iPhone 4s gps ... accuracy never better than 400ft

[+taylor12k]

i know there are a lot of iPhone topics. but there are so many that searching for my answer was becoming tedious....

 

anyway, my geocaching gps is an Oregon 300 but sometimes I'll be out, not intending to cache, but realize there's one nearby and only have my phone.

 

now, if I understand correctly the iPhone 4s has a true gps, it doesn't just use cell tower triangulation.... however, I've never had accuracy of the phone (based on the geocaching app's navigation compass) better than 400 or 500 feet. ie: useless for geocaching.

 

is this normal? is there something I haven't turned on or done right? (location services are ON for the geocaching app). I've read some people finding the 4s giving them single-digit accuracy.... completely unheard of on my phone.

 

help?

[+GeePa]

Do you have location services turned on? Setting-General-Location Services

[+Walts Hunting]

I don't think so. I have been out with people using their iPhone and they have right with me getting to the location. The GPS function can be turned on and off. I suspect it has gotten to the off,position

[+harbhippo]

Also, remember that the accuracy reported by your phone is seldom realistic. I don't know how an iPhone estimates its accuracy, but it may say 400 ft and actually take you within ten.

[+taylor12k]

yes, as stated in my original post, location services are on....

[7rxc]

Might be worthwhile checking the DATUM setting. Up here the shift from NAD27 to WGS84 would be close to 200 metres (600 plus feet).

I understand that this varies based on latitude of the observer and you would be a bit South in NY. There are charts for correcting.

Longitude tends to be much less of a shift (about 10 metres here).

 

A larger distance could be 'fat finger' syndrome or typo, OR a format difference. Decimal degrees vs Decimal minutes can result in many miles of difference. Many have entered the numbers from DD MM.mmm into DD.ddddd with funny results.

 

Still I'd stay with the Location Settings on the phone, GPS only or GPS and tower. Consider the Datum however.

 

Doug 7rxc

[+Styk]

So where would one find the datum setting on an iPhone? I've looked but cannot find it.

[7rxc]

So where would one find the datum setting on an iPhone? I've looked but cannot find it.

Like I said, I don't even own a regular phone at the moment... but... Most GPS units would have that setting in roughly the same area of the settings as the coordinate format. Part of the System Setup then look for UNITS section (on most of my Garmin GPS). I've always found something similar to that on any I've played with.

 

I'm sure someone will answer your question that has one (iphone). Perhaps its available within the app. That's where I would think it would be useful to have it. There may be other means to access that as well directly, assuming you don't want anything but GPS usage.

 

Hope that helps. One could read the manual of course but that isn't much fun.

 

Doug 7rxc

[+r2btms]

I have an iPhone 4 and routinely get down to 10 m accuracy, often 5 m if there's no overhead cover. There's nothing special needed to make this work, just location services. The GPS unit is built in. Is it the accuracy or precision which is out ... that is, does it has a high confidence about the location (in the geocaching app, down to 10m), but the location is wrong? Or is the precision consistently out?

 

I recently bought a 3G iPad 3, and the GPS unit seems better - routinely down to 5m. Plus, full screen apps like GeoBucket are pretty good compared to the 2x scaled geocaching app.

 

r2btms

[+Lieblweb]

There is definitely something wrong....I have an iphone 4 and I've been able to find geocaches with it (although, takes a while, gets me within 20-30 feet and have to use my geo-senses).

 

Have you rebooted your phone lately? Got the system updates? You mentioned your Location Services are ON... You also need click on the LOCATION SERVICES tab and scroll down the list of APP's and make sure the geocaching APP is ON.

 

Also, Go into your Geocaching App and check the settings in there:

My Location - Source: My Device GPS

 

That's about all I can find in terms of settings....

[+New Jersey TJ]

Have you looked at how accurate Google maps is once the GPS has locked? (On an Android, the circle around your location becomes very small.)

 

If your location in Google Maps is accurate, it would indicate a problem with your Geocaching app. Otherwise, you may have a GPS/hardware problem.

 

An iPhone user might be able to suggest a GPS app that will allow you to see what the GPS is doing . . if it's locked, etc. Use that to insure your GPS is locking.

[+crunchewy]

It's not normal. My iPhone 4 shows as good as 16' foot accuracy. Of course that is only without any tree cover and such.

