[Electronics-talk] GPS in the Big City

[Christopher Chaltain]

I haven't listened to this podcast, but I don't think your conclusion 
follows from this one data point. Was this using the Maps app from 
Apple? If so, it had some well reported map issues when it was first 
released. Was wifi enabled during this test? It's true that tall 
buildings will block satellite signals, but it isn't clear from what you 
say below that this is why there were accuracy problems in Acron. Also, 
using cell tower and wifi hotspot triangulation will improve GPS 
accuracy, and I would expect New York City has quite a few cell towers 
and documented wifi hot spots, so this accuracy could be improved quite 
a bit.

On 04/10/2013 01:35 PM, Gerald Levy wrote:
>
> Not true at all.  Last year, Rick Harmon from Blind Geek Zone produced a
> podcast demonstrating the GPS app for the IPhone 4 in his home town of
> Akron, Ohio.  Needless to say, it was not very accurate and often
> announced incorrect street names and landmarks, even though Akron is not
> a particularly dense urban area like midtown Manhattan.  So it would
> stand to reason that the GPS app for the IPhone would not work well in a
> major city with a lot of tall buildings that could block the direct line
> of sight to the orbiting GPS satellites.
>
> Gerald
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Christopher Chaltain"
> <chaltain at gmail.com>
> To: "Discussion of accessible electronics and appliances"
> <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2013 11:56 AM
> Subject: Re: [Electronics-talk] GPS in the Big City
>
>
>> I'm not sure about the BrailleNote running Sendero, but iPhone/Android
>> running a GPS app will also use cell tower and wifi hotspot
>> triangulation to improve location reliability. I would think this
>> would help quite a bit in a large metropolitan area, but I can't speak
>> from experience.
>>
>> On 04/10/2013 10:49 AM, Tracy Carcione wrote:
>>> I work in midtown Manhattan.  I have Sendero GPS, running on a
>>> Braillenote PK.  I find it pretty unreliable in New York City, probably
>>> because of the many tall buildings.  It frequently says I'm 2 blocks
>>> away from where I know I am, and heading in a different direction than
>>> I'm heading.  My question is, does this happen with all GPS in big
>>> cities, or is it because the GPS is running on a PK, not the most
>>> powerful system in the world?  Would, say, IPhone GPS be more reliable
>>> in the big city?
>>> I am only interested in the big city aspect.  At home, in north Jersey,
>>> the Sendero and PK work reasonably well.
>>> Thanks.
>>> Tracy
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Electronics-talk mailing list
>>> Electronics-talk at nfbnet.org
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>> Electronics-talk:
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org/chaltain%40gmail.com
>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Christopher (CJ)
>> chaltain at Gmail
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Electronics-talk mailing list
>> Electronics-talk at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> Electronics-talk:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org/bwaylimited%40verizon.net
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Electronics-talk mailing list
> Electronics-talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Electronics-talk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org/chaltain%40gmail.com
>

-- 
Christopher (CJ)
chaltain at Gmail