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google maps cost anything?
- Thread starter rust.puppet
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It doesn't cost anything on the iPhone. It just uses data, so you need to be aware of that if you are on a plan without unlimited data.
I see where the confusion is though, on other phones it can cost as much as $10 a month on AT&T, but the iPhone isn't like that.
That's good to know, with my 23% fan discount I just found out I had I'll be paying less with my data plan than before I got my iPhone
To be specific, GPS uses semi-public domain broadcast signals from a constellation of satellites in orbit. Any device with a GPS receiving antenna, a clear line-of-sight to at least 3 of those satellites, and enough computational horse power to do the triangulation math unaided, can use GPS for free. The iPhone is such a device.
On the other hand, it can take several minutes for a regular GPS receiver that's just started up to get a fix on which GPS satellites are in range. When wireless data is available, the iPhone defaults to an AGPS mode, in which it uses a rough location service provided by the cellular network to get a quicker fix on the satellites to start with. Your cellular carrier might choose to charge you for that service. But with its special iPhone service, it's free on AT&T.
On the OTHER other hand, all you end up with after all that satellite communication and triangulation is a latitude and a longitude - there's no street maps, no traffic info, no route planner, nothing else. Google Maps must use a wireless data service to download a relevant map based on that latitude and longitude. Your unlimited iPhone data plan makes that download free as well.
Minor nits:
Four, unless you assume you're at sea level, or you have an atomic clock, or other assistance.
More importantly, AGPS gives the phone info on which satellites to listen for, and their exact orbits. Otherwise it could take many minutes to receive that info from the satellites themselves.
Cheers!
Four, unless you assume you're at sea level, or you have an atomic clock, or other assistance.
More importantly, AGPS gives the phone info on which satellites to listen for, and their exact orbits. Otherwise it could take many minutes to receive that info from the satellites themselves.
Cheers!