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Accuracy of Phone Maps?


tussya

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What it sounds like you're really asking is how accurate is the GPS receiver on my phone.

 

The answer is, it varies greatly, but usually not as good as a real handheld gps receiver.

 

I have a Samsung Galaxy S and I think its horrible. I also have a t-mo comet (one of the cheapest androids ever sold) and its one of the best I've seen in a phone.

 

Neither is as good as my two garmin handhelds.

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I don't think anybody can truly answer the question "how accurate are the maps on phones?".

Oftentimes, they are good here; not so good there; even worse elsewhere. Partly (mostly?) because with an electronic device, they are comprised of tiles -- not unlike a tiled floor.

 

Maps, in all their glory... especially those tiled maps for electronic devices (including computers) have always had some problems.

It stems partly from trying to make an uneven surface (like the earth's surface) conform to a flat surface (map), or vice-versa.

 

Google Maps have their problems, Bing has its problems as do others. No matter what map you use, there will be discrepancies and spatial errors. Use them wisely -- that is, with a grain of salt -- and they work OK.

 

Truth of the matter is... you don't really need a map. It is only icing on the cake. Coordinates are the key to finding a spot (with a GPS device).

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Out of curiosity, how accurate are the maps on phones? I don't want to invest in an actual GPS right now, but I'm not sure how well my phone works. For reference, I have a Nokia Lumia 810 and use the Bing Maps app. Any suggestions?

You say you're not buying a GPSr right now. No problem - you can find caches with a phone. Use the geocaching app with the "navigate" feature. Without the app, use the phone's gps. On some phones, to display the gps readings that exist in the phone, you need a widget.

 

"GPS Widget Pro" (a couple of bucks for the ad-free version) works fine.

Edited by wmpastor
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