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Google Maps GPS Simulator
garbletext writes "A new version of Google Maps introduced this week includes a beta feature dubbed My Location that was designed to simulate the GPS experience on mobile phones and handheld devices that do not include GPS hardware, like Apple's iPhone. Essentially, the My Location feature takes information broadcast from mobile towers near non-GPS equipped mobile phones to approximate the device's current location on the map down to about 10 city blocks. "It's not GPS, but it comes pretty close (approximately 1000m close, on average)," the Mountain View, Calif.-based search giant explained on its website. "We're still in beta, but we're excited to launch this feature and are constantly working to improve our coverage and accuracy." The My Location feature is currently available for most web-enabled mobile phones, including Java, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Nokia/Symbian devices."
Except this doesn't actually work on iPhone.
Now I can pay to have my cellphone tell me I'm somewhere in downtown Toronto. Just what I've always wanted - I always keep forgetting these minor details.
So, hypothetically speaking, if I had been driving to my relatives' house on, say, Thanksgiving, and I possibly took a right turn instead of a left one and ended up 3 miles away before turning back, I was, in theory, also pretty close?
It's not terribly useful if you're truly lost. Once they can get the triangulation between towers to work better, it'll be pretty damn slick. Until then, 'tis just a toy.
"In caelum, illuc est libertas."
Um... What's the standard deviation on that?
While I like the sentiment, I suspect the usefulness is going to be... limited... It'll be as easy to put in the street names and such.
Deleted
I believe MapPoint Location Server had these same features based on GPRS/GSM available back in 2004. For a price of course :)
Given your posting record thus far, I'm gonna side with Sean Connery on this one and say that you're missing a space after that "e".
(rot13) rpbzbab@tznvy.pbz
The usefulness will come from the fact that you now have a localized map of roughly where you are. As long as you think of it as a personalized map service instead of a GPS replacement service, it still quite handy
No, it's not going to tell you your exact location. But if you need to get somewhere it can give you direct starting within 1000 feet of where you are.
It is NOT for Geo caching, or to give you constant real time updates as you hurl down the road.
So if you are in downtown Toronto and decide you want to check out the new book store in BF Canada, you can get a close start position on Google maps. If you can't figure it our from there, then please stop using technology.Any technology.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
If it's based on the deployment of Cell towers, it's not exactly a *Global* Positioning System. I think GPSs are more useful in remote areas than urban ones and probably less dangerous there too.
I think this product might lead people into a false sense of security:
"Hey, I think were lost out here in the middle of the Oregon woods in a blizzard. Better check the GPS on my iPhone.
"WTF?
"We're doomed!"
Some people have a way with words, and some people, um, thingy.
It may not be as accurate as full-on GPS, but now you can do searches for nearby businesses...without having to type in your location. I don't know how many times I've been looking for something NEARBY and either didn't know what zip code or city I was in (keep in mind in a place like LA, something might be nearby but technically in a different city, and sometimes it wouldn't find things unless you gave it specific locations - I know this from experience). I finally resorted to doing a browser Google search because the maps app just wasn't finding stuff.
I've also noticed that now, when you search without putting in a location (i.e. "pizza" instead of "pizza los angeles ca") it will search the nearby area visible on the map. With the previous version, for some reason, it kept giving me locations in the UK when I didn't specify a city/state in the US instead of just searching the area of the map that was currently visible.
Too bad the "My Location" feature doesn't currently work on Sprint Touch and Mogul phones (whether this is a Google or Sprint thing, who knows...) as it says the phones aren't reporting any cell towers (you can see this in Help>About where it says "myl: N/A". Oh, well...hopefully it will work sometime in the future.
I downloaded it on my phone (samsung m500 on sprint) and while it's definitely the new version (double checked in the help/about) it says My Location isn't supported on this device. Also they changed the buttons around, it seems to only use 0-9 and the 4way directional, rather than using the button in the middle of the 4way and the * and # keys.
Where are they getting the information about what tower you're connected to and how strong the signal is? If it's from the app running on the phone, and you selected to install the app (plus agree to a very long disclaimer) then I have fewer issues. But if they are getting the information from the phone company or from the network requests (e.g. http headers added by phone company) then I'd question if the phone company is giving away private information on their customers.
And if they get the information from the app on the phone, I'd be curious of what api's there are to do this ourselves and if that access infringes on some kind of separation between the phone and app that users and phone companies may want (e.g. apps dialing 900 numbers or racking up charges for sms messages without your knowledge).
(And FYI, testing this on a Sprint Treo 600 claims to download the 2.0 version, but it's really the 1.2 version after the installer runs, so it doesn't work for me yet.)
