only finding me some of the time (confusion about how it finds me)

Discussion for Here and now

10-07-2009 01:43

Does this app use the same "network-based" positioning that other apps use (so, if on my 5800, I went into positioning and turned off network-based, it would no longer work)? Or is it doing its own thing (the statement about using the cell id in a previous post was unclear)?

I ask as it was previously finding me all the time and now is only finding me about 2 times out of 10. I've also noticed that any app other than Google Maps (which clearly does its own thing) is unable to even approximate my location if I disable the internal gps and a-gps, leaving only the network-based positioning on. This includes Location app, Ovi Maps 2.0, Friendview, and an example location finding app I downloaded from Nokia's code samples.

I have supl.nokia.com entered and can telnet to port 7275 via T-Mobile's EDGE (does network-based use a different server and/or different port)?

So, is it the app, something on nokia's end, or did something on my phone get hosed?

Of further interest is this really unclear statement at http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/TSS001122_-_Network-based_positioning :

"If the operator provides similar services, the operator services will be used."
Does this mean the operator can do something to override what the phone would normally do for network based positioning, or that the operator's services would be used iff I put in the operator's positioning server instead of supl.nokia.com ?

Thanks!

Comments

Submitted by redreku on 16-07-2009 13:42.

Here and now is "doing its own thing" and does not use GPS at all, so the setting you mention should have no effect. Also, unfortunately the application is not compatible with the Nokia 5800.

Here and now gets the Cell ID of the currently used cellular base station (i.e. each cell tower in the network has an unique identifier). The Cell ID is then sent to the server that digs out the location of that particular base station which is the same as the approximate location of the phone (the accuracy depends on the range of that particular cell). The server then fetches the weather forecast etc. for the nearest known location and sends it to the phone.

Here and now automatically uses the same data connection as the web browser. As long as the browser can connect the Internet the data should get through to the Here and now servers and back. The supl.nokia.com setting does not come into play at all. I checked the the Forum Nokia page and also find it a bit unclear. I suspect that your setting cannot be overridden by the operator services, but this is really a question for Forum Nokia;-)

Pekka Rissanen
Product Manager, Here and now