=1&reqtype=1&gcs=1897&pfid=2698&pf_query=bluetooth+gps&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D3&sadis=200&fpos=NE1+5BT&ga10244=10425&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1%26fsoo%3D1&coaction=compare&copagenum=1&coentrypage=search&fgtp=

I'm asking as I don't want to get caught out by buying any cheap Chinese knockoffs.

The built in GPS may well work, but it doesn't seem to work very well in my current location - so I guess maybe a little supplemental help won't hurt.

PS

Is there a recent version of TomTom Mobile that is compatible with the N95? If it comes on an SD card, is it a microSD card of the sort that the n95 can accept?

PPS.

Well OK I've been reading around - and apparently it can take up to 20 minutes to get a good lock the first time you use the GPS. So I have put it on my window - which at 5 floors up on a hill is pretty much above all the other buildings in the area. So I intent to leave it as long as the full battery charge will permit and see if I have any luck.

Right now I have 4 satellites in view - and I can now see the signal strength bars too - although they are all empty right now.

I would still appreciate a recommendation for a really good bluetooth GPS receiver. (Something with long life preferably - and also something that can take readily available batteries. It would also be nice if it had some sort of belt or lapel clip, as I got the N95 specifically to take on a long European holiday with me so I could track my position and find my way around as I go - and I intend to do a lot of walking and cycling etc when I go). Short of that, providing it is small and easily transportable and has top notch reception, I would be willing to consider anything. I need GPS to work reliably at all times - so just having it work sometimes is not so hot.

Yay! I got a lock, it found my position and I got 5 satellites. So it does work and it isn't broken. It seems all of the buildings in this area may cause a problem at street level however.

I am still interested in a good reccomedation for a top quality Bluetooth GPS reciever though...