 

Note, though, that when you first launch the Geocaching app, the accuracy will be terrible until it locks, but it doesn't take very long on my iPhone. Maybe 10 seconds? Not really sure, but it's generally pretty quick.

 

For an app that will show whether you are locked on, I can recommend the Motion-X GPS app (not the "Drive" app, just "Motion-X GPS"). It's a pretty handy app to have anyway as it can make tracks for you and such. The spinning globe at the top right is red before it locks on, blue/green when the GPS is locked on.

Edited August 6, 2012 by crunchewy

[+TheGadfly]

i know there are a lot of iPhone topics. but there are so many that searching for my answer was becoming tedious....

 

anyway, my geocaching gps is an Oregon 300 but sometimes I'll be out, not intending to cache, but realize there's one nearby and only have my phone.

 

now, if I understand correctly the iPhone 4s has a true gps, it doesn't just use cell tower triangulation.... however, I've never had accuracy of the phone (based on the geocaching app's navigation compass) better than 400 or 500 feet. ie: useless for geocaching.

 

is this normal? is there something I haven't turned on or done right? (location services are ON for the geocaching app). I've read some people finding the 4s giving them single-digit accuracy.... completely unheard of on my phone.

 

help?

 

I have an Iphone 4S and found this thread by searching for "IPhone accuracy." The reason I was searching is I was just out looking for a cache, but could not find it. If I took 1 step when using the Geocaching app distance to cache would jump from 14 feet to 44 feet. This was supposed to be an easy cache in the middle of my neighborhood, and there are no logs of people not finding the cache. Last "found it" log was about 50 days ago. There are quite a few muggles around the area walking, riding, bikes, etc. so maybe someone removed it. It could also be that I am a newbie and my geosenses are not quite in tune yet, as this is only my 2nd cache.

 

However, I was disappointed in that I had a hard time even deciding which side of the street the cache was supposed to be on. I looked around the entire area, on both sides of the street and woods, but did not find the cache. I am a Rescue SCUBA diver, private pilot, and very comfortable with a map and compass, and if I can find the boat anchor in the middle of a lake at 90ft under water using a compass heading and counting my swimming kicks, I'd like to think I have the requisite skill to find a Geocache placed a quarter mile from my home on the side of the street.

Alas.

 

I have always used a compass and map when hiking, and underwater I perform search grids with a compass, and I have never had any problems with navigation. Someone please tell me that a Garmin or DeLorme will be much better in accuracy than my IPhone. Please?

[+Atlas Cached]

I have always used a compass and map when hiking, and underwater I perform search grids with a compass, and I have never had any problems with navigation. Someone please tell me that a Garmin or DeLorme will be much better in accuracy than my IPhone. Please?

 

A Garmin GPSr will very much serve you better than the iPhone in the accuracy department. Your geocacheing 'Geo-Sense' will have to be tuned through experience, however. ;-)

[+TheGadfly]

I have always used a compass and map when hiking, and underwater I perform search grids with a compass, and I have never had any problems with navigation. Someone please tell me that a Garmin or DeLorme will be much better in accuracy than my IPhone. Please?

 

A Garmin GPSr will very much serve you better than the iPhone in the accuracy department. Your geocacheing 'Geo-Sense' will have to be tuned through experience, however. ;-)

 

Thank you very much. I just got a Garmin Montanan 650t, as I "needed" one for hiking anyway, and one to put in the plane when I fly. I just installed some topo maps on it tonight, and have enjoyed playing with it over the last few hours. I am going to head out in the morning and break this puppy in!

[+Atlas Cached]

I have always used a compass and map when hiking, and underwater I perform search grids with a compass, and I have never had any problems with navigation. Someone please tell me that a Garmin or DeLorme will be much better in accuracy than my IPhone. Please?

 

A Garmin GPSr will very much serve you better than the iPhone in the accuracy department. Your geocacheing 'Geo-Sense' will have to be tuned through experience, however. ;-)

 

Thank you very much. I just got a Garmin Montanan 650t, as I "needed" one for hiking anyway, and one to put in the plane when I fly. I just installed some topo maps on it tonight, and have enjoyed playing with it over the last few hours. I am going to head out in the morning and break this puppy in!

 

Excellent Choice!

 

Have you seen the Montana Wiki?

 

If you just got your Montana, you may want to read this.