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
The purpose of this is not to tell you where you are. It's to get you to the right map, without needing to type a location using clumsy cell-phone input. Once you're looking at a map, you can figure out where you are by looking at street signs. Think of it as a road atlas which always opens to the right page.
OK
my review -
GOOD
My Location actually WORKS !
My Location works outside of the USA (at least in the UK)
well put together app not a resource hog on my symbian Nokia Series 60 v2 phone (e50)
BAD
you cant do ANYTHING with "My Location" except watch a pretty blue point on the map
No My Location for route finding
No traffic outside USA
Route does not work for a found location it adds a ")" at the end for some reason.
Nice but you need to actaully finish it or it's just a plaything
I am curious what Database of cell locations is google using do you gut think ?
(the phone companies often lie about locations in there headers so you have to build your own (wiggle) or use OFCOM in the uk)
regards
John Jones
http://www.johnjones.me.uk/
Stupid I know, but until slash starts cradling us with some form of protection, I wrote the following
javascript:(function(){
var i,x,l,h;
for(i=0;x=document.links[i];++i){
l=x.href.toLowerCase();
if(l.indexOf('google')>=0 && l.indexOf('btni')>=0) {
x.href = x.href.replace(/btni/gi, "btnG");
h=document.createTextNode("[I'm Feeling unlucky]");
x.parentNode.insertBefore(h, x.nextSibling);
}
} })()
incorporate into greasemonkey or your own standard method and forget about feeling lucky.
Is this a google vulnerability though or just creative thinking?
If google actually checked the link and rejected commands if invalid parameter data is present then we would land on a harmless search page no matter what.
(incidentally, will some regex wiz work their magic on the initial link test)
liqbase
I think it's pretty cool. I tried through WiFi (as my packet data connection is awful AND pricy), and I wasn't within the limit it drew, but about 800 meters off. That, in a minor town in Brasil.
That is not revolutionary, but it's clearly very useful.
And I really like that it can use my phone's GPS (which was off for the test) - Google Maps is absurdly better than Nokia Maps, as far as directions and map data goes.
A few other very interesting features were released this week for Google Maps... and I'm sorry that this story is all we got on /. so far. Here's a copy from the site in my sig.
Google Maps Adds Terrain
Google Lat Lon Blog announces the addition of terrain to their free Google Maps site. In addition to adding the Terrain button, they've removed the Hybrid button. They explain, "You may notice in this screenshot that the handy "Hybrid" button, which shows satellite images overlaid with labels and roads, seems to have gone missing. Don't worry -- this view can now be accessed by clicking the "Satellite" button and checking the "Show labels" check box that will appear under the "Satellite" button."
New Google Maps Features Launched Including Collaborative Mapping
In addition to the important new terrain layer announced yesterday, Google Maps received a few significant updates, first, Google Maps searches are now providing a thumbnail of the related street view photo, second, the My Maps feature somehow becomes Our Maps, allowing to collaborate directly on someone else's My Maps, this has a lot of potential of getting big, and last, you can more easily share KML and KMZ files and GeoRSS feeds through My Maps. From the Our Maps announcement: "Just click the "Collaborate" link and enter the email addresses of the people you want to invite. They'll receive an email invitation with a link to the map. Once they open the map, they should be able to edit it, as long as they are signed into a Google Account that's associated with that email address. You can also open your map to the world so anyone can edit it by selecting the "Allow anyone to edit this map" checkbox."
Animoog.org
I killed the old version I had (1.7-something), downloaded 2.0, fired it up. Nothing. "Your location is currently unavailable." Rebooted the phone, now it works great. It's showing the blue dot about half a block from my actual location. I'm well within the grey circle around the dot. Pretty awesome for not using GPS.
-- Google pushes to your phone which nearby businesses are having sales at the moment.
-- During non-peak hours, Starbucks sends you a coupon for a half-price latte redeemable in the next 15 minutes.
-- Capital One, knowing your buying habits, lets you know which nearby clothing stores they can get you a discount at.
-- Match.com tells you which matches are in the area to meet up with.
-- LinkedIn lets you know there's a consultant nearby at lunch with just the kind of Indian outsourcing experience you need.
-- Facebook takes your location info, accidentally leaks it to a Facebook app, and Ron Paul supporters swarm your location with placards and chants.
In other words, massively delivered location-contextual ads and services are the next big thing. This is huge!
Didn't work on my N95 either.. there's an app and it shows a map position but it's at the other end of the country and pressing '0' just comes up with an